Cory Udler on the death of Jani Lane

I had no idea that Jani Lane was dead.
Cory Udler enlightened me yesterday, on the four year anniversary of the singer's passing:

The Unglamorous Death of a Glam Star

by Cory Udler

4 years ago yesterday Jani Lane died of acute alcohol poisoning, alone, at a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills, California. He left behind two daughters, Taylar and Madison.  He was still legally married at the time of his death but supposedly the relationship was basically over except for the paperwork.  It’s a sad ending for anyone.  Forget the fact that Jani was who he was, the “Cherry Pie Guy”.  For anyone to die of acute alcohol poisoning by themselves in a shitty hotel room at 47 years old is fucking heartbreaking.  Especially when they are leaving behind children who have to come to terms with who their father was and how he died the way he did.  It’s just fucking depressing.  What’s most depressing is that, in my opinion, Jani Lane was one of the best song writers of the last 30 years and is now just a footnote on the “glam metal” scene of the 80’s. 

Watch this before you read any more. 

That song was written in the mid 80’s by Lane when he was the frontman in Warrant.  It was never recorded for an official Warrant album.  This version is from an 80’s rock “supergroup” collaboration with Lane and members of Ratt and Quiet Riot.  The other members of the band loved the song and talked Jani into agreeing to record it for this side project.  It’s an 80’s rock song about racism and slavery featuring a Billie Holiday reference.  Pretty fucking heavy shit for a “glam band” footnote. 

Warrant had a reputation as the best band on the Strip who wasn’t signed to a label.  They were one of the last big “glam metal” bands to hit radio.  Their first album came out on Columbia records in the winter of 1988.  Everybody on fucking earth knows this song.

The 80’s rock scene was absolutely douched with these fucking sappy ballads.  I think only Motley did a cool one, about a double suicide, all of the other ones were the same fucking song over and over and over.  Forget that this is just another junior prom theme song.  Listen to the structure of it, the melody of it.  It’s head and shoulders above every other band’s attempt at top 40 radio airplay.  It’s just a good song.  Forget the fucking hair and the hideous matching white leather fringe cowboy suits they were wearing in the video.  It’s a fucking good song.  It could have come out in 1960, 1977, 1988 or 2015.  It’d be huge.  Dispute me all day, it’s true.  I don’t make the fucking rules, man, I just enforce the ever-loving shit out of them.

Warrant was the first rock concert I went to.  Let me just derail for a second.  The first band I really got into was KISS.  Love Gun and/or Crazy Nights was my first KISS album.  It was 29 fucking years ago and I was 11, I don’t remember.  After that a friend introduced me to Anthrax.  The “I’m The Man” ep was a mainstay in my walkman for a really long fucking time.  From Anthrax I found Death.  Leprosy and Spiritual Healing were everything I wanted from metal.  But, that “glam metal” scene was huge around this time so, for some reason, I started to listen to some of that, also.  Seriously, Poison was my band for a long time.  Today, I cannot stomach a Poison song.  But in 1988, fuck yeah.  I never got out of Anthrax or Death or Megadeth or Venom or King Diamond either.  The glam metal thing was just fucking fun.  That was it.  It was fun.  It was big, dumb, drug fueled, STD ridden, piss your pants drunk fun.  To be 13 and live vicariously through these maniacs was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.  So, anyway, my first concert was Tesla and Poison.  Warrant was added on for the last leg of the tour through the Midwest.  Their album had been out about 3 months and the first single was doing fairly well on MTV and radio.  “Heaven” hadn’t been released as a single yet.  I remember Jani made a reference to it being the next single when they played it live.  After that, Warrant was writing their own ticket.  Their second album, “Cherry Pie”, was another huge seller with massive hit songs.  Then, in 1991, grunge showed up and any band that was any fun was quickly taken out behind the shed and shot in the head by not only the record labels but by the unwashed masses as well.  Jani once said in an interview that he walked into the lobby of Columbia records and saw an Alice In Chains poster where a Warrant poster used to be and he said, “that’s it.  It’s over”. 

Jani’s career went through a few weird and experimental Warrant records in the 90’s, followed by some nostalgia tours, a solo record, leaving Warrant, rejoining Warrant for a month of miserable performances (due to him being completely fucking wasted drunk), sobriety, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, divorces and, ultimately, the dying alone in a cheap ass hotel room alone at 47 years old.  In case you’re wondering about where Jani was at when he rejoined Warrant in 2008, give this a look.

Brutal.  Alcoholism is motherfucking ugly. 

I remained a Warrant fan throughout.  They were one of “my bands”.  They never let me down, the songs never got old and I never thought they were yesterday’s trend. Warrant carried on throughout all of this with and without Jani.  Jamie St James, of Black N Blue, joined the original 4 members as their vocalist for an album.  After the failed reunion, Robert Mason joined the band and is still their singer. 

I remember seeing Warrant in 91 or 92 in Rochester, Minnesota.  Jani sat down on stage and told the crowd how hard touring was, not knowing day to day, minute to minute where the fuck you are.  He assumed he was in Rochester, New York until about 5 minutes before they went on stage.  It wasn’t said to demean the city or the fans, it was a charismatic lead singer in a rock band being brutally honest to the fans who put him in that spot, for better or worse.  He was an honest songwriter.  When he was on he was the best.  When he was off it was an autopsy.  I always thought Jani would wind up living in Nashville writing songs for the machine, off of the road and away from the temptations, raking in money while doing what came so beautifully and naturally to him.  Writing great songs. 

He’s not a footnote.  He was a fucking treasure.  RIP, Jani.