Jane’s Addiction “Nothing’s Shocking” released 30 years ago on this date, August 23rd, 1988. Mind-blowing, earth-shattering, an album I distinctly remember hearing for the first time – in the passenger seat in my friend Erika’s car after school, the fall of our senior year ‘88, her shitty stereo cranked to 11. Erika was a metal-head and I was punk leaning toward hippie but about Jane’s Addiction’s first major label release we could agree, this was amazing. Nothing’s Shocking reached #103 on the Billboard charts and the single “Jane Says” made a breakthrough charting at #6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. “Jane Says” is great but I absolutely love “Ocean Size,” “Had a Dad,” “Standing in the Shower…Thinking” (which I still sing occasionally while standing in the shower, thinking, when the water is so fucking hot) and the epic “Mountain Song.”

To my mind, Jane’s Addiction made grunge (which of course was already developing in the Northwest by ‘88) possible on a large-scale, commercially viable level. On a personal level it was the first “alt-metal” band that I would proudly listen to (cranked to 11!) because at least in our town, genre crossovers: punk/goth/new wave vs. metal was just not cool. (Until grunge, and then it was) On a critical level there is this from Allmusic: “Although Jane’s Addiction’s 1987 self-titled debut was an intriguing release (few alternative bands at the time had the courage to mix modern rock, prog rock, and heavy metal together), it paled in comparison to their now classic major-label release one year later, Nothing’s Shocking. Produced by Dave Jerden and Jane’s Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell, the album was more focused and packed more of a sonic wallop than its predecessor; the fiery performances often create an amazing sense that it could all fall apart at any second, creating a fantastic musical tension. Such tracks as “Up the Beach,” “Ocean Size,” and one of alt-rock’s greatest anthems, “Mountain Song,” contain the spaciousness created by the band’s two biggest influences, Led Zeppelin and the Cure. Elsewhere, “Ted, Just Admit It…” (about serial killer Ted Bundy) and the haunting yet gorgeous “Summertime Rolls” stretched to epic proportions, making great use of changing moods and dynamics (something most alt-rock bands of the time were oblivious to). An incredibly consistent and challenging album, other highlights included the rockers “Had a Dad” and “Pigs in Zen,” the horn-driven “Idiots Rule,” the jazz instrumental “Thank You Boys,” and the up-tempo “Standing in the Shower…Thinking.” Like most great bands, it was not a single member whose contribution was greater: Perry Farrell’s unique voice and lyrics, Dave Navarro’s guitar riffs and wailing leads, Eric Avery’s sturdy basslines, and one of rock’s greatest and most powerful drummers, Stephen Perkins. Nothing’s Shocking is a must-have for lovers of cutting-edge, influential, and timeless hard rock.”