Does anyone really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

I like the Empyrian, or whatever it's called.

none of songs are bad there are just too many of them, and if i'm in the mood for 1.1 hours of melodic funk rock i don't even really feel the length.

When this first came out I owned it on cassette, and I think I played Side Two maybe twice. By the time I got to/through "Give It Away" I was done.

hell of a side one though tbh

i spend more time thinking about this band than I care to admit. for a band I dislike they take up a lot of my mental space.

still mad at "By the Way" for (inadvertently, I assume) nicking that chord sequence from dEUS

that is the extent of my RHCO engagement. I like a lot of the Frusciante solo stuff I've heard tho

*RHCP lol

Hmm, I don't think I've listened to BSSM in at least 25 years, so I don't recognize most of the song titles beyond the singles. Maybe I'll give it a shot and see what floats to the surface.

I tried it last week -- your metaphor is apt, IMO (:D)

I didn't make it that far, tbh. Maybe to the title track?

Oh, a couple of other (er) nuggets in the Flea book. He also big-ups Blockheads bassist Norman Joseph Watt-Roy (which makes perfect sense). And he reveals he started and then abandoned a solo album produced by Daniel Lanois (featuring Jewel on backing vocals, among I'm sure other guests). But he concedes he can't sing worth a shit.

californication: all of the problems i had with this record in 1999 still hold: it's one of the worst-sounding albums i've ever heard, can anyone confirm that this is when rick rubin started indifferently handing off his productions to be mixed/mastered by demons from hell; the more juvenile funk tracks mix poorly with the solemn serious pop they start producing here (despite the lyrics "purple stain" rules though); at 56 minutes it's one of the shorter rhcp records and yet i can hear a fuckin perfect 40 minute edit in my head that makes the slight bloat frustrating (cf. "emit remmus" is one of those rhcp album tracks that's fine when it's playing but still pretty pointless). and yet: "parallel universe," "scar tissue," "otherside," the title track, "easily," "porcelain," "this velvet glove," "savior," "right on time," "road trippin'" are all career-best songs, and one of the reasons they sell that solemnity so well is that kiedis finally learned how to fuckin sing and how to write lyrics that aren't about fuckin

to record only water for ten days: the entire reason i'm a john frusciante fan is because i thought this album title was so sick that i had to hear the record. in a lot of ways it's the more composed, "other side of the breakdown" version of niandra, it sounds like it's gradually putting itself together instead of falling apart. a beautiful, lonely album

it should probably be way higher in my ranking

His album titles are great

Lord help me, Brad, you have inspired me to deep dive every record from Californication onwards… I never listened to that one past the few listens necessary for reviewing, and goddamn did I hate what you accurately describe as those solemn singles… I was asked to write about them several times in the 00s, and it occurred to me those singles indicated they had assumed the mantle of Don and Glenn, songs about how LA fucks you up…

What is your view of Josh K? I was tickled that he was inducted into RRHoF before his first record with them came out…what do you think of One Hot Minute?

A while ago, some Chris M chart piece revealed that the band is the Modern rock airplay champ, Foo Fighters right behind. And it seems that in SoCal, bad and hated ain't happening, they are bulletproof, like at Springsteen in NJ levels…

Never forget

http://rhcp2014.com

“Shopping cart — escalator!”

very excited for you to hear by the way veronica

What is your view of Josh K? I was tickled that he was inducted into RRHoF before his first record with them came out…what do you think of One Hot Minute?

josh k: great guitarist, plays on some of my favorite records, never really established his own identity in the peppers. one hot minute: one hot mess (with some great songs on it)

the first time i ever saw two men kissing was the "warped" video

"never really established his own identity in the peppers"

they did the super bowl with Bruno M, and I thought it was quite unseemly how much he seemed to ape John F and Hillel, like "you fuckin' played with Pj Harvey, you don't have to pantomime those guys." Although perhaps he understands that a certain shamelessness is de rigeur…

I find all the musical omnivores of ILX really inspiring, but I've got to admit I'm particularly, truly impressed with Brad's familiarity with not just the Chili Peppers but with John F.'s prolific solo output, to the extent that he can actually rank them. No joke. That's like meeting someone who can recite Pi to the 100th place or something.

Meanwhile:

https://russell-collection.com/upcoming-exhibitions/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/chad-smith-art-exhibit-confirms-new-chili-peppers-record-john-frusciante-934615/

josh my pronouns are they/them (no need to apologize). and i fell in love with frusciante's solo work in high school (my library had both to record only water and shadows collide and i checked them out... several times) but this love was extended/deepened bc one of my best friends in college was also a huge frusciante fan

also i owned californication when i was 12, the chili peppers have always been a part of my musical life for better or worse lol

my favorite part of "by the way" the song is when it goes bow bow bow bow bow bow bow bow

by the way: probably the only rhcp record that'll ever be completely driven by frusciante, which flea was apparently real upset about, even though iirc he contributed one of the sunniest pop songs on it ("universally speaking"). uncoincidentally it's their best, frusciante's wilsonian harmonies swelling into every chorus and making kiedis' voice sound like an oddly beautiful counterpoint. it's also the only rhcp record that gets better in the final stretch, from "cabron" to "venice queen" each song is really catchy and increasingly odd. the only thing i don't like about it is that kiedis' lyrics kinda curdled back into rhymey whymey nonsense all the time every time, it even affects the dark drug songs ("this is the place," where "can i smell your gasoline? / can i pet your wolverine?" sits right next to the devastating "on the day my best friend died i could not get my copper clean")

makes you long for the literary qualities of "scar tissue" and "otherside" tbh lol

Maybe I should try By The Way again, my recollection of trying to listen to it at the time was an overwhelming "this is no longer a band I like or want to listen to" reaction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeMXdaId60U

imo how you feel about this song will determine if you're going to get anything out of the album

I was really enjoying this until Kiedis started singing

lol

I bet that Chad Smith is one of those drummers who grew up playing pots and pans and trash can lids until he could get his own set, but when he got his own set he made sure they sounded like pots and pans and trash can lids.

(On an ad hominem level, he makes me think of Elliott Smith, who was born Steve Smith but reportedly thought it sounded like such a jock name he changed it to Elliott. Chad Smith seems like someone who was born Elliott Smith and changed it to Chad.)

oh my god the ataxia records are so good. like i already knew this but they are SO GOOD

“If they dig it (or) don’t dig it, that’s OK. I’m not going to get my feelings hurt if a Basquiat aficionado doesn’t like my work.”

From that Chad Smith art exhibit article linked up thread. I can totally see Chad Smith saying this.

“Dosed” is so good ... and better lyrics too

Never really was a RHCP fan, but this interview was really touching and interesting:

https://brokenrecordpodcast.com/episode-10-flea-acid-for-the-children

I didn't even know about those Ataxia records, giving them a listen now, yeah, those are amazing

Gave Dosed and Minor Thing a try but I’m with DJP: It’s all good except for Kiedis. I just can’t get into his lyrical and vocal style. I can stand one or two RHCP songs in a row but that’s it. And the older I get the harder it is for me to enjoy it.

I like the rest of the band though. Frusciante is like a wizard on the guitar. Even with the lo-fi production and not-so-good singing I’d rather listen to any Frusciante solo album over a RHCP full album.

I’m not that well versed on side projects of his. Does he have some album or songs with a vocalist other than Kiedis or himself?

Those two Ataxia albums have vocals by all three members (Frisciante/Lally/Klinghoffer)

I heard an RHCP cover of "I Want You Back" once and it sounded good until Kiedis came in so off key I was convinced he was in another location from the rest of the band

Listening to Dosed, I kinda feel the same ways as previous posters. It sounds good, until Kiedis steps in. His singing is not bad per se, but it just sounds so phoney and put on. I dunno, I suspect I would be OK with it if I had no idea who these guys were.

xp: looooooool this is so shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2VJp0WXD-I

hahahahahahahahaha

I really do like a lot of RHCP stuff but they've never bettered the first three albums, largely because they didn't try to make Kiedis sing as much back then

I actively like keidis on “dosed”

A great melody and lyric can sell a goofball persona

He sounds a little like he's trying to imitate Balki's accent to me

I'm listening to the first album again and man this is just superlative and exactly what I want them to be

i think kiedis and frusciante sound beautiful in counterpoint but i'm not gonna argue with someone who knows from singing

It's all subjective

that said, do not want

He sounds a little like he's trying to imitate Balki's accent to me

― totally unnecessary bewbz of exploitation (DJP), Friday, January 10, 2020 9:27 AM bookmarkflaglink

Lol

So Frusciante is back in, huh? It's funny, I don't care about RHCP nor have I ever especially enjoyed his music, but I do find him to be a very interesting figure.

Other related trivia I just learned on wikipedia:
-That Klinghoffer guy who had been playing guitar in RHCP used to play drums in Warpaint, who have been a band for 15 years
-Dave Krusen (who played drums on Pearl Jam 'Ten', but has been kind of forgotten) is now the drummer for Candlebox