Whores: An Oral Biography Of Perry Farrell And Jane's Addiction

The first biography, illustrated with never-before-seen photos, of Jane's Addiction and their charismatic singer Perry Farrell, who became godfathers of the "Alterna-Nation" by originating the Lollapalooza festival 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-in-a-wind-tunnel vocals, Jane's Addiction helped put what would soon be co-opted as "alternative" on the map. The band freely mixed the decadent with the innocent and 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, Ritual de Lo Habitual (with 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 (Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery, and drummer Stephen Perkins), their friends, and their musical colleagues, Whores takes readers through Farrell's early sonic experiments with Psi Com and the formative days of Jane's Addiction to their drug-addled break-up and controversial reunion with 2003's Strays. Along the way it provides a candid, sometimes disturbing glimpse into the dynamic alternative rock scene of Los Angeles in the '80s and '90s.