WHORES By Brendan Mullen (Review)
Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction
By Brendan Mullen (March 2026)
The second book in my Janes Addiction reading was completed weeks ago but I am now getting around to giving it a review. This was an amazing book that spends the majority of its pages on the first generation of Janes Addiction (until 1991). The last small portion discusses, in brief, things like 1997 Relapse tour, Deconstruction, Porno For Pyros etc...
This book appears to be the definitive read on the history of Janes Addiction until its publication in 2005. The format of the book is interesting as it does not have chapters and is just a collection of comments and quotes from various people who were involved with the band at various times. It is loosely organized into topics and events that flow somewhat evenly through the JA timeline.
The Good
Firstly, this book presents dozens and dozens of different peoples views into the band as they experienced them during various time periods. People who were behind the scenes promoting, producing, creating or hanging out with the band all have a voice and share what they experienced from their specific viewpoint and provides a soft narrative direction. These are ground floor quotes on the varied perspectives of experiencing JA during this time. The writing is in bite sized quotes and creates a light reading experience with some subjective depth on the varied experiences of the band. I found this to give a better understanding of the music scene in :A in the mid to late 80s with included all the hair metal bands on Sunset Strip, the recording industry and the general landscape of the "alternative" music scene at the time.
One of the best parts of the book is at the beginning of the book. There is a list of all people mentioned quoted in the book. This was great at certain points when you may have forgotten who a person was and their relationship to the band.
The Bad
My criticisms are minor and could be attributed to nitpicking. Here are a few areas where I feel the book could have been improved.
No table of contents. Even though the whole book is laid out in sections related to the quotes and is somewhat sequential, there are no chapter breaks in the book. If I wanted to go back a re-read a specific section I would have to thumb through the entire book hoping to find it.
The timeline does a bit of jumping every once and awhile and at times dates are very generalized. This caused a slight pause or confusion on reading. One example of this is when I just read that two people were fighting and then a few pages later they are doing something friendly.
The book spends a very light and cursory overview on everything past 1991. I am sure there was a lot more that could have been discussed about the various projects that were happening.
The Ugly
Nothing at all. Some may consider this shocking.
Summary
I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to help understand the birth, volatility and genius of the band during the mid to late 80s in LA and the path they paved. So many insights and various fascinating stories about the band. Sometimes the quotes were contradictory but this just helps highlight what the band meant to various people at a specific time. The format was a bit different but works well. I am considering going back and reading again it just to pick up on anything I might have missed. All the personal anecdotes really helped fill in the gaps from my previous read; Shockingly Habitual.
Now I am on to "Jane's Addiction: in the Studio" by Jake Brown which I hope gives a different insight into the actual music and not the personalities, events and crisis' that people gravitate towards.
If anyone has read Jake Brown's book, let me know what you think. I would also be curious of your criticisms of this book since I found it exceptional for what I was looking for.