The Red Hot Chili Peppers come from America and combine funk, rap, punk and pop with rock. The band was founded in 1983 in the Californian city of Los Angeles. The band currently consists of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (bass), Chad Smith (drums) and John Frusciante (guitar). Well-known former members include Josh Klinghoffer, Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons (of Eleven and Pearl Jam) and Dave Navarro.
The line between a band that manages to stay together over the years and a band that falls apart is very thin. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are living proof of this. It was a close call that Anthony Kiedis didn’t perish from his drug addiction. Guitarist Hillel Slovak had to die to make it clear to him that it is the music that gives his life meaning.
High school isn’t a difficult time full of spots, changing voices and raging hormones for everyone. For Michael Balzary (better known as Flea), Hillel Slovak and Anthony Kiedis, their high school in LA marked the beginning of the band. Together with drummer Jack Irons, they formed a band they called Tony Flow And The Miraculously Majestic Masters Of Mayhem.
Their motto: always play as if you have an erection. Whether this is actually the case during performances is easy to find out, as the band members often wear nothing more than a sock on their manhood.
Drugs and fame
The first Peppers album didn’t do much, yet their performances were well attended. Many fines for streaking followed. A second album, Freaky Styley (1985), and a third album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), quickly followed. Meanwhile, the gentlemen had more success, touring a lot, and Kiedis and Slovak became addicted to heroin. The following year, in which their EP Abbey Road was made and released, the band’s drug use was very high. Flea and Irons were not hardcore junkies, Kiedis and Slovak were, despite their many attempts to quit.
On 27 June 1988, Hillel Slovak died from a fatal mix of heroin and cocaine. All band members were deeply affected by his death; Kiedis admitted himself to a rehab clinic in Mexico, Flea stopped abruptly, partly due to the birth of his daughter Clara, and Irons left the band disappointed. The latter would drum for Pearl Jam between 1995 and 1998.
Kiedis and Flea decided to carry on and searched for a new drummer and guitarist. These came in the form of John Frusciante, a brilliant guitarist and loyal fan of the Peppers, and Chad Smith, who Flea called ‘a dinosaur on drums’. In 1989, the Red Hot Chili Peppers made a powerful comeback with Mother's Milk. This album includes the song ‘Knock Me Down’. In this song, Kiedis sings about the fact that no one is stronger than drugs, obviously a tribute to Slovak. The album did well, and the follow-up Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) marked their definitive worldwide breakthrough. Thanks in part to the hits 'Under the Bridge', 'Breaking The Girl' and 'Give It Away', Blood Sugar Sex Magik went platinum in the United States. The Peppers received their first Grammy Award.
The Top 2000
The Peppers have no less than 12 songs in the Top 2000:
Sunday Morning Classics: Californication
On 20 December 2020, the album Californication was on the turntable with us as a Sunday Morning Classic.
Californication is the essential funk rock album, as well as the most mature and commercially successful Red Hot Chili Peppers album.
With this album, the Peppers grew from a funk rock band into an iconic funk rock band, while maintaining their unique quirky image. Californication deals with personal issues such as lust, drug abuse, death and contemplating suicide.
“Around the World” is about the travels and experiences of frontman Anthony Kiedis as a Pepper. The title track, "Californication", took a sarcastic turn on the Hollywood lifestyle, referring to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. There are also occasional instances where Anthony Kiedis considered the issue of love, as in "Porcelain" and "This Velvet Glove".
The song "Otherside", whose title refers to the afterlife, talks about addictions and the struggles that addicted individuals have to endure. This song specifically refers to Hillel Slovak, a former Pepper who died of a heroin overdose in 1988. In general, "Otherside" refers to any similar situation where people go around in circles and are unable to change for the better. Probably the most iconic song of the set, "Scar Tissue", openly talks about death and suicide.
Red Hot Chili Peppers have always been known for Anthony Kiedis’s emotional singing and Flea’s rich, punchy slap bass. In Californication, the Peppers brought back guitarist John Frusciante, who enchants fans with his crisp, amazingly clear guitar solos. "Get On Top" also has a great funky guitar sound thanks to Frusciante’s magical swing on the wah pedal.
"Around the World" has one of the most intricate bass licks ever recognised, thanks to Flea’s genius. In "Parallel Universe", Kiedis’s vocals were muted to make way for distortion, creating a darker and heavier feel.
With this album, Red Hot Chili Peppers reached the point where their music became most consolidated and their songwriting solid.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are the essential funk-punk rock band and Californication is simply the essential Peppers album. It tries to take you on a gripping, nostalgic, spiritual journey and makes you wonder what the meaning of life is.
Source: Jan Liebregts, NPO and Wikipedia
