Jane's Addiction wanted fans to hear them at their most 'honest' on debut

A picture of Perry Farrell performing live — (Image credit: Live Nation)

Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell says he wanted their debut release to be a live album so fans could hear them at their most honest and innocent.

In a discussion with Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan as part of Live Nation's 1:1 interview series, Farrell revealed that making the band's self-titled 1987 debut a live record was a condition of them signing with Warner's.

He says: "The first record I ever wanted people to hear from us was a live record. We were already signed with Warner Brothers and I told them I would only sign if we could first put out a live record.

"The idea being, I don't know if they'll ever get to hear us as raw and as energised as we are right now. I wanted them to hear us and know of us in our most honest, innocent...you know, when I say poorest I say it in the most beautiful sense.

"We didn’t have anything. We didn’t have anything to lose at the same time, and I wanted to capture that before anybody could ruin that.”

Corgan was surprised by the revelation, saying he assumed the decision was taken for practical reasons.

He says: “I didn’t know that. I always thought you guys did it because it was a sort of quicker and easier way to make a record. I didn’t know that you’d asked for that.”

Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins are currently on a joint North American tour. The remaining dates can be found below.

Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins 2022 North American tour

Nov 04: St. Paul Xcel Energy Center, MN
Nov 05: Chicago United Center, IL
Nov 07: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Nov 09: Spokane Arena, WA
Nov 11: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Nov 12: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Nov 13: Portland Moda Center, OR
Nov 15: San Francisco Chase Center, CA
Nov 16: Anaheim Honda Center, CA
Nov 18: Phoenix Footprint Center, AZ
Nov 19: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA

Artists

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.