A year after putting out the album that propelled them to rock stardom, the members of Jane's Addiction had enough of other. Singer Perry Farrell envisioned a farewell tour that eventually grew into a traveling festival of music and arts. Emphasizing the fringes, declaring war on the dumb pretty glistening center, Lollapalooza took "Alternative Nation" around the USA, trumpeting inclusivity at all 26 stops. The weirdoes no longer had to huddle in the corner, screaming was encouraged, and anyone that bristled at the sights and sounds could sit and spin.
After a mostly-great initial run ending in 1997, Farrell brought Lollapalooza back in 2003. Plans to expand the next year (two days in each city) fell through thanks to poor ticket sales. For 2005, promoters decided to keep the idea of a two-day festival, albeit in a single location: Chicago's Grant Park. The year after that, another day was added, and that format has been the standard since.
1. 1994
Expanded to 42 performances, all the better to enjoy the Pumpkins before Billy Boy spiraled utterly out of control, shaving his head and gluing that stupid shirt to his bird chest. That fucking main stage does not relent. Even replacing Boredoms with Green Day wasn't unforgivable, since back in the '90s, Green Day were still writing songs instead of operas. Stereolab and Shonen Knife on the second stage? Jesus, take the panties.
2. 1993
Now up to 36 shows. Primus were never as good as a bassist-led band should be. Alice In Chains and Dinosaur Jr. back-to-back in any context is ridiculous and wonderful. I could bitch about putting the rap version of Up With People on the main stage, but I'd rather squirt over those side offerings: Redman, Sebadoh, Free Kitten and Thurston Moore, Royal Trux, and goddamn motherfucking ass-screaming fan-daming Tsunami.
3. 1995
The last great year of the original run, despite abandoning open fields for seated amphitheaters, which bummed out both bands and fans. The most thoroughly documented backstage drama of any Lollapalooza, but the music matters most. Bar the Bosstones, a legendary main stage. Hell, time your arrival right, you could have avoided that checkered chucklefucks altogether! That was my plan…then my best friend's aunt wouldn't let her borrow the car. Meaning I missed Pavement getting pelted by mud. And Helium. Fuck aunts.
4. 1991
First ain't always best…in fact, a damn good percentage of the time it ain't. What was the best sex of your life? Exactly. The diversity was there, as was the energy, and even a bit of the ol' danger, seeing how Gibby Haynes spent the first few of the 26 total shows firing a shotgun full of powder into the mortified crowd during the Surfers set. Fuck yeah, Alternative Nation.
5. 1992
Actual hip-hop this time! The second stage expanded, with some true gems. Pearl Jam were out to change lives, and did. They could/should have supplanted Ministry in the order, honestly. (I smell pussy…is that you, Al?)
6. 2006
These lineups destroy my cerebral cortex. Going from Nada Surf to Built To Spill to Sonic Youth on one stage; the "adidas-Champ Stage" headliners were, respectively: Sleater-Kinney, Thievery Corporation and fucking Blues Traveler.
7. 1996
Any regular TJMD reader knows I don't hate Metallica. But them headlining the world's premier festival for alternative music was just crap. Soundgarden or the Ramones would have made massively more sense. The promoters hemorrhaged cash last year, though, and they needed the huge name. (I remember seeing Shaolin monks listed as one of the main stage performers and wondering why they couldn't get Wu-Tang Clan. Then, for some later dates, they did. Well done.)
8. 2008
Kanye headlining in his hometown, about to release his worst album, woo. He didn't overcook his noodle and start slandering other major celebrities, either. Look at this: Cat Power, Mates Of State, CSS, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Fuck you, 'Ye.
9. 2005
Interesting Main Stage selections. I'd show up knowing I'd likely never get bored, though I wouldn't expect to be thrilled at any point either.
10. 2010
Stooges before Modest Mouse. I get it. I don't like it, but I certainly get it.
11. 2014
Think of the oddly great rap selection as a fat pulled pork sandwich between a pair of warm buns, and the best of the side acts like a slab of sweet cornbread next to it on the plate.
12. 2009
Landing Depeche Mode for their only summer festival appearance in the States was a coup. Allowing the singer for Kaiser Chiefs to continue on with that name is a catastrophe.
13. 2010
Gaga is back, on the same stage as Devo. Blues Traveler on Lolla kills me half-dead. They strike me as antithetical to the whole thing. First U.S. show since 2006 for the Strokes, which I'm sure excited a lot of people who still regard the 1980s as the most overrated decade for music.
14. 2011
Shit, the Cars? Wait, Benjamin Orr died in 2000. Oh well, at least there was future Peanuts Movie star Trombone Shorty. Pretty solid side stage options, including the sun-kissed Best Coast.
15. 2013
Three days featuring lots of acts that are comfortably ensconced in my musical library, yet I can die peacefully knowing I never once saw any of them live.
16. 2017
Much chaff (Blink-182, Live) and a few unmissables (Run the Jewels, Tegan and Sara, Warpaint). Lazy as shit, but so am I some days. Just usually not three in a row.
17. 2015
Macca. Fucking Paul McCartney. I'd show up just to see him, maybe check out Gogol Bordello's 27th appearance, then leave. Side stages? Weaker than a baby punch.
18. 1997
The last Lolla of the original incarnation, featuring Orbital, The Orb and Orbit! The headliner rotated between those first two, The Prodigy and Devo, who should have felt enormously insulted.
19. 2012
Even flabby Black Sabbath ("Slack Flabbath") is better than Franz Ferdinand in any shape. I still hate that my best buddy saw 'em back at Ozzfest. (I have Fugazi over him. Still.) Afghan Whigs and Frank Ocean notwithstanding, 2012 is Flotsam-Jetsam City. Not to mention the inclement weather that affected many sets.
20. 2016
A fourth day, another 100K, another how many million? Red Hot Chili Peppers headlining for a record fourth time? Appealing as snorting peppery vanilla pudding. I've seen Kurt Vile live twice, both times in more ideal settings (including the last-ever Sonic Youth U.S. show).
Getting hit by a truck full of Skyline Chili
21. 2003
The return of big ol' sucker shit! Lick mine. Jane's Addiction, bootleg Rage Against the Machine, Tool Jr., the guys that challenged Limp Bizkit for the dishonor of "Most Superfluous DJ In a Rock Band" back in the '90s, offensively inoffensive backpacker rap, and that was just Day 1. Day 2? Can eat me with a stuffy nose.
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