Nothing's Shocking turns 30

Discussion regarding Jane's Addiction news and associated projects
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Lokus
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#21 Post by Lokus » Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:58 am

panicparty wrote:
Pandemonium wrote:It still holds up well but I’ve always thought the late 80’s production kind of lets it down.
Specifically the drums - If they re-recorded the drums it would sound great. The album as it is sounds nothing like Perk.
The thing is, they wouldn't have to re-record them to get rid of the all the reverb and effects, they could just remix and remaster it. I'd love to hear it, but then again, it would be a very different album, so best to leave it alone.

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Juana
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#22 Post by Juana » Sat Aug 25, 2018 10:22 am

Hokahey wrote:How anyone could put any album above one containing Three Days and Then She Did is beyond me. Beyond that, Ritual flows perfectly, is better produced, and is for my money the best album I've ever fucking heard.

Nothing's Shocking is incredible, but Ritual is Jane's Addiction perfected.
I think for me its because I heard NS first, its what got me into the band when I was a kid spending my summers surfing and really getting into music
kv wrote:SR and Juana just saved me a lot of typing...NS is my fav for all their reasons
Hey we're back to agreeing on things other than the Lakers and punk rock

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kv
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#23 Post by kv » Sat Aug 25, 2018 10:41 am

Ya I really think it's mostly the old heads who are saying NS... the impact was just far greater....if rit had come first I'd prob pick it :noclue:

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SR
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#24 Post by SR » Sat Aug 25, 2018 10:53 am

I was discussing this with my kiddo and he's got RDLH hands down. He's also far more proficient in music theory than I am. Impact is huge and I don't discount it (it might be my tipping point), but I still appreciate the dense textures, heavier sound, and coherence of NS. It's so close :lol: ….except for Hoka and the + 1,s. They have it head and shoulders above any album.

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Stickyfingers
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#25 Post by Stickyfingers » Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:24 pm

Having all songs written before 1988, they choose the best tracks for NS, (Summertime Rolls, Mountain Song, Jane Says, Up the Beach, Pigs)...
Their got signed for WB and they wanted get noticed.

But even if Ritual is like a NS leftover, or NS b side, is more focused, more beautiful, sounds better, more mature, has more details...their masterpiece IMO.

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Matz
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#26 Post by Matz » Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:05 pm

SR wrote:I He's also far more proficient in music theory than I am. .
:confused: so what, it doesn't give people the ability or right to decide whether or not something is "good" or not over someone who knows nothing about theory

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JOEinPHX
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#27 Post by JOEinPHX » Sat Aug 25, 2018 3:49 pm

Pandemonium wrote:It still holds up well but I’ve always thought the late 80’s production kind of lets it down.
Agreed.

Dave was playing some isolated stems of his guitar playing from NS on Dark Matter this week, and it all sounds VERY 80s-era Van Halen.

erotic cheeses
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#28 Post by erotic cheeses » Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:01 pm

Hokahey wrote:How anyone could put any album above one containing Three Days and Then She Did is beyond me. Beyond that, Ritual flows perfectly, is better produced, and is for my money the best album I've ever fucking heard.

Nothing's Shocking is incredible, but Ritual is Jane's Addiction perfected.
This!

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SR
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#29 Post by SR » Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:32 pm

Matz wrote:
SR wrote:I He's also far more proficient in music theory than I am. .
:confused: so what, it doesn't give people the ability or right to decide whether or not something is "good" or not over someone who knows nothing about theory
nothing really gives anyone the ability (or right :confused:) to declare any album superior to another without agreed to objective standards. I know most apply some charity without them, as we are here with an understood lowest threshold for quality that is high for these two albums. But I’d say that my studies in critical theory, discourse, cultural studies, and grammar have made me more able to discern complicated trash in lit to complicated greatness in lit. I might say that it has far less to do with creating greatness though...lots of factors seem to contribute there, often accidentally

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Matz
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#30 Post by Matz » Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:28 pm

I see what you're saying

trevor ayer
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#31 Post by trevor ayer » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:05 pm

Xxx is pretty great ... sounds more like janes than those metal slabs jerden produced .. I don’t need any wooshe sounds on aint no right ... love the live b sides ... drums were mixed wack on ns ..

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Hype
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#32 Post by Hype » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:50 pm

At this point I feel like NS and Ritual aren't even two separate albums. It's just one experience with a bunch of temporally distinguished sonic parts. My gut says NS is better, but the B-side of Ritual seems better than the B-side of NS somehow.

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intertwoven
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#33 Post by intertwoven » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:44 pm

The Great Escape Artist is better than Strays.

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Matz
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#34 Post by Matz » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:57 pm

:yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

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kv
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#35 Post by kv » Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:57 pm

trevor ayer wrote:Xxx is pretty great ... sounds more like janes than those metal slabs jerden produced .. I don’t need any wooshe sounds on aint no right ... love the live b sides ... drums were mixed wack on ns ..
Ya I love xxx as well

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farrellgirl99
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#36 Post by farrellgirl99 » Mon Aug 27, 2018 3:07 pm

i love that we are debating NS v Ritual again :lol:

since i came into it way later, i dont remember which album i heard first (well i heard strays first but of these two). i think i heard ritual first. but ive always thought NS is the better album. every song just packs that wallop, like others have said. even the other day, when i put NS on and heard that pigs and zen guitar solo i was just like holy fuck. gives me goosebumps, still. what a masterful album.

i think ritual stays second to me because of Of Course and Obvious. They are weaker than anything on NS (not counting thank you boys).

then she did is definitely still top of the top when it comes down to it though...

any way, both albums are amazing and i agree with hype that they seem like one cohesive piece to me, especially because i came in to both albums at the same time. together, they form the greatest rock albums ive ever heard.

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Juana
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#37 Post by Juana » Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:25 pm

It always turns into this but NS turning 30 is crazy and really they're both great records

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Stickyfingers
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#38 Post by Stickyfingers » Tue Aug 28, 2018 12:49 am

Eric say he keep pass RDLH studio every day. Quite nostalgic post. http://www.instagram.com/p/Bm6oTBXADvH/

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dannyboy
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#39 Post by dannyboy » Tue Aug 28, 2018 3:06 pm

Eric spoke about how he wasn't happy with the production on NS during the podcast interview (http://zpnetwork.com/eric-avery-formerl ... addiction/) posted on a recent thread. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound more like Butthole Surfers.

I also remember years ago Perk mentioning that he didn't like how his drums sounded on wither album (iirc)

phenobarb_bambalam
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#40 Post by phenobarb_bambalam » Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:52 pm

I'm not a parent, but this kind of seems (to me) like debating which of your three kids you prefer. I'll brace myself for scoffs from your grownup types on how ridiculous the analogy is.

NS changed my trajectory in terms of music, my world view, and to some extent my life. Some songs I may be perfectly happy to never hear again, but it's solid from top to bottom. Really fucking solid.

Ritual set off fireworks in the sky that still give me wonder decades on when I listen to it, but as has been said, it's an album of extreme highs (and some relative lows). The lows, again, being largely due to overplay. And there is nothing in the musical realm that takes me to where 'Three Days' does.

XXX - delicate, beautifully, gritty, and dirty to the point of needing a shower after you listen to it properly.

I can't choose between the three, and it's a good thing I don't have to.

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Hype
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#41 Post by Hype » Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:18 am

i think ritual stays second to me because of Of Course and Obvious. They are weaker than anything on NS (not counting thank you boys).
I just want to note that I strongly disagree with this. Of Course is a poetic masterpiece, and I'm just a sucker for violin. Obvious was, if I recall correctly, an early contender for the source for the title of the album ("Digging Something Up", I think?), and it's a hell of a song. Lyrically it's probably the weakest song on the album, but that "Heyyyyy" ranks high in my favourite vocal bits in the entire JA corpus.

clickie
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#42 Post by clickie » Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:15 am

I wasn't gonna say anything but yeah I strongly disagree with that also. Those are a couple of my favorite Jane's songs.

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SR
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#43 Post by SR » Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:42 am

They are my least fave 2 on RDLH :nod:

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Hype
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#44 Post by Hype » Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:02 am

In order:

1. Then She Did...
2. Three Days
3. Classic Girl
4. Of Course
5. Obvious
6. Ain't No Right
7. No One's Leaving
8. Been Caught Stealing
9. Stop!

The entire B-side is near-perfect. I don't dislike any of the songs on the A side, I just think they don't compare, artistically. And I say this as someone who loves stripped down, minimalist, lo-fi shit.

My favourite version of Ain't No Right is the acoustic one that that Raw420x guy released a video of (and which I can't find anymore).

More carefully: the ordering would be different if you asked about live performances.

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SR
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Re: Nothing's Shocking turns 30

#45 Post by SR » Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:19 am

So interesting to see what people like and like less on these albums, including the band. I read yesterday that EA (and DN I think) hated the steel drums on Jane Says. Jerden introduced the idea and though it passed, it was liked by them. He much preferred the Roxy version. Weird. I think those drums set that song off in a really interesting direction....beautiful. EA seems to have a really narrow domain where his musical preferences are....he hates Jazz too


For RDLH:


3 Days
Then She Did
Aint No Right
No One's Leaving
Stop
Classic Girl
Stealing
Obvious
Of Course

From 3-6, it's really close...and I love the order that these songs are placed as I do on NS. When I get a chance I am going to combine the two and list in order

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