Hey guys, welcome to the channel this is Erik Johnson with ex-alcoholic music review, we’re going to review Jane’s addictions, second album, Ritual De Lo habitual, which was released in 1990. Here’s my Thoughts on Janes Addiction’s Ritual De Lo Habitual.
Thoughts on Janes Addiction’s Ritual De Lo Habitual
Now the first thing I want to talk about is that it was a beautiful time in my life. I was nearing the age of 18 when Ritual de lo Habitual was released, and I felt like I could do anything, that I was immortal.
I turned my jock friends on to Jane’s addictions first album Nothing Shocking in 1988. My friends were just blown away by the alternative trippy sounds crunchy and melodic sounds of Jane’s Addiction.
So when Ritual de lo habitual came out in 1990, that was mind blowing. These songs are epic journeys that last 10 to 13 minutes and take you on these trips, and what perfect time to listen to which Ritual when you’re experimenting with psychedelics, staying up all night, feeling that you’re immortal and that you can do anything with your life.
The first time I heard Ritual de lo Habitual was actually the song Stop, and it was a hot August night and I walked into a pizza joint in our small town.
I just remember hearing those very trippy melodic sounds floating through the heat waves of the pizza ovens on a hot August night, probably tripping on LSD and just being blown away by the song Stop, especially the slow part of Stop (at min. 1:55).
I was mesmerized by this, the slow part of that song. I would play it over and over again mesmerized – to the backdrop of psychedelics and experiencing alternate universes, watching sunrises after all night trips.
For life ahead, I could do anything. You know when you’re 18 and you’re just getting out of high school you know that you have your whole life ahead of you, you and your friends are still having a blast.
You know, you guys are goofing off, you feel mortal, you’re joking around, you’re laughing. You haven’t been hurt yet. You haven’t been hurt by life or by relationships or by anything yet, you could do anything with your life.
Ritual de lo Habitual it was more than just feeling immortal and tripping on psychedelics. It also represented a time where art, beauty, sex and drugs and rock and roll all melded together in a beautiful union.
I call it a beautifully sexual tribal heroin-induced orgy of sound, and that was basically, you know when I first saw Jane’s Addiction on MTV or whatever I think it was for the album Nothing Shocking I saw, I believe it was two of the members of the band, maybe Dave Navarro and the drummer Stephen Perkins or something like that. I saw them kiss.
So for me at that point in my life I was like what is this? I’ve never seen two guys kiss. Jane’s Addiction represented that crazy like nothing’s barred, you can do anything you want and they just broke so many taboos and narrow minded thinking.
And since I was doing psychedelics I was like, okay, so you have to be bisexual to be a good artist – and so, my life was just crazy – doing all of the these experimental things.
But Ritual de lo Habitual is one of the best albums ever published because the songs took you on a journey, it wasn’t just a typical three minute song they dove into these tribal beats and these breakdowns that lasted minutes at a time. They would come to this crescendo, this climax and then you would almost just climax all over yourself with these powerful songs.
But you know, everything good comes to an end and Ritual de lo Habitual is literally 30 years ago, you know, and I did not complete high school so there is no high school reunion for me, and I had a heart attack when I was 32.
I became an alcoholic for 16 years and nearly died, and tried getting sober hundreds of times, it never worked out, but now I’ve been sober for over 13 years.
I want to just go over some tips with you really fast because alcohol and other drugs, they might seem fun, they might seem like they’re gonna help you be more creative as an artist and that was the lie I believed.
But what alcohol and drugs did ultimately was strip away my creativity. It was a lie, thinking that I needed drugs and alcohol to create beautiful art. In fact I’ve created more awesome things in my sobriety than I ever had drinking and drugging.
So the first step is to admit you’re powerless over your addiction or alcohol. Just look around and take a truthful, honest opinion and look around and see where your life’s at.
Are you hurting people, are your friends pissed off at you? Family, spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends look around, you’re hurting more than just yourself, you got to really take a look.
The second step is to know that there’s a higher power and the third step is to turn your will and your life over to the care of God, because we can’t do this on our own.
Our will is what destroyed or nearly destroyed our life, you know, I couldn’t do it on my own. I was just white knuckling it and finally I hit bottom – you gotta hit rock bottom and know for certain that it’s your rock bottom, and that your life is not going to get any better that your life is unmanageable.
From there you can start piecing your life back together. It is a slow process but your life is worth it. Because drugs and alcohol is life or death, your sobriety is life or death.
If you go out and drink one more night, or use, your life could literally be over. So, thanks for watching this review of Ritual de lo Habitual. Hit the subscribe button if you are new here, and we will talk to you soon.
