Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction

by Brendan Mullen

Book Overview

Jane's Addiction's 1988 breakthrough album, Nothing's Shocking, had a seismic impact. With a bracing combination of metal, punk, and psychedelia, coupled with lead singer Perry Farrell's banshee-ina- wind-tunnel vocals, Jane's Addiction helped put alternative music on the map. The band helped pave the way for the mainstream success of bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. Along the way, Jane's Addiction released another classic album,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306814781
• ISBN13: 9780306814785
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Oral bio of Jane's Addiction

This is a great book. Of course, you probably need to like Jane's Addiction first, which I do, I love them, their music, so brief in period of time and so long ago, nonetheless, is so spiritual and wonderful. This book details the musical backgrounds of Navarro, Perkins and Eric Avery, and also, a bit of Perry's lifestyle that really allowed all of this to happen. There's a lot of information in this book. You also get a lot of insight into the Los Angeles cultural scene of the 80s; all the different clubs involved; music industry stuff; and input from fellow musicians, like RHCP and even GNR! It's quite an inspiring book. If there's one thing readers should take away, it is the creative spirit that is the thread of all these topics, and I hope people everywhere can strive to be as creative as these individuals.

Review of Perry Ferrell's "Whores"

I read Dave Navarro's book first, and then Perry's book, and I loved them both, just as I love and respect both guys, as artists and as people. I personally wouldn't write a book in the style/format that Perry used, but that certainly took nothing away from it's overall charm and entertainment. Dave didn't mentioned Jane's, as much, and Perry brought out a lot more information I didn't know, and I really enjoyed reading this book, and then watching his videos is almost too much for me. I laughed so hard at him - he is so crazy (a good crazy), sounds like a fun guy you would like to know, and gave a good insight into what all happened during the reign of the once "all time great legends" of a band, "Janes's Addiction." There isn't a day that goes by that I don't play Kettle Whistle, a partial Jane's Addiction collaboration CD, and I will never get tired of them. I think Perry wants to put the band back together. I think if they can't do some things together just in the studio in the old Jane's style, that's a shame. Perry has played with Dave in Camp Freddy, but I just miss these guys so much. I've bought all the Jane CDs I can find, 3/4 of Perry "on his own" CDs, the Panic Channel, Trust No One CD by DN, and plan to try to get my hands on a whole entire collection to put together, if anybody knows the best way to find the websites, etc. They broke up - they took a piece of me. I don't blame them - it's just sad. Maybe we're being selfish. Has Perry written anything else, or Dave?? I am now watching Spread Entertainment, Dave Navarro's Mania TV, and a lot of the videos are on there, and I was glad to see that. I really enjoy Mania TV.

Great bio of a classic band

As someone who refused to even listen to the latest Jane's album (i'll only acknoledge the first 3!), didn't know what to expect from this book, a cheap attempt to wring some cash from an ever-diminishing fan-base? But Jane's is one of those bands... true innovators, and this book is a terrifically detailed account of their story. I was really impressed by the vast amount of interviewees the author was able to bring together in a very coherent manner, including Casey Niccoli and Eric Avery. A must for true fans.

A true page turner!

One day I was walking through the mall and I saw the book store, and I usually dont go into book stores but I thought "huh, why not lets see whats in there." I went straight to the biography/Entertainment section where I saw this book along with Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, so I bought them both. When I go home I immediatly started to read Whores, and even from the begging of the book I could tell that it was going to be a great one. I read this book almost none stop for the next three days and every time I picked up the book I would be amazed. Whores tells the story of Jane's Addiction, but mainly Perry Ferrall. It leads you through the live's of all the band members, Perry, Dave navarrow, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery, tell their sriugles with drug addiction, and music and how they never truly over came it all. It tells the rise and fall of one of the worlds most legendary and greatest bands, Jane's Addiction. Perkins isnt in the story that much he is pretty quite during Whores. Eric Avery, the bass player is all over this book but I found myself somewhat bored with him. Perry is always talking about art or sex, which is fine because he is a rockstar and he can. I found that Dave Navarrow's parts of the book where the most interesting, from the time he was a young boy and his mother was murderd to when drugs totaly took over his life and almost killed him dozens and dozens of times. The book ends in 2002 just after the release of the bands third and last album (hopfuly just so far), Strays, which by the way is a fantastic album! This is a book that any rock and roll fan will like, it's like behind the music in a book, so do yourself a favor and pick up this fantastic read!

Jane's Addiction....bread and spread in LA....

First of all, I really looked forward to this book. I read it in 3-4 hours in two sittings and it was very entertaining. Brendan Mullen wrote an extended article in SPIN Magazine on Jane's Addiction back when their Strays album came out a couple years ago. He states, at the beginning of this book, that band members more or less stopped giving interviews shortly after the albums release so he couldn't get additional information for the book. This forced him to search high and low for other key characters who surrounded Jane's Addiction, along with the band and management, in telling their complete story. It worked. This is a great book and gives an excellent perspective as to what Jane's achieved and what they were up against (primarily themselves). Anyone familiar with Jane's will notice a few familiar quotes and paragraphs from past interviews dating back more than 15 years. Mullen pulls from all sources and paints a good picture of band's impact on the LA music scene at that time and the argument that they created the alternative scene that Cobain and others were able to blow the doors open on a few years later. The development of Lollapalooza is very interesting as well. This book would receive a five star rating had the band done interviews more recently specifically for the book. Unfortunately, they didn't and you have to stick to their old interviews which in many ways is good for catching the moment but not as good for catching the band's perspective on their impact over time. Had they done interviews it may have turned out more like the Crue's DIRT. But Jane's was a much darker band, and you definitely get the feeling here. Actually it sounds like Porno For Pyros was more drug-addled than Jane's, if that's possible. This is a biography and almost gets 4.5 stars. The 5 Star books will be the complete autobiographies by Avery, Perkins, Navarro and Farrell. They'll come in time. Long live Jane's Addiction, one of the last truly great rock 'n roll bands......