Ongoing History of New Music Daily: The origins of Perry Farrell

Simon Bernstein used to work as a waiter at a bar in Newport Beach, California.  After a while, he got a job which involved lip-synching to David Bowie songs while dressed in drag.  When he got tired of that, he moved to Hollywood where he got involved in a band called Psi-Com.  Simon got out of Psi-Com when the rest of the group tried to convince him to join the Hare Krishnas. 

Here is where the legend starts. 

Simon was introduced to some new musicians by a prostitute.  Plus, she was so optimistic about this new group’s chances for success that she also supposedly gave the guys enough money to get their career going.  Her name was Jane and a tribute, the group called themselves “Jane’s Addiction.” 

By the way, Simon adopted a name that was a play on the word “peripheral.”  We now call him Perry Farrell.

Check out Tuesday’s post on how Beck came up with “Loser.” And don’t forget to check out my podcast The Ongoing History of New Music where you listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, Stitcher, or wherever you get your on-demand audio.