Perseus Academic: Whores by Brendan Mullen

Jane’s Addiction’s 1988 breakthrough album, Nothing’s Shocking, had a seismic impact on the music scene of the late 80s. With a bracing combination of metal, punk, and psychedelica, coupled with lead singer Perry Farrell’s banshee-in-a-windtunnel vocals, the arrival of Jane’s Addiction put what would soon be co-opted as alternative on the map. Rising from the depths of Venice Beach’s junkie-surfer demonade, Jane’s Addiction freely mixed the decadent with the innocent, and paved the way for the mainstream success of bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. After Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction released another classic album, Ritual de Lo Habitual (featuring the hit Been Caught Stealing), founded the Lollapalooza festival, and openly celebrated a bacchanalian lifestyle that blurred all lines of gender and sexuality. Drawn from original interviews with the band (including Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro), their friends, and musical colleagues, Whores will take readers through the early days of the band to their drug-addled breakup and eventual triumphant reunion with the 2003 release of their album Strays. Along the way, providing a candid, sometimes disturbing glimpse into the dynamic alternative rock scene of Los Angeles in the ’80s and ’90s.

Brendan Mullen is the co-author of We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of LA Punk and Lexicon Devil, a biography of the Germs' Darby Crash. He lives in Los Angeles.