''Good God's Urge'' is the second studio album by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Porno for Pyros Porno for Pyros is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1992, following the break-up of Jane's Addiction. The band currently consists of former Jane's Addiction members Perry Farrell (vocals) a ...

. It was released in 1996 on

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

It was the band's first album to feature bass guitarist

Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...

, who assisted the band in finishing the album after Martyn LeNoble left before all his bass tracks had been completed. There were three singles released from the album. In addition to Watt, many guest musicians lent their musical talents to various songs. "Porpoise Head" featured

Daniel Ash Daniel Ash (born 31 July 1957) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He became prominent in the late 1970s as the guitarist for the iconic goth rock band Bauhaus, which spawned two related bands led by Ash: Tones on Tail and Love an ...

, David J and

Kevin Haskins Kevin Michael Dompe (born 19 July 1960), born and best-known as Kevin Michael Haskins, is an English drummer, best known from the British rock group Bauhaus. He was also a member of Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets. Early career As a child, ...

from

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...

, Love and Rockets and

the Bubblemen The Bubblemen were a side project formed in 1988 by the members of alternative rock band Love and Rockets. Love and Rockets members Daniel Ash (guitar, saxophone and vocals), David J (bass and vocals) and Kevin Haskins (drums, synthesizers ...

. ''Good God's Urge'' also marked a reunion of ex-

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands fr ...

guitarist

Dave Navarro David Michael Navarro (born June 7, 1967) is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Between 1993 and 1998, Navarro was the guitarist of the Red Hot Ch ...

, who played guitar on the album track "Freeway." The song also featured Navarro's

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, f ...

bandmate,

Flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

. Farrell's then-girlfriend, Christine Cagle, appeared on the album cover. Porno for Pyros went on a hiatus shortly after the tour (featuring Watt on bass) promoting the album's release due to guitarist

Peter DiStefano Peter DiStefano (born July 10, 1965, in Santa Monica, California, U.S.) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work in the alternative rock band Porno for Pyros (the Jane's Addiction offshoot featuring vocalist Perry Farrell a ...

cancer diagnosis. They were set to reform in 2019 to perform at singer Farrell's birthday celebration, but those plans were scrapped due to the COVID Pandemic. The Good God's Urge-era lineup of Farrell, DiStefano, Perkins, and Watt performed in 2020 as part of a Lollapalooza webcast, and in 2022 as part of the Welcome to Rockville festival.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' wrote that "while he helpfully turns the attack down to an alluringly cool semi-acoustic breeze on parts of ''Good God’s Urge'', Farrell can’t improve his obnoxious personality, which renders the album another love-it/hate- it proposition." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "the music gets atmospheric, experimental and interesting." ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' called the record "more pleasantly stoned than the first album."

Track listing

Personnel

Band

Perry Farrell Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as part (one of the ...

: Vocals, percussion, samples, harp, keyboards *

: Guitars, samples, backing vocals * Martyn LeNoble: Bass (tracks 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10) *

Stephen Perkins Stephen Andrew Perkins (September 13, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter. A drummer and percussionist, he currently plays with Jane's Addiction and Hellride. Following the dissolution of Jane's Addiction, Perkins continued to play w ...

: Drums, percussion, samples, backing vocals

Additional musicians

* Thomas Johnson: Samples and sounds, keyboards (track 2) * David J: Bass (1) *

: Bass (2, 6) *

: Bass (9) *

: Guitar (1) *

: Samples (1) *

: Guitar intro (9) *

Matt Hyde Matt Hyde (born June 19, 1964) is an American producer, engineer, mixer and musician. From 1982 to 1985 he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. While still at Berklee in 1984, he obtained an internship at Pyramid Recording Studio in Bosto ...

: Intro slide guitar (3), samples (8), slide guitar (10) *

Lili Haydn Lili Haydn (born December 25, 1969) is a Canadian-born rock violinist, vocalist, actress, and composer. As a child, she pursued a career as an actress; at age eight she discovered the violin and began to focus on classical music. By the time Hay ...

: Violin (2) * Ralf Rickert: Trumpet (2) * Leo Chelyapov: Clarinet (7) * John Flannery: Space guitar intro and chorus (9), backing vocals and trash can (6) * Josh "Bagel" Klassman: Backing vocals (9) * Christine Cagle: Backing vocals (6, 9) * Shawn London: Backing Vocals (''6'') * Kimberly Juarez: Backing Vocals (''2'')

Production

Dave Collins David S. Collins (born October 20, 1952) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball from to . Collins is one of three players to have made it to the major leagues who played for the Rapid City Post 22 American Legion baseball program i ...

- mastering

Charts

References

{{Authority control Porno for Pyros albums 1996 albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Matt Hyde Albums recorded at Shangri-La (recording studio)