Nothing's Shocking

Nothing's Shocking
Studio album by Jane's Addiction
Released	August 23, 1988
Recorded	1987–1988 at Eldorado Studios in Los Angeles, California
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	45:13
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Dave Jerden, Perry Farrell
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B−) link Rhapsody (favorable) link Rolling Stone 1988 Rolling Stone 2004 Piero Scaruffi (7.5/10) link Spin (5/10) link Virgin Encyclopedia link Yahoo! Music (favorable) link
Jane's Addiction chronology
Nothing's Shocking (1988) Ritual de lo Habitual (1990)

Nothing's Shocking is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, released on August 23, 1988 through Warner Bros. Records. The album showcases the band's funk-oriented musical style through Dave Navarro's heavy guitar riffs and the distinctive singing style of vocalist Perry Farrell. Nothing's Shocking was well received by critics upon release and is often cited as the band's best album. Despite this, it peaked at number 103 on the Billboard 200 and produced only one noteworthy single, "Jane Says", which reached number six on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in 1988. The album was ranked #309 on Rolling Stones' "500 Greatest Albums of All-Time"

Recording

Warner Bros. gave Jane's Addiction a list of producers to choose from. The group chose Dave Jerden, whose work as engineer on the David Byrne and Brian Eno album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts frontman Perry Farrell appreciated. Jerden said he "jumped" at the chance to work with the group.^[1]

During the recording sessions, Farrell stated he wanted fifty percent of the band's publishing royalties for writing the lyrics, as well as a portion of the remaining half for writing music. Bassist Eric Avery said he and the other band members, guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins, were stunned by Farrell's demands.^[2] Farrell refused to compromise. One day Jerden drove up to the studio to find Farrell, Navarro, and Perkins leaving; Farrell told him that the band had broken up and that there would be no record. Warner Bros. called an emergency meeting to resolve the situation. Farrell got the royalty percentage he sought, and the other band members received 12.5 percent each. Avery said the incident had a profound effect on the band, creating an internal fracture.^[3]

Not long after the royalties dispute, Farrell and Avery (who had formed the band together) had a falling out. This was the result of Avery's newfound sobriety as well as an incident where Farrell believed that the bassist had drunkenly tried to pick up his girlfriend. Tensions existed in the band between all the members during recording except for Perkins, who got along with Navarro, Avery and Farrell.^[4]

Music

The songwriting process for Nothing's Shocking varied from song to song. Navarro noted, "Some came from Eric's bass lines, some from guitar, some came from Perry, some came from drum riffs, and some just came from free-form jams. There was really no formula." Eric Avery wrote several songs, including "Mountain Song", "Had a Dad", "Jane Says", and "Summertime Rolls" (the latter two of which he also created the guitar parts for). With his songs, Avery came up with conceptual ideas for lyrics that Perry Farrell would then create the actual lyrics for; for example, "Had a Dad" dealt with Avery discovering he had a different biological father.^[5]

Packaging, release and reception

Perry Farrell created the cover image to Nothing's Shocking, which features a pair of nude female Siamese twins sitting on a sideways rocking chair with their heads on fire. Farrell said the image, like much of his artwork, came to him in a dream. Farrell hired Warner Bros. employees to create the cover sculpture; after learning how to create sculptures by watching them closely, he fired the Warner Bros. staff and created the artwork himself.^[6] Farrell hired someone to help create a full body casting of his girlfriend for use as the sculptures. Retailers objected to the album's cover. Nine out of the eleven leading record store chains refused to carry Nothing's Shocking, and the record had to be issued covered with brown paper.^[7]

Nothing's Shocking was released in 1988. "Mountain Song" was released as a single; however, MTV refused to air the song's music video due to a scene containing nudity.^[8] Farrell then decided to release the music video commercially; twenty minutes of live footage was added to create the Soul Kiss home video.^[9] Due to lack of airplay on MTV and modern rock radio, the album only sold 200,000 to 250,000 copies in its first year of release.^[10]

Track listing

1. "Up the Beach" – 3:00
2. "Ocean Size" – 4:20
3. "Had a Dad" – 3:44
4. "Ted, Just Admit It..." – 7:23
5. "Standing in the Shower... Thinking" – 3:03
6. "Summertime Rolls" – 6:18
7. "Mountain Song" – 4:03
8. "Idiots Rule" – 3:00
9. "Jane Says" – 4:52
10. "Thank You Boys" – 1:01
11. "Pig's in Zen" – 4:30

Personnel

• Perry Farrell – vocals, piano
• Dave Navarro – electric & acoustic guitars
• Eric Avery – bass
• Stephen Perkins – drums, percussion
• Mike Shatz – steel drum and congas on "Jane Says"
• Angelo Moore – saxophone
• Flea – trumpet
• Christopher Dowd – trombone
• Dave Jerden – (producer)
• Ronnie S. Champagne
• Andy Harper

Charting positions

Album

Singles

References

• Mullen, Brendan. Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction. Da Capo, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81347-5

Notes

1. ^ Mullen, p. 165
2. ^ Mullen, p. 166
3. ^ Mullen, p. 168
4. ^ Mullen, p. 169–71
5. ^ Mullen, p. 167
6. ^ Mullen, p. 177
7. ^ Mullen, p. 178
8. ^ Mullen, p. 179
9. ^ Mullen, p. 180
10. ^ Mullen, p. 190