I came across this surprising article at the Huffington Post:
I Was A Creative Force Behind One Of The Biggest Rock Bands Of The '90s. Then I Watched Them Erase Me From Their Story
The rock band in question? Jane's Addiction.
The person being erased from their history? Casey Niccoli.
If you lived in the 90's, you may not remember the name Casey Niccoli, but you know who she is. She's the Classic Girl.
Now I want to be clear, I'm sure Casey Niccoli is telling the truth, but what is her real beef with Perry Farrell?
If you scour the web, almost every reference to Niccoli is that of a muse. I think middle-aged Niccoli resents the muse label.
You can't put MUSE on a job application, you can't quantify the contributions of the MUSE.
Niccoli framed herself as the 5th member of Jane's Addiction. Uh, no.
Farrell frames himself as a genius that carted around a collective of artists. Uh, also no.
What's my beef with Perry Farrell?
Business.
Jane's Addiction's big label debut album, Nothing's Shocking, was one of the greatest albums of all time, in any genre.
The interplay between Perry Farrell, bassist Eric Avery, and guitarist Dave Navarro was nearly perfect, I cannot stress that fact enough. But I read something, back in the day, that the split in songwriting credits went along these lines:
Farrell - Lyrics
Jane's Addiction - Music
BUT the money was split:
Farrell - 62.5% (50% lyrics 12.5% music)
Avery - 12.5% music
Navarro - 12.5% music
Perkins - 12.5% music
Now that didn't seem right to me at the time. I still cannot find confirmation of that business arrangement.
When Ritual de lo Habitual was released, the credits simply read: All tracks written by Farrell, Avery, Navarro, and Perkins. Does that mean it was a 25-25-25-25 split? Ah, ah, ah, almost 40 years later, we are still analyzing and questioning who wrote what. Through intermediaries and rumor mongering, Farrell seemingly had his hands in all layers of the musical process. Casey Niccoli was hardly Yoko Ono, but another drug addict littered amongst the other drug addicts. Why is there still debate over whom got what money 35 years ago?
When the band blew apart, Perry Farrell started Porno for Pyros, which sounded like Perry Farrell with session musicians. Perry was also credited with creating, then fostering, the music festival Lollapalooza. Niccoli faded away into darkness.
As an avid fan, all I ever wanted was more Jane's Addiction. This is what I got:
Porno for Pyros, which was terrible.
DJ Peretz, which was an insult.
Satellite Party sounded like a vanity project.
Farrell solo albums? Ugggh.
In 2003, I got one good single and a pedestrian album.
In 2011, the Great Escape Artist dropped and, according to me, and the AV Club, the effort was "a bold, erratic, pathetic attempt to recontextualize Jane’s for the 21st century."
What's my point? Why would Casey Niccoli want to be tied into THAT legacy?
The dearly departed Steve Albini said this in 1993, "Lollapalooza is the worst example of corporate encroachment into what is supposed to be the underground. It is just a large scale marketing of bands that pretend to be alternative but are in reality just another facet of the mass cultural exploitation scheme… What it really is is the most popular bands on MTV that are not heavy metal."
If Perry Farrell owns the copyright to Lollapalooza, do you know how much that's worth?
If you look at Dave Navarro's post-Jane's Addiction credits, they read like a Greatest Hits Album.
You say One Hot Minute wasn't a great album? It wasn't a great Chili Peppers album. If it had another name on the cover, like a side project, it would have been enshrined in 90's lore. OHM had electric, and experimental, moments.
We are way off track. Let's circle back to Ritual de lo Habitual.
The artistry is spectacular and high concept. Here's the story of the artwork from Jane's Addiction's own website: "A collage featuring a sculpture created by Perry Farrell and Casey Niccoli. The sculpture can be described as a visual interpretation of the song Three Days. Xiola Blue is the center figure in the sculpture with Perry Farrell and Casey Niccoli on either side of her. Within the collage around the sculpture are various items, including a slip of paper on the right that has the word Positive stamped across it. Some believed this to be the results of an AIDS test that Perry Farrell had taken, others fans believed this to be a sign that Casey was pregnant with Perry’s child, however it was revealed that this was actually the pregnancy test of Perry’s mother, taken when she was pregnant with him. To the left of the three figures is a smaller sculpture that features a toy doll painted gold. This sculpture would be the basis of the artwork used in promo singles for Three Days and Stop!. Unfortunately, this sculpture was accidentally destroyed in the mid-to-late 1990's"
That hardly sounds like a legacy erased. Again, how do you monetize Niccoli's contributions in 2024? She is credited with Art Direction in the liner notes.
Does she want belated royalties like Clare Torry got for Great Gig in the Sky?
If she is simply jealous because she's forgotten and she thinks Perry Farrell is beloved, she is barking up the wrong tree. I think of Farrell as a talented, but narcissistic, douche-bag. Some would say that's a GENEROUS interpretation of Farrell.
If Xiola Blue was 14 when she met Perry, then was one of Perry's two girlfriends, then she overdosed and died at 18, the math is a bit problematic.
The song 3 Days is about a beautiful, yet sacrilegious, threesome.
I don't understand, why Casey Niccoli doesn't understand, why Perry Farrell wouldn't want to revisit an arrangement that resulted in the death of a young girl and would be judged very harshly in the #MeToo Era.
If she simply wants the original sculpture back, which wasn't destroyed, but lost, give it to her. Let her sell it and make some money.
Which, I think, is the whole reason for the existence of the Huffington Post article.
