August 1990: Jane's Addiction Release RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL

Los Angeles band Jane's Addiction made a profound impact on the burgeoning alternative rock underground with the release of Nothing's Shocking in 1988. The group's manic mash-up of disparate influences including "The Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin, Bauhaus, Van Halen and Rush," according to guitarist Dave Navarro (via Rolling Stone) resulted in something that sounded shockingly original.

When it came time for album #2, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Perry Farrell were ready to turn up the heat. Teaming up with producer Dave Jerden (who also produced Nothing's Shocking), the group hit the studio armed with a clutch of songs ready to record.

“The majority of those songs were written before even Nothing’s Shocking was recorded,” Navarro revealed. “We would be playing ‘Ain’t No Right,’ ‘Stop!’ and ‘No One’s Leaving’ during the Nothing’s Shocking days — we had those songs in the can already, including ‘Three Days.’ And by the time we got to recording this album, playing them was second nature.”

“I had saved the best songs that we had written for our second [studio] album,” Farrell added, “because I didn’t want people to think that this was a ‘sophomore slump.’ Songs like ‘Three Days’ and ‘Then She Did…’ — these are very sophisticated songs, you know? As far as I was concerned, ‘Three Days’ was our ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ But we were at the peak of our powers as a band, so I felt that this was our time to really come out and blast people with sonic sounds that they would groove to for the rest of their lives.”

Released on August 21st, 1990, Ritual de lo Habitual galvanized the band's growing fan base, spinning off hit singles “Stop!” and “Been Caught Stealing,” both of which hit #1 on the Modern Rock charts. The full-length went on to peak at #19 on the Billboard 200 for the week of September 15, 1990. The #1 album in the country that week: MC Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em, which was in the middle of an epic 18-week run at #1.

“If you ask me, I think it’s one of the greatest records of all time,” Farrell stated with a laugh. “That record is so beautiful and great to me, because it’s given me material that I can do for the rest of my life. I can do songs like ‘Three Days,’ ‘Stop!’ or ‘Been Caught Stealing’ around the world, and I will be welcomed, and I will be celebrated, and I will get hugs and kisses.”