Dave Navarro’s Iconic Guitar Moments Outside of Jane’s Addiction

Jane’s Addiction’s classic lineup—Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery—have reunited for their first show since 2010.

The band performed in front of an intimate crowd May 23 at London’s Bush Hall. Navarro had returned after a battle with long COVID-19 forced him off the road. Meanwhile, guitarists Josh Klinghoffer (Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age) had been filling in for him.

Though Jane’s Addiction made Navarro famous, he’s also spent time in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, played on one of the ’90s biggest alt-pop songs, and moonlighted across various projects—with artists ranging from Guns N’ Roses to Christina Aguilera.

But Navarro is back, and to celebrate his return, here’s a look at some of his iconic guitar moments outside of Jane’s Addiction.

“Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)” by Nine Inch Nails

In 1995, Nine Inch Nails released a remixed version of their nihilist, turbulent, and brilliant masterpiece The Downward Spiral. Called Further Down the Spiral, it features a Rick Rubin remix of the plodding “Piggy.” The Rubin remix happened while Navarro joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their post-John Frusciante album One Hot Minute. Trent Reznor whispers over a frantic post-industrial rework featuring Navarro’s goth-star guitar playing.

Hey pig, piggy, pig, pig, pig
All of my fears came true
Black and blue and broken bones, you left me here; I’m all alone
My little piggy needed something new

“You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette

Canadian singer Alanis Morissette transitioned from dance pop to post-grunge angst on her third album Jagged Little Pill. “You Oughta Know” was one of the decade’s biggest songs and featured Navarro on lead guitar and then-bandmate Flea on bass. Said Flea, “I showed up, rocked out, and split. When I first heard the track, it had a different bassist and guitarist on it; I listened to the bass line and thought, ‘That’s some weak s–t.’ It was no flash and no smash! But the vocal was strong, so I just tried to play something good.” Both he and Navarro, indeed, played something good.

’Cause the love that you gave that we made
Wasn’t able to make it enough for you to be open wide
No, and every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told
Me, you’d hold me until you died?
Till you died, but you’re still alive

“Aeroplane” by Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute is a divisive record among fans. While some John Frusciante die-hards lament Navarro’s hard rock intrusion on the funky monks, others enjoyed the colliding worlds of two giants from L.A.’s underground scene: the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction. “Aeroplane” is the album’s funkiest track and features one of Flea’s finest moments. It’s probably the album’s perfect distillation of Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Ritual de lo Habitual. Navarro’s brand of funk is more angular and rigid than Frusciante’s, and his desert-tripping chords sound as Crayola-vivid as Flea’s daughter Clara and the kids’ choir singing during the outro.

I like pleasure spiked with pain
And music is my aeroplane
It’s my aeroplane
Songbird sweet and sour Jane
And music is my aeroplane
It’s my aeroplane

“My Friends” by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Regardless of how you feel about the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Dave Navarro experimentations, “My Friends” is one of the band’s best songs. One Hot Minute, fairly or not, was judged against what came before it. On its own, it’s a good album. However, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and John Frusciante’s shadow on either side of this release looms large. But “My Friends” is the kind of dark, under-the-bridge street beauty that’s come to define the Chili Peppers as much as their Hendrix-meets-P-Funk jams.

My friends are so depressed
I fear the question of your loneliness
Confide, ’cause I’ll be on your side
You know I will
You know I will

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Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images