Music Monday: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Most often, when I like a band or an artist, I like their body of work, with some exceptions. But there are those band that crystallize into something great for a number of years, and then fizzle away. That's the case with today's subject. It's Music Monday, and we're talking about the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

This one's a bit like the REM one, by which I mean I'm gonna skip the early records, the stuff "real fans" like, back when the band was indie and cool and doing an entirely unreasonable amount of drugs. This means I'll skip they years when they had an Israeli guitar player, and will just mention that they've historically been kinda asshole-ish to the many other lead guitar players following the death of Hillel Slovak. I considered trying to seem cooler than I am and starting with the earlier records, but... I don't know them that well, and don't like them that much. So I'm gonna start one album before the band's real breakthrough.

Mother's Milk

This was the band's first album with their most iconic lineup, the one which lasted the longest and produced the most bangers. But this album doesn't really have the sound they would have in the future, because the album's producer and the band's new - at the time - guitar player, John Frusciante couldn't agree on that point. As a result, I'm only including one song from this album, and it's a cover. Originally a Stevie Wonder, this is Higher Ground:

Sample lyric:

Powers
Keep on lying
While your people
Keep on dying
World
Keep on turning
Because it won't be too long

Blood Sugar Sex Magick

This was the band's first album working with super producer Rick Rubin, the band's first hugely successful album, and the album that produced some of their most memorable songs. As I most often do, I'm going by album track order, so I'm gonna start with the album's third song, which was the fourth single released. This is a song about a relationship where Anthony Kiedis - the band's lead singer and main lyricist - sings about being an absolutely terrible boyfriend. This is Breaking The Girl:

Sample lyric:

Twisting and turning
Your feelings are burning
You're breaking the girl
(She meant you no harm)

If the first song I featured was about a relationship, the second one is about a topic that seemed to interest Kiedis much more at the time: Sex. This is Suck My Kiss:

Sample lyric

Aw baby think you can
Be my girl, I'll be your man
Someone full of fun
Do me 'till I'm well done

The album's lead single, which would become the album's second biggest hit is another one that has a connection to one of Kiedis' girlfriends. This one isn't about the relationship itself, but about something the ex, legendary German singer Nina Hagen told him about altruism. This one has an amazing, classic video. This is Give It Away:

Sample lyric:

Greedy little people in a sea of distress
Keep your more to receive your less
Unimpressed by material excess
Love is free love me say hell yes

The last song I'll feature from this album was the second single, and is possibly RHCP's most enduring song. It's a song about addiction, about rehab, about loneliness, and losing those close to you. It is an absolute banger and a killer ballad. This, obviously, is Under The Bridge:

Sample lyric:

It's hard to believe that there's nobody out there
It's hard to believe that I'm all alone
At least I have her love, the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry

One Hot Minute

Following the massive success of BSSM, Frusciante left the band for the first time, for reasons of personal conflict and because he felt - at the time - that he wanted to be more "indie." Which if funny, considering his more melodic sound was what made the band so huge. He was replaced by one of the greatest talents of the day, Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. Navarro brought a much edgier sound. Another reason for the album's edge, and another reason why recording it was such an ordeal, was that during work on it, Kiedis relapsed and got back to heroin. Musically, some people considered the album a poor follow up, but I strongly disagree. This is, in fact, my favorite of the band's albums, and easily the one I've listened to the most. The album's second song, and third single, is a very powerful snapshot of Kiedis' bad situation at the time, and also a super funky jam. It's about falling apart, and holding on to music. This is Aeroplane:

Sample lyric

I like pleasure spiked with pain
And music is my Aeroplane
It's my Aeroplane

If Aeroplane was about how much life sucked for Kiedis during work on this album, the next song is about how much it sucked for everyone else: Flea had gotten divorced, Navarro was possibly doing even more drugs than Kiedis, drummer Chad Smith was just bummed that the album was taking too long. This is My Friends:

Sample lyric:

My friends are so depressed
I feel the question
Of your loneliness
Confide, cause I'll be on your side
You know I will, you know I will

I had a difficult time deciding whether or not to put this song here. The band never played it live since Dave Navarro left, and it's not available on their official youtube channel. But how could I ignore it? It is an incredible song, another entirely autobiographical song, written on the day of Kurt Cobain's death. It's a song of grief and love. This is Tearjerker:

Sample lyric:

My mouth fell open
Hoping that the truth
Would not be true
Refuse the news

Californication

Following the release of One Hot Minute, Dave Navarro was fired from the band. Kiedis was trying to get sober, and Navarro was still using. They also had disagreements about the band's musical direction. Re-enter John Frusciante. Following his departure from the band, Frusciante also got hooked on heroin, to near death. He had just finished rehab when Flea visited him and offered that he rejoin the band. Now over himself with the "but I want to be indie" stuff, and also entirely impoverished due to drug use, Frusciante accepted immediately. And so began the most commercial and lucrative period of the band's career. I would say this album is a good balance between edge and listen-ability, and is certainly the album one is likeliest to just put on. It is also, to my mind, their last great album. This is the last album from which I'll feature more than two songs. The album's first song and second single was a bit of a throwback to their more funky origins, and is, in fact, a bit of a soundalike to Give It Away. And much like Give It Away, this is one of the band's most positive songs. This is Around The World:

Sample lyric:

I know I know for sure
That life is beautiful around the world
I know I know it's you
You say hello and then I say I do

The album's third song and first single is one of their greatest hits. This is an important chapter in Anthony Kiedis' addiction story, as this is the story of being a recovering addict, of seeing life through the "after" lens. This is Scar Tissue:

Sample lyric:

Soft spoken with a broken jaw
Step outside but not to brawl and
Autumn's sweet we call it fall
I'll make it to the moon if I have to crawl and

The album's fourth song and third single can be seen as a companion piece to Scar Tissue, as it deals with the same issues, but with the added layer of addressing Hillel Slovak's death from the same drugs Kiedis was struggling to get over. This is Otherside:

Sample lyric:

How long, how long will I slide?
Separate my side
I don’t, I don’t believe it’s bad
Slit my throat, it’s all I ever

The album's sixth song and fourth single is one I am actually shocked it took so long as a single, as it became one of the band's biggest and most played hits. While not as deeply personal as many of the other songs in the band's history and, indeed, this post, it is personal in the sense that it's about the place the band is from. RHCP is an iconic California band, and this song is about the California, and specifically the LA, experience. This is Californication:

Sample lyric:

Pay your surgeon very well
To break the spell of aging
Celebrity skin, is this your chin
Or is that war you're waging?
First born unicorn
Hardcore, soft porn

The album's final song, and final single, is possibly the prettiest song RHCP ever released. It is, in a very real way, a victory lap. This is a song about a surfing trip Kiedis, Frusciante, and Flea took up the west coast. And, appropriately, it doesn't feature Chad Smith's drums. This is Road Trippin':

Sample lyric:

Road trippin’ with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It’s time to leave this town
It’s time to steal away
Let’s go get lost
Anywhere in the U.S.A
Let’s go get lost
Let’s go get lost

By The Way

This album was okay, I guess? Anyway, the title song is pretty good, even if it feels like a RHCP medley. It's about sex and music and drugs. So, you know, the RHCP topic. This is By The Way:

Sample lyric:

Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for

Stadium Arcadium

This was also an album. The first song and lead song is pretty good. I also like the cosplay Kiedis does in the video. It's about sex. This is Dani California:

Sample lyric:

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess
I'm your priest, yeah, yeah

I far prefer the album's second song and third single, because it's such a shiny happy song. This song is about surviving and starting over with a fresh slate. This is Snow (Hey Yo):

Sample lyric:

Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder
Where it's so white as snow
Privately divided by a world so undecided

And that's where we'll end. I know the band had two more albums, I'm with You and The Getaway. I don't really have thoughts about them.

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