Read This: Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell’s deconstruction of Ritual De Lo Habitual

By Corbin Reiff  |  August 21, 2015 | 3:00pm
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Read This: Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell’s deconstruction of Ritual De Lo Habitual
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To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of seminal alt-rock album Ritual De Lo Habitual by Jane’s Addiction, Rolling Stone spoke with the band’s singer Perry Farrell and lead guitarist Dave Navarro for an extensive behind-the-scenes breakdown of the creation of the record. Aside from revelations about how the material actually came together—“I had saved the best songs that we had written for our second [studio] album because I didn’t want people to think that this was a sophomore slump,” Farrell explains—the two men also provide a track-by-track rundown of every single song on the album.

While the whole piece is filled with interesting little tidbits, the best story comes courtesy of Farrell, who reveals the origins behind the real theft that inspired the mega-hit song, “Been Caught Stealing”:

Do you know what a Pennsy Pinky is? They were rubber balls that we used to use to play stickball when I was a kid. You’d get a broom handle or a mop handle as your bat, and then for the ball, you’d use a Pennsy Pinky, which were these rubber balls made out of pink eraser. So I was stealing these Pennsy Pinkys. There was a candy store on the corner by my house in Queens, and I would go there all the time; I thought I was pretty good at stealing, but a guy caught me stone cold while I was taking a Pennsy Pinky. I guess I got in trouble, but that was the only time I ever got caught stealing.

 
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