Album Of The Week: Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction

While the 2015 Pedal To The Metal Tournament may be going on as we speak, I wanted to travel outside of the metal world for this week’s album of the week. In the 80’s, there was another movement that was forming around the country that was outside of the metal genre completely and it was gaining steam with fans. The name of the movement was called the alternative rock movement and LA Alt-rock group Jane’s Addiction was spearheading the movement right into the mainstream with the release of their debut studio album Nothing’s Shocking which is in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album was released on August 23, 1988 via Warner Brothers and the album quickly gained critical success even though it peaked on the Billboard Charts at number 103 and number six on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks for the song Jane Says in 1988. The band which was made up of Perry Farrell (Vocals), Dave Navarro (Guitar), Eric Avery (Bass), and Stephen Perkins (Drums) all contributed to the record in their own unique way. Navarro was quoted about the writing process saying that, “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.”

1. Up The Beach– The song starts off very warm and inviting before the band kicks in and it seems like controlled chaos wrapped into something beautiful and serene as Farrell repeats the words home. I feel like this is a song you could put on when you reach paradise. 4/5

2. Ocean Size– This was the band’s third single that they had released off the album and it’s one filled with epic rock riffs as he sings about wishing he was a stronger person like the ocean, but being strong enough not to hurt anyone like the ocean with the beach. 4/5

3. Had A Dad– This was a track that Avery wrote and he also wrote the conceptual lyrics about discovering his biological father that Farrell would eventually run with. 4/5

4. Ted, Just Admit It…– This 7 minute long opus starts with Perkins playing his kit before Avery comes in with a cool bass riff. The song also features an opening quote from Ted Bundy admitting how watching pornography and violence on TV warped his mind. So you can figure what this song is about because we live in a world that is desensitized to violence. The music is pretty bad ass as well with all the tempo changes throughout the track. 4/5

5. Standing In The Shower…– The lyrics to this track are simple if you think about it, but’s brilliant because it’s about all the things that go through his head when he takes a shower. The music is rocking, but it has that typical alternative sound with elements of ska as far as tempo. 4/5

6. Summertime Rolls– Avery wrote the song and created the guitar parts for this track whose lyrics could reference that moment in every relationship where things seem perfect. The song’s tempo is slow and steady and very ominous and serene. 4/5

7. Mountain Song– Perhaps one of the most famous tracks on the record for that iconic opening, thumping bass riff before the song explodes into action in a track that would make Zeppelin proud.  5/5

8. Idiots Rule– This is the ska like rock track on the record that also features Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Trumpet as the band sings about how the people in power are idiots. 4/5

9. Jane Says– This is the iconic track from Jane’s Addiction about a friend of Perry who is the namesake of the band and it’s muse. The song also features references to drugs and kicking the habit while Stephen Perkins plays the steel drums while Navarro plays the same two chords for most of the track. 5/5

10. Thank You Boys– The 1 minute track has a swing feel to it while he simply says thank you boys. 3/5

11. Pig’s in Zen– the track features a kick ass funk like riff to it in a track where Perry reveals his envy over how pigs live there lives. He believes that there no care attitude makes them close to zen then him. 4/5

My Final Thoughts– This is the definite favorite album of the four Jane’s Addiction have released in their career and it’s a cool change in pace as you sit back and enjoy the noise. The album’s hero is definitely Eric Avery with his amazing bass playing that clearly made the album great. I am giving the record 4 stars out of five for a final grade.

Album Of The Week: Mechanical Animals by Marilyn Manson

Over the excitement of the recent new album news and the world tour in 2015, I decided to review what is by far one of my all time favorite Marilyn Manson albums in Mechanical Animals which was released on September 14, 1998. I remember right after school (I was a Junior in high school), I traveled to Strawberries (which basically no longer exists) and I grabbed my copy of the record as did so many others as the album debuted at number one in it’s first week of release. The band which was made of Marilyn Manson (vocals), M.W. Gacy (Keyboards/Sampling), Zim Zum (Guitars, although he didn’t tour with the band), Twiggy Ramirez (Bass), Ginger Fish (Drums), and John 5 (Live Guitarist). The album was a concept record about an alien named Omega that comes down to Earth and is forced to join the band The Mechanical Animals and his battles with drugs. The other half of the record features songs sung by Alpha (Marilyn Manson’s real ego) who acts as Omega’s foil as he is more observant of how fake people really are in society while Omega is more Nihilistic and superficial. The album even included an alternate cover for Omega & The Mechanical Animals which was pretty cool and if you bought the CD with the Blue case, then you were able to pick up on the hidden messages contained in the booklet.

1. Great Big White World– What an amazing way to open an album with the slow synthesized glam heavy rock song which is about cocaine and not racism. This track is on the Alpha side. 5/5

2. The Dope Show– This is the first single off the record who sound was reminiscent of T. Rex and David Bowie even though in a Q&A, Twiggy claimed they were ripping off Iggy Pop, Oasis, and T. Rex. The song is about America’s obsession of idolization of superstars. It’s social commentary on society and further proves Andy Warhol’s statement of how everyone gets 15 minutes of fame. This one is on the Omega side. 5/5

3. Mechanical Animals– a track on the Alpha side of the album about them trying to reach Coma White or the pursuit to want to be perfect in a world that isn’t. The music is amazing on this track, definitely one of my favorites on the record. 5/5

4. Rock Is Dead– Synthesized, in your face rock anthem which is a spin on the punk is dead idea and it further showcases Manson’s obsession with the ideals of Friedrich Nietzsche. The track is on the Omega side. 4.5/5

5. Disassociative– a slow song that is on the Alpha side about how materialistic we have all become and how he wants to escape the world he lives in, but he can’t because he’s stuck. 4/5

6. The Speed Of Pain– Another track on the Alpha side of the album which could be about wanting to forget about a past relationship that was too painful for him. The hybrid acoustic/electric track in my opinion showcased what Manson was capable of. The track has a resemblance in sound to a combo of Bowie and T. Rex 4/5

7. Posthuman– The heavy dance floor anthem of Posthuman on the Alpha side that features Rose McGowan on background vocals. It’s a very complex song in it’s lyrics as Manson speaks of Abraham Zapruder (the man who shot the video of the JFK getting assassinated), he speaks of the Kennedy’s which became an obsession of his, and he utters the words God Is Just A Statistic. The song isn’t a jab at Christianity, but rather at the people who blindly follow something because they are told it’s the only way. It’s definitely a thinking man’s song. 4/5

8. I Want To Disappear– Glam Rock at it’s finest in this song that reminds me a lot of Bowie and Iggy Pop. The track is on the Omega side and it’s about how he was blind to a system until he opened up his eyes and realized who he truly was. 4/5

9. I Don’t Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me)– It’s funk like stomp is infectious as the song is almost a direct rip of Bowie’s Fame about Omega being addicted to drugs even though he doesn’t like them. The song features a guitar solo by Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction 5/5

10. New Model No. 15– a song that features porn star Dyanna Lauren doing the Pornography on the track. It’s another track that has that techno dance element to it while continuing to bring the glam rock influence in it. The lyrics are social commentary on pop culture figures as it’s seems the system is always churning out new models every year like a factory. This track is on the Omega side. 4/5

11. User Friendly– Another Omega track that is funk laced/Bowie laced about how we use sex and mistake it for love. 4/5

12. Fundamentally Loathsome– It’s the last Omega track on the record about how dark and horrid our world really is. The song is slow as it sounds like a glam ballad like something T. Rex would have recorded. 3.5/5

13. The Last Day on Earth– The style of the song goes almost back tot he beginning of the album as this is the second to last Alpha song on the record. I think the song is about Alpha’s world coming to an end and that he wants to spend it with the special someone. 4/5

14. Coma White– It’s the last song on the record as well as the last Alpha track and it has that acoustic/electric sound. The song is about a girl’s delusion of herself and the current life she lives in. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the record. 5/5

My Final Thoughts– I still think this is one of the best Marilyn Manson records there is and it still my favorite album. I love all of Manson’s work, but this one was amazing. I am going to give the album 4.6 stars out of five for a final grade.

The 2014 Revolver Golden God Awards Review

Everyone was looking forward to performances from A Day To Remember, Guns N Roses, and even Zakk Wylde’s, but nobody saw this coming at the 2014 Revolver Golden God Awards which was Slayer opening the show as the surprise performer. One of the things people expect at this particular awards show is to see who the surprise guest performer will be, but Slayer didn’t need it as the bulldozed their way through classics South Of Heaven, War Ensemble, and the premiere of a brand new track Implode. It was especially cool to see Marilyn Manson intro the band in. Right after Slayer was done with their set, it was time to meet this year’s hosts of the show since Chris Jericho wasn’t doing it this year. Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine of VH1 Classics That Metal Show were the hosts and their intro was horrible. Then it was off to the first presenters of the show as Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park came out to present The Best Vocalist Award (see below for complete list of winners), then that was followed by Dave Navarro and Jill Janus of Huntress presenting the Best Live Band Award.

Frankie Palmeri of Emmure came out next to present the next live band of the night which was A Day To Remember who brought something completely different than Slayer, but they pleased the crowd as the band performed hit songs such as Right Back At It Again, End Of Me, and their closer All I Want. They were the second band to perform and still no surprise guest on stage with which is unusual at this point in the show. Then there was some technical difficulties as we waited for the cameras to show us Tony Hawk and Carmen Electra who were presenting the best live band award which was won by Avenged Sevenfold. They weren’t at The Nokia Theater, but they were brought in via satellite from a gig in Minneapolis where they gave the award away to a fan from the crowd. Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach and a couple of members from Memphis May Fire came out next to present the best new band award.

Then the legendary Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein along with the sexy brand new lead singer of Arch Enemy Alissa White-Gluz to intro The Pretty Reckless who were the next band to perform that night. Taylor Momsen is beautiful and very sexual on stage as most of you may know, but she has an amazing band that backs her up as they had one heck of a performance. The band performed their tracks Fucked Up World, Heaven Knows, and Going To Hell. Zakk Wylde would eventually come out to do a special Piano performance of In This River to pay tribute to all that have fallen over the years, but who was working the special video screwed up saying that Jani Lane was the singer for Motorhead. Then more technical difficulties plagued the show as we waited for Suicide Silence to take the stage to perform for the first time with their brand new singer Eddie Hermida. The band would play the tracks You Only Live Once and No Pity For A Coward, but it was their last song that was amazing. The band brought out Max Cavalera of Soulfly/Sepultura fame and they performed Roots on stage together that had me saying thank God someone finally had a guest on stage.

Alice Cooper presented The Golden God Award to Joan Jett who mentioned The Runaways. After her speech, she wanted to perform, but they nixed it so that Alice could introduce the performance. She opened up her performance with a rocking version of Bad Reputation which was tearing up the house. The next track she performed was a track that she had written with Dave Grohl called Any Weather which captured the spirit of the Blackhearts. Then Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were on fire with the next song I Hate Myself For Loving You for which she was joined onstage by Taylor Momsen. What I didn’t understand is that after the performance was done they performed it again to which Billy Gibbons would join them on stage to be the cheerleader. It was one heck of a performance anyways, but I believe they may have been shooting a version for television.

Andrew Dice Clay came out to present the video montage for Axl Rose while Nicolas Cage presented Axl Rose of  Guns N Rose with the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award. Of course from that point on, we were wondering how long it was going to take for the band to actual perform. The crowd was definitely anxiously awaiting the band to hit the stage as we also knew that Duff McKagan would be performing with the band. The band eventually came out and started rocking right away with It’s So Easy. The band would blaze through one of my all time favorite tracks Welcome To The Jungle with a killer intro by DJ Ashba. One thing I will admit is that Axl’s vocals were a little off tonight when it came to his high notes. Then for the third track of the night they would dig into their latest album Chinese Democracy with the Better. The band would then perform This I Love from Chinese Democracy. Then the band kicked into the kickass Use Your Illusion II track You Could Be Mine. The band would continue with Sweet Child Of Mine and a Babe I’m Gonna Leave You/November Rain medley after Axl introduced the whole band to the crowd. My final thoughts on the show is that I thought it could have been executed a little bit better than it had been in the past. I certainly miss having Chris Jericho hosting the show, but after a while the boys from That Metal Show did fine.

Awards:

Best Vocalist- Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age

Best Live Band- Rob Zombie

Most Dedicated Fans- Avenged Sevenfold

Best New Talent- Twelve Foot Ninja

Paul Gray Best Bassist- Chris Kael

Best Drummer- Arin Ilejay

Comeback Of The Year- Deep Purple

Best Film & Video- This Is A Wasteland by Pierce The Veil

Song Of The Year- Lift Me Up by Five Finger Death Punch

Most Metal Athlete- Josh Barnett

Golden God Award- Joan Jett

Dimebag Darrell Best Guitarist- Zacky Vengeance & Synyster Gates

Album Of The Year- 13 by Black Sabbath

Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award- Axl Rose of Guns N Roses