There really aren't many unreleased Jane's songs. Jane's wrote the majority
of their songs in their early days. Then the guys stopped getting along, so
they didn't work together very well anymore. Consequently, they didn't try to
write many new songs. This is a major reason why Jane's broke up after Ritual...
they were basically out of songs, and tempers were too hot to write any new
ones together.
Many people think there must be a bunch of unreleased gems that never made it
out of the studio. But unfortunately that's not the case. For both of their
studio albums, they picked which songs they wanted to do, then recorded them.
They never 'gave up' on any song, so there aren't really any studio outtakes
of unreleased songs. Even "Maceo" was recorded prior to the actual NS sessions.
(Check with the Recording
History section of SDW for more info.) Not counting any post-1991 reunions,
the only known unreleased/unrecorded Jane's material that hasn't already been
mentioned in this Song Index are jams and unfinished rough
ideas...
* There was apparently a little bluesy number Perry and Eric did together very early in Jane's existence called "Let Me In My House." (this is likely a cover song)
* The fabled "Sunshine Demos," recorded around late '87, are said to contain everything the band was working on at the time, including some instrumental jams and song fragments.
* At a show in Florida in November 1988, Perry took a while getting to the stage so the other three guys kept the crowd entertained by playing "San Francisco (Iris)," "Up The Beach," and a 3-minute long jam. Here's an mp3.
* There was said to be a 1990 show in the UK where Perry decided to pull out
at the last minute. Instead of canceling, the other three guys performed several
Jane's songs instrumentally. I'm not sure, but I assume they did a bunch of
jamming as well.
* Jane's had a few grooves they messed around with that were later to become
Porno For Pyros songs...
From Jane's Xine...
Phil: Was there ever any Jane's material that was never released? Or stuff
that was written, but never recorded?
Eric: At least some of Pornos record were songs we wrote
in Janes but couldn't agree on recording or playing live. So to answer your
question, yes.
Also from Jane's Xine...
Gavin: I know you played "Blood Rag" with Jane's back in early '89. Can
you think of any other Jane's songs that have since become Porno songs?
Dave: Well, I know that "Bad Shit" was a Jane's groove,
but never a fully written song. Also, that .25 song ("Packin' .25") was a groove
we used to play from time to time....
From Trevor... (6/99)
"i went to the steve perkins drum clinic last night and as usual when i'm
hanging with my man steve i asked him WAY too many questions beyond the point
of being polite and steve being the cool guy he is answered every one of them.
so which porno songs were janes songs steve says... perry and me used to jam
on bad shit and packin 25 during soundcheck the other guys would allways take
off i says ..... you mean perry actually played guitar steve says.... oh yeah
i says ..... you mean perry actually wrote the bad shit riff steve says .....
oh yeah definitely well thats cool and of coarse there was blood rag but other
than that, absolutely no other songs were old janes tunes"
Jane's played "Blood Rag" live occasionally during the middle of "Pigs
In Zen" from around February '89 to April '89.
I don't know of any live performances of "Packin' .25", but Dave played a
quick bit of "Bad Shit" at a February '89 show in Trenton, NJ. These three songs were later finished by Porno For
Pyros and released on their first album in 1993.
"Hard Charger" was supposedly conceived during JA's heyday as well. (At
a show in Rhode Island in 1990, Perry said "I'm a hard charger" for some reason.
And at a show in Ottawa '89, Perry introduced Eric as "that hard charger, himself."
But "hard charger" is a surfing term, so that might not mean much.)
It was later recorded by P4P with Dave Navarro and Flea for Howard Stern's Private
Parts movie soundtrack in '97. But it's still disputed when it was written.
Perry said he wrote it specifically for Howard's movie.. And when asked about
his involvement with the song, Dave said "I simply helped
record it......about three-four hours work at best"... so that would
suggest it couldn't have been a Jane's tune originally.
Also.. though not a Jane's Addiction song but conceived during that time, "Orgasm"
was written by Perry and Peter DiStefano when the two met while vacationing
in Mexico in 1990. Two years later they formed Porno For Pyros and recorded
the song for their first album.
As for unreleased Relapse era songs... I don't have a clue. I assume they must've
jammed out some stuff at rehearsals, but I'm not sure if they ever finished
writing any new songs besides "So What!" At the time, there was talk of perhaps
a whole new album of fresh tracks in the future if recording went well. And
as far as I know, everything went great, but I think because the whole thing
was kind of rushed, they didn't have a chance to record much else.
Previous Song | Song Index | Next Song |