Ritual de lo Habitual

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Professional reviews
Ritual de lo Habitual

Studio album by Jane's Addiction
Released	August 21, 1990
Recorded	1989-1990
Genre	Alternative
Length	51:30
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer(s)	Dave Jerden & Perry Farrell
All Music Guide link Entertainment Weekly A- source
Jane's Addiction chronology
Nothing's Shocking (1988)	Ritual de lo Habitual (1990)	Kettle Whistle (1997)
Alternate cover

Clean cover

Ritual de lo Habitual is Jane's Addiction's second studio album, released on August 21, 1990 on Warner Brothers after taking their break in 1989.

The album is roughly broken into two parts. Tracks 1-5 consist of simple and unrelated funk-metal songs, all of which having a fun, upbeat, radio-friendly sound. On tracks 6-9, though, the pace slows down dramatically. The four tracks as a whole are in memorium of singer Perry Farrell's deceased friend known as Xiola Bleu, who died of a heroin-overdose in 1987 at the age of 19. "Three Days" and "Then She Did," in particular, have a heavy progressive rock influence, while "Of Course" carries a heavy Eastern-influence, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, with a prominent violin throughout. Guitar World magazine rated the guitar solo in "Three Days" as the 100th greatest solo of all time, and many rock critics rate it amongst the best. In 2003, the album was ranked number 453 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is usually considered a masterpiece of alternative rock, and, pre-dating Nirvana's Nevermind by a year, serves as a forecast of the coming decade. Through this, it is in many ways an extremely "progressive" work.

Two versions of the disc packaging were created: one cover featured artwork by singer Perry Farrell, related to the song "Three Days" and including male and female nudity; the other cover has been called the "clean cover", and features only black text on a white background, listing the band name, album name, and the text of the First Amendment (the "freedom of speech" amendment of the U.S. Constitution). The "clean cover" was created so the CD could be distributed in stores such as Wal-Mart who would refuse to stock items with nudity on the front cover.

The opening track "Stop!" features an introduction in broken Spanish that is as follows: "Señores y señoras: nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tú tienes, pero los queremos. Creados y regados de Los Ángeles, Juanas Addicción!". This roughly translates to: "Ladies and gentlemen - we have more influence over your children than you do, but we love them. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jane's Addiction!".

The single "Been Caught Stealing" was later featured in 2000's Gone in Sixty Seconds film, 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game and in the television series My Name Is Earl. Both "Stop!" and "Been Caught Stealing" continue to garner heavy radio play on rock radio-stations in America to this day.

"Stop!" is featured as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero II and, unlike the other tracks in the game, is a master track, not a cover version.

Perry Farrell's mother committed suicide when he was 4 years old (an event later chronicled in the Jane's Addiction song "Then She Did")