Does anyone really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

this is the single most triumphantly cynical act I have ever heard recounted and my hat is off to Brooke

a. Outdoor amphitheater shows suck when there's a cold, driving rain involved.

b. John Fruciante is a much more interesting dude than I ever, ever, EVER gave him credit for. I never heard his avant-gardeish solo albums, I certainly respect his exceptionally fluid guitar playing (I have never believed, for example, he was faking the funk) and God knows he's one hell of a cautionary tale about what drugs can do to your looks and body. So he was fun to watch play (and I had completely forgotten what an astonishing drummer Chad Smith is; it's that Kiedis dude I could never stand....)

So it's the middle of the set and Fruciante has been singing random bits of songs between actual songs. "I Feel Love" was one, there were a few more. At one point, he starts playing this flickering guitar figure and I'm standing there, freezing cold, soaking wet, thinking, "jeez, that sounds familiar...."

And Fruciante sings the first couple of lines of Fugazi's "Latest Disgrace." (Not "Waiting Room," which I know they used to cover, not "Repeater," not another famous Fugazi one. "Latest Disgrace," from "Red Medicine.") Just the first few lines, then he stops just as abruptly as he started, then they go into one of their own tunes.

My jaw has an appointment to meet up with the rest of my face sometime next week.

It is THE teenage prankster's funk record, HANDS DOWN. It is very punky in its attudinal approach. It is naively retarded, and therefore all that rock and roll should aspire to be. It was my first rock album and the first record I bought with my own money, so I'm obviously going to be attached to it, as it opened the floodgates for all the music I listen to and what I've chosen to pursue in life. BUT I still listen to it regularly after all these years and it is the ONLY RHCP I still listen to, for that matter. CLASSIC. Bite me.

RHCP seriously don't deserve all this hatin'
Yes they do.

No further questions, m'lud.

(However, if Tom Waits ever joins a band and has a hit....)

Hooray for Google!

Maybe it's the insomnia talking, but something about it is clicking tonight. I wonder if Miccio still thinks there's a good 10-track album (out of 16) here. Anyway, it in no way resembles the RHCP of old, but it could be the best of the WB-era material.

also, It's So Lonely off of Mother's Milk brings back good memories of the late 80's, especially the video with alex winter in fetal position and wearing a hat.

really depends on my mood. I think its got a nice mood, good harmonies and if I'm feeling pleasant I can enjoy Kiedis' dippy new age sex king deal. That said, one of the few tracks that MAKES me enjoy the inanity is "The Zephyr Song."

I think I pretty well dug 'em through BSSM (dude, it's their Joshua Tree!!). After that, they just seemed to fade into MORscurity.

Now when I hear Kiedis' voice on the radio, it secretly whispers to me "don't you wonder what's on that other station...? don't you wonder what's on that other station...?"

http://217.204.10.75/img_bg/6603.jpg

"Sikamakaneko" and "Show Me Your Soul" are both outstanding. "Soul To Squeeze" may be third place.

And Frusciante's solo stuff is excellent. Fractured lo-fi songs that go everywhere melodically but always find their way home.

True story: While listening to that album, I accidentally kicked a hole in the wall.