I Am Jani Lane
5 min read
I was a child of glam metal. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. There was something very weird about being into music made by guys who wore more makeup than their girlfriends. Yes, glam was a little gay – even back in the 80s when it was “okay” for a dude to wear eyeliner and go to a show on the Sunset Strip featuring bands with names like Pretty Boy Floyd or Poison. But you know what? So what? Thematically speaking, most of what appealed to me about the music back then wasn’t about the makeup. The reason it resonated with me, personally, was because I was generally a happy kid that didn’t have or need a chip on my shoulder on most days. On most days, as a teen, all I really did want was “Nothin’ But a Good Time” or a little piece of “Heaven.” Enter Warrant. Enter songs that personified that good time that I wanted to be a part of – the part of me that wanted to laugh and feel good about my life. Yes, when I was a kid, I was a Warrant fan. They were probably one of the first few bands that I felt like I owned that didn’t belong to my parents or siblings. Warrant was one of my bands. Yeah, I was a Down Boy…whatever the heck that meant.
The funny thing is that the Seattle invasion that ultimately killed all the music that I loved as a teen also helped trigger some of the best music that Warrant would eventually make in response to Grunge. I still maintain that Ultraphobic was probably their best work created at a time when they were well into their downward spiral of parting ways with Jani Lane. Ultraphobic had two of my all time favorite tunes that never got any radio play, but still resonate with me to this day in the ballad “Stronger Now” and the heavier riffed “Family Picnic.” I went to see them on the Ultraphobic tour back in mid 90s with my friend Erick and the memory of that show will always be my fondest memory of what it was to be a Warrant fan.
This was my favorite Warrant concert – Warrant at The Troubadour in the mid 90s. This was the first time I ever got to interact with a rock star and thankfully not my last. As the band began playing and Jani was about to sing his first words he spun the mic into the air. In that attempt to spin the mic into the air where, I presume, it was timed for him to snatch out of the air and begin singing he instead smacked the mic into the crowd and rolled right to my feet. Jani looked around unsure where the mic went and in that moment I realized that I had a chance to be a hero. I wished that what followed was an amazing toss of the mic back at the front man accompanied by a wink that I had his back, but that isn’t what happened. I over thought the whole thing in that few seconds of deciding what to do, I froze. Instead of tossing it as soon as I picked up the mic, I held it up…like a torch to Jani who screamed, “Throw it!” There I was, at the front of the stage reaching forward, and scared that I would – I don’t know, throw like a girl I guess. I didn’t throw it. After the moment had clearly passed Jani quickly grabbed the mic from my hand and then said, “Don’t sweat it. It’s just a fuckin’ show!” He did this with a smile and the show went on and that advice is what I got to take with me for the rest of my days on this planet. Don’t sweat it. It’s just a show. Through the years, I went to see him several other times (as a solo act and sometimes reunited with Warrant at others), but that’s the Jani Lane I remember. The guy who was looking down at me from the stage screaming, “Don’t sweat it. It’s just a fuckin’ show!”
When I read that Jani Lane was found dead in a hotel in Woodland Hills, I froze, much like that kid I used to be in the mid 90’s who was afraid to throw the microphone back onto the stage. It’s not a secret that I was always rooting for this guy. I imagine that after Grunge hit the scene I have always been rooting for him and guys like him. He helped contribute some of my favorite music. Music that was partly responsible for the soundtrack of my life. When I broke up with the last girlfriend before my wife, he was there, singing “Stronger Now.” When I was mad at the world, he was singing “AYM (Angry Young Man).” Some of his songs got me through some real rough spots helping me figure out this crazy life. So I was rooting for him too. I was rooting for him when he was touring with his all star band. I was rooting for him when he (and Warrant) were opening for Alice Cooper. I was rooting for him when he was making his comeback on reality TV shows. I was rooting for him whenever I would see that he was working on new material hoping that I would get a chance to see his act again. And maybe I was never going to stop rooting for him – even when he was reduced to playing places like the Shack in Anaheim, California in the early 2000’s. He just seemed like he never wanted the party to end. Even as people were shouting, “Play Cherry Pie!” He would return with, “Be patient. I want to play all night. I want to play all night.”
I read that the note that they found on him simply read, “I am Jani Lane.” It made me think. I thought about the person that people would remember and wondered…will they remember the Jani Lane that was found dead in a hotel room in Woodland Hills or will they remember the guy who really did write some timeless songs that most people never did get to hear? I know that most of the world has forgotten him. “I am Jani Lane.” Those final words make me think about his legacy. Unfortunately you may only remember him for helping to write a couple of songs that played on MTV or you may already have reduced him to being that guy whose image you see winking at you on late night infomercials selling hit songs from the biggest hair bands of the 80’s. But I will choose to remember the guy who was always making a comeback and screaming with a half a smile, “Don’t sweat it! It’s just a fuckin’ show!”
Rest in Peace, Jani Lane. Rest in Peace.
