Original Jane's Addiction Lineup Reunite to Rock Awards Show

It was the reunion that rock fans thought they'd never see. All four members of Jane's Addiction — Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery — reunited on the stage for the first time in years to perform at the inaugural NME Awards USA at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles Wednesday.

The band — the first American group honored with the "Godlike Genius Award for Extraordinary Services to Music" — played a set of some of their biggest hits: "Stop," "Mountain Song," "Ocean Size" and an acoustic "Jane Says."

"Here we go again. You up for it?" asked singer Perry Farrell, decked out in a dominatrix-like skintight black outfit complete with a horse's tail and fairy-like ankle books. "It ain't nothing without you all," he said during the performance. "See, I do that in my living room in my underpants and it's not as much fun."

The crowd — which included Mark Ronson (who threw something at Perez Hilton onstage), Mick Jones, the Killers, Kelly Osbourne and others — went crazy when Farrell introduced Avery. The bassist has regularly declined reunion offers of any sort. He almost didn't agree to the NME Awards, but Avery changed his mind at the last minute, explaining in a statement that he said yes because it was about "honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it."

Attendees were excited to see the reunited Jane's: "I loved the supermarket stealing song," said Mick Jones, who was presented with the Inspiration Award. "They're from here. What more can you say?"

"It's always a good night when you can see Dave Navarro's chest," deadpanned Danny Masterson.

Alice Cooper added, "They were one of my favorite bands from that era because they were first band that was totally original. Nobody sounded like them."

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

More Song Stories entries »

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