Californian Funk Rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers have sold over 80 million albums to date.This is a lot.
John Frusciante is an amazing guitarist and RHCP are only good when he is involved.
Around 1990 they released two 12” singles with 3D pop out sleeves, one making a cardboard chilli pepper and one their logo. I had both of them. I think I still do somewhere.
Amazing to think they were so unremarkable for their first four albums that their compilation album was self-deprecatingly titled ‘What Hits?’
They were formidable users of heroin
My ex girlfriend loved RHCP and as I consequence I saw them live 3 times. All three were completely interchangeable and pretty much exactly the same, all were fine.
Aeroplane is a really good song if you stop it before the children’s chanting bit at the end.
Flea is in The Big Lebowski, a very good film.
Flea has impressive bass capabilities for an insect.
Californication soundtracked some particularly great years of my life, and although it hasn’t aged particularly well I really enjoyed rediscovering it when a recent vinyl remaster was released that actually had some semblance of dynamic range. It’s too long, it’s got some awful songs on it, but when it bangs it bangs hard.
Flea will go down as one of the all-time great rock bassists.
Until Josh Klinghoffer joined the band, despite their penchant for referencing the golden state none of the members of The Red Hot Chili Peppers actually originated from California…
The final stretch of Minor Thing > Warm Tape > Venice Queen is one of my favourite album closing runs
Frusciante has an amazing ear for lines that are fragile and beautiful yet also simple as fuck. Most of the lads in my year at school learnt guitar by learning the songs on Californication
Also, the story of the band is really interesting, several phrases to their career
- Being a punky funky band who just wanted have a laugh. Their early albums were ruined, partly cos of the production but more importantly Slovak and Irons being in another band and using other people – album 3 was the first time they actually had all four of the original members of the band on a studio album! What we do have from the early days tho is this demo from before album 1 which features all of the original members and sounds like the worlds greatest party in a biscuit tin
- BSSM – commercial success after losing Slovak and Irons
- One Hot Minute after losing Frusciante to drugs for a few years (if you see interviews with him during this period he looks like a ghost, proper unnerving)
- Frusciante returns and they release some really nice melodic stuff that gets them back in the mainstream. I really like how Californication is very stripped back and simple in the sound as well as the composition. Frusciante had to basically relearn how to play the guitar again from scratch so maybe that’s part of why the writing seems so simple. Then again, being really simple while still being brilliant is often the hardest thing. Apparently the entire album was recorded with SM57s which (along with the mastering, yes) is one of the reasons it sounds so fucking loud
- Frusciante leaves again, meaning I have no more interest in them
Chad and Flea are both excellent. I remember reading about the audition they did for Chad, they said it sounded like a hundred horses thundering towards them and that they couldn’t believe that they’d finally found a drummer who could push Flea slightly beyond his limits
and yet, By The Way
THAT@S A FILTHY LIE
I respect Anthony Keidis for curing his addiction to The Shindig
Has some OK songs
By The Way is in my top 10 fav albums ever.
Their early stuff especially Hillel Slovak era was influenced by Gang of Four.
I particularly used to enjoy Freakey Styley, “produced” by George Clinton. Soundtracked a lot of time playing my Sega Master System.
One Hot Minute is better than its reputation. Last song is immense