Does anyone really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Josh in Chicago at 12:49 29 Dec 19

xpost I concede that's a rare show of relative creativity. Rubin probably had to teach him what to do with 6/8.

lol like Rick Rubin does shit except stroking his beard on a couch in lotus position

I do not like RHCP very much but they were part of a general movement of "shorts rock" and a lot of ppl that were pretty hip like Flea got involved, I just think it's weird to be mystified by it

I saw them in 86, 87, and 89 and at least in those two earlier shows - both of which got shut down before completion - they really were very good, exciting, and yes kind of subversive, though their songwriting hadn't really developed at that point. Nothing against Frusciante but I think Slovak was a more singular guitarist and better for them, commercial considerations aside.

xpost Again, prompted by me reading the Flea book, where he comes off extremely passionate about and interested in ... just about everything opposite what I think of when I think of the Chili Peppers. Art Blakey, X, Echo & the Bunnymen, Cameo, the Germs, Talking Heads, Dizzy Gillespie, Fela, Miles, League of Gentlemen ... I mean, I get why the band is popular: for many of the meathead reasons I (and you'd think Flea) wouldn't like 'em. But hey, Kiedis is his cosmic sex soul brother love traveler or whatever.

It was crazy how early all those future Peppers intersected. Grade school, really. Flea, Slovak, Jack Irons, Kiedis. I'll def. read the second volume when it comes out.

I saw them twice, in 1988 and 1989. The first show was great. Outdoors on the campus of Rutgers University, they were opening for Killing Joke, and I believe it was very early in Frusciante's tenure and D.H. Peligro was on drums. (Weirdly, it never shows up on even the most exhaustive lists of their touring history, but I was there, man!) The second time was the Frusciante-Smith lineup, at the Ritz on 54th Street in NYC, and there had already been a change in their audience; lots of dudes in the pit wearing white Duke University hats and randomly punching people. I soured on them after that.

And yeah, Flea is not who his music would indicate. I actually met him and Anthony at a Fela concert in L.A. in the summer of 1988.

Regardless of their attitude towards the Spicy Red Chili Peppers, who are generally regarded as a vile and tragic entity for many reasons (not the least of which their role as prominent contributors to the "shorts rock" genre, as mentioned), all music fans seem to tolerate, if not respect or even admire, this Flea guy. Why? Because it's understood that he's "pretty hip."

But I put it to you all: why is his hipness assumed indisputable? Because of his history of drug use? Because of his outspokenness for liberal causes? Because of his weird-looking face? Because of his stuffed animal pants? What notable alternative rock star among us who has played in bands either widely reviled, widely acclaimed, or anywhere in the middle can be said not to have done the drugs or bad-mouthed "the man" or is not sort of weird looking or has never worn outlandishly inappropriate garments in a desperate cry for attention? Not a single one of them, I say. Not William Corgan, not Jeff Ament of the Pearl Jam, not even Jason Ross of platinum-selling alternative rockers Seven Mary Three (occasionally abbreviated to 7 Mary 3 or 7M3).

So what makes this Flea character special?

I posit that the only true reason that gap toothed heroin enthusiast Michael Balzary remains a popular figure in the rock and roll world is because of this reason: the name "Flea" is cute and amusing, and people like cute and amusing names. It is truly that simple. Had he chosen to go by a traditional name such as Chad Smith, nobody would give a single heck about this man, and we would have been spared his volume of autofellacious drivel - a waste of paper that would be better spent chronicling the lives and times of more deserving rock icons such as Kevin Griffin, lead singer of Billboard Modern Rock chart-toppers Better Than Ezra.

Wow

who could dispute such a watertight argument

lol See also: The Edge.

(For the record, he's not a heroin guy. Everything else, though, gets a funky thumbs up!)

And yeah, Flea is not who his music would indicate. I actually met him and Anthony at a Fela concert in L.A. in the summer of 1988.

they tried to conceal this interest by re-titling Fela's Concert to Fela's Cock

I saw them in '91 (BloodSugarSexMagic tour), and they seemed to be phoning it in... maybe it was an off-night.

I like Flea - did it say in the book that he chose it as an anagram of “Fela”? - but that argument almost made me change my mind.

He more or less picked the name randomly when he auditioned for Fear.

When I last saw Pearl Jam, Jeff Ament was wearing a Cult "Love" shirt, which intrigued me. That's the most I've ever thought of him other than "that's the guy that plays bass in Pearl Jam."

I saw a guy in a running suit who I thought was Flea a few years back, but he was Flea so I couldn’t catch up with him to ask and be sure.

Who has saved more on shirts, Flea, Matt Pike or Iggy? Prolly Iggy.

Just based on length of career, Iggy for sure. You're talking 50 years of shirtlessness.

Do you think he wakes up, goes to the closet, and wonders: which shirt won't I wear today?

picturing him strolling through a walk-in closet with this very thought but yes

Now that they’re middle-aged, those guys wear argyle socks on their c0cks.

i thought people loved flea because they can't get enough slap bass

he’s one of the few guys who do it that I actually like

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an amazing band and every CD by them is great. I like how they're music has matured with them which seems to be the reason a lot of you don't like them here. They may not be as crazy as they used to be but you can't do the same stuff forever. The Chili Peppers are one of the only bands I know who can change with the times and still be successful and write good music.
If you really want something to complain about why don't you try nagging about all that damn emo screamo or whatever you call it, you know like fall out boy, good charlotte or panic! at the disco. It's a whole bunch of boys who haven't hit puberty yet singing like they've got their balls in a vice grip. Did I mention they also can't play their instruments worth shit?

Even if you don't like Anthony's voice (I love it) you have to admit that the rest of the band is pretty impressive and if you disagree then you obviously have no appreciation for good music. I would go see the Chili Peppers just to see Flea himself because he's one of the best bass players out there. John Frusciante is also a breathtaking guitar player and Chad is a damn good drummer.

On the other hand if you just don't like their style of music then that's ok don't listen to it, it's that simple.

― lizz (chikkabam), Thursday, August 3, 2006 3:40 AM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

You kids don't know the Spicy Red Chili Peppers? The breathtaking guitarsmanship of John Frusciante? The wild shirtless bass of Flea? The bong-rattling lyrics of Anthony Kiedis? The damn good drumwork of Chad Smith? Oh, man.

They and U2 could be the last bands standing where regular folk could name more than one (sock covered) member.

Limbomaniacs were better.

As maybe the only other poster who's actually heard the Limbomaniacs album...no, they were not.

:)

it took me a minute to recognize flea in queen & slim, maybe it’s bc he’s wearing a shirt

i thought people loved flea because they can't get enough slap bass

― 💠 (crüt), Sunday, December 29, 2019 7:48 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he’s one of the few guys who do it that I actually like

― The Soundtrack of Burl Ives (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, December 29, 2019 7:57 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he also, deliberately i think, significantly dialed down the slapping in his parts around the time of one hot minute/californication

I seem to remember him talking around that time about Kim Gordon who was being quite scathing in the press about all that cock rock slap bass stuff and how he felt chastened by it.

As early as BSSM, apparently (#4 here): https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/red-hot-chili-peppers-blood-sugar-sex-magik-10-things-you-didnt-know-121474/amp/

imagine being chastened about slap bass, thinking about it critically, then continuing to slap so hard

He talks about getting introduced to it by hearing another high school band practicing and being impressed by how in your face it was. He says getting down the non stop 16th note downstroke parts of Fear as the real challenge. He also cites Les from the Bunnymen as a huge influence.

So weird, Les is an interesting bass player and the master of very simple, slightly off-kilter rhythmically repetitive bass riffs but there is *no* discernible influence on what Flea telegraphs to us in his style whatsoever, like nada.

Like if he wanted to namecheck some cool post-punk player I would have expected Tracey Wormworth or Sara Lee.

I didn’t know those River Phoenix / Sinéad O’Connor details.

Also:

“There are definitely ghosts in this house,” he told Interview magazine. “One of the rooms has a very spiritually sexual vibe, and I actually heard a woman being fucked in there one day. I hadn’t masturbated the whole time that we’d been here, because I was so concentrated on my music, but then I slept in that room and I couldn’t resist the temptation to masturbate.”

The Sinéad thing is interesting in light of those few lines of dialogue involving her in My Own Private Idaho

(Also, of course, Gus Van Sant directed the “Give It Away” video)

Turns out RHCP later wrote a tribute song to Phoenix, after his death (“Transcending")... I didn’t know that, either.

I mean...

damn emo screamo or whatever you call it, you know like fall out boy, good charlotte or panic! at the disco. It's a whole bunch of boys who haven't hit puberty yet singing like they've got their balls in a vice grip. Did I mention they also can't play their instruments worth shit?

xxxpost He does mention Sara Lee! Re Les, he acknowledges no one would guess, but claims it's there if you listen. Which is certainly one reason I've never noticed.

xpost - people always have the weird idea that inspiration from another musician means you sound like them in an obvious way

also I'd say the fact that he picked the Bunnymen dude is 100% sincere I didn't even know the dude's name and I post on ILM

xpost Gus didn't make the Give It Away video.

Huh, really? My memory fails me.

I think he did Under the Bridge, tho.

Wikipedia sez you’re right

xpost - people always have the weird idea that inspiration from another musician means you sound like them in an obvious way

Okay I see that, but In what other way might Les have influenced Flea?

Flea literally writes that he borrows from him all the time ...

Crazy, can't see it myself, but cool. Les is really quite underrated too.