|
(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Summary.
One of the great "fusion" ideas of the 1980s was the idea of integrating
the brutal rhythmic and vocal styles of
funk and rap music with the brutal guitar-driven style of heavy-metal.
The pioneering albums by the
Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984) and Freaky Styley (1985),
basically discovered what George Clinton and Jello Biafra had in common.
The punkish impetus of these albums was due in large part to the
mesmerizing style of former Fear bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary, but also
to their (sub)cultural background: the decadent, histrionic and irreverent
Hollywood scene.
The excessive heavy-metal overtones of The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)
missed the point, and, when John Frusciante replaced guitarist Hillel Slovak
who had died of an overdose, the band adopted a mainstream sound.
Mother's Milk (1989) and Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
left the rage and the sarcasm behind, yet another sign that the whole Los
Angeles scene was going through a painful rehabilitation program.
Long bio.
(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Decadent and irreverent showmen of Hollywood, the Red Hot Chili Peppers reinvented the hybrid of rock and funka style that had been invented dozens of times in the punk-rock world, but they reinvented it for the right audience: those healed from punk depression and oblivious to the traumas that had caused it. After them, the fusion of rap and heavy metal would become one of the soundtracks of the end of the century.
When they formed, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were authentic representatives of Los Angeles underworld. Their merit lay in discovering the affinities between funk and hardcore, between James Brown and Jello Biafra. Marrying the grit of one with the rage of the other, the RHCP forged a hybrid style of funk, thrash, rock, and hip hop. That style would become one of the most successful genres of the 1990s. Bassist Michael Flea Balzary (born in Australia and raised in New York, previously with Fear and an aspiring actor), drummer Jack Irons, and guitarist Hillel Slovak (born in Israel), all high school classmates, recruited singer (and fellow aspiring actor) Anthony Kiedis and debuted in 1983. Their show quickly became legendary along the Hollywood Strip. Their sound drew inspiration from George Clintons P-Funk, but retained the violent tones of heavy metal. They were especially notorious for their reputations as criminals and sexual maniacs (in Kiedis case, entirely exaggerated, as he was the son of a famous show-business figure).
Red Hot Chili Peppers (Enigma, 1984), an album on which Slovak did not play, aimed more at the punk audience than at heavy metal or rap fans, but ended up pleasing everyone. Fleas seismic bass, the thrash drumming of new drummer Cliff Martinez, and the pulsing guitar of new member Jack Sherman complement Kiedis raps with unrestrained ferocity. The approach is zany (True Men Don't Kill Coyotes), entirely oriented toward collective fun (Get Up And Jump), with some satirical rap (Baby Appeal, Out In L.A.) and occasional Hendrixian excesses (Green Heaven). The only experimental track is the instrumental closing piece, Granpappy Duplenty, which feels like a soundtrack excerpt. The most promising form is the funky, danceable, and humorous fanfareless eclectic and wild than Rip Rig + Panic, but equally daring.
Slovak returned for the second album, Freaky Styley (Enigma, 1985), produced by George Clinton and featuring a special guest, Maceo Parker. The band delivers even more comical fanfares, confirming their parodic intent with a series of vaudeville-style sketches set to funky, rhythmically essential beats (Brothers Cup) and often on obscene themes (Thirty Dirty Birds). Countless whimsical touches appear, from the tribal dance of Jungle Man to their theme (Nevermind), and even the grotesque, Zappa-esque Catholic School Girls Rule (arguably the funniest, if not the best, track). Their music remains highly physical, enlivened by vocal inventiveness. Despite a thrash track (Battleship), the angry rap of American Ghost Dance, and the dark title track (featuring Helios Creed and magical formulas), the Red Hot Chili Peppers stubbornly stick to the hybrid mix they pioneered. The album, a masterpiece of the lineup, enlivened the nights of countless American college students like few other releases of that era.
The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (EMI, 1987) perhaps goes a bit overboard with heavy metal intensity (No Chump Love Sucker, Me And My Friends, Fight Like A Brave), but still contains numbers typical of their playful vulgarity, such as Special Secret Song Inside (aka Party On Your Pussy). The sound has now settled into a vibrant funk-metal style that would inspire imitators across the nation. Behind The Sun actually reveals that the band also has a potential for a different kind of commercial success, yet their attitude remains anti-establishment and certainly anti-conformist. In short, the album is a transitional work, preserving the spirit of their earlier releases while hinting at a new direction.
After Slovaks death from an overdose in June 1988, he was replaced by eighteen-year-old John Frusciante, and with the addition of new drummer Chad Smith, the much more commercial album Mother's Milk (EMI, 1989) was released. While Johnny, Kick A Hole In The Sky (with its gospel call-and-response and strong funky vibes) is the most structured track, Good Time Boysa collage of musical quotes with an explosive heavy metal riff, their tribute to L.A.s musical cultureis the most authentic. The band then indulges in its usual post-adolescent whims in the shuffle of Sexy Mexican Maid and reaches peak comic energy and frenzy in the rock and roll of Nobody Weird Like Me.
While their identity remains happily intact in these tracks, songs like Taste The Pain and Knock Me Down signal a shift toward middle-class values and a sound less sarcastically abrasive. The album represents an obvious commercial sell-out and the abandonment of the punk culture from which they had emerged. The new lineup can be seen as either more competent or more conventional, depending on ones perspective: Frusciante is not a guitar genius, but he can play, unlike his predecessor, who may not have been technically skilled but was original. The same applies to the rest of the band, now grown technically but not necessarily artistically. What changes the sound most of all is the production, which is now much more commercial.
Its no surprise, then, that Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Warner Brothers, 1991), produced by Rick Rubin, pivots around the singles Give It Away, a classic funk track, but above all Under The Bridge, the ballad that catapulted them into the charts, and Breaking The Girl, an almost acoustic number with Moody Blues-like inflections. The album is actually defined by their harder funk-metal (Mellowship Slinky, If You Have To Ask, Naked In The Rain, and Sir Psycho Sexy), but also by a certain monotony. The quasi-thrash of some tracks (Suck My Kiss, Greeting Song) and the intricate title track are not enough to sustain an entire hour of this Ohio Playersmeets-speed metal hybrid. Its their most accessible album, but also the least fun. The album sold three million copies and turned them into entertainment stars. From the same sessions came the ballad Soul to Squeeze, another major hit.
After John Frusciante left, One Hot Minute (Warner Bros, 1995), with Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) on guitar, reflects a deep creative crisis.
Warped unleashes the usual guitar barrage and Fleas beastly bass propulsion, but also a spacey wail and dizzying jamming, almost raga-like, before Fleas bombardier bass regains control. The only track that can compete is Deep Kick, at least in terms of wild jamming and ethereal melody. By comparison, the pop nursery-rhyme charm of Aeroplane (borrowed from Tom Pettys Mary Jane's Last Dance and repeated by a childrens chorus) and the absurd chorus of Coffeeshop feel almost surreal. The band reconnects with its noisy, emphatic past in One Big Mob and the title track.
The softer moments are also the most embarrassing: My Friends, a saccharine ballad worthy of the worst John Lennon; Walkabout, rap over a liquid funky-soul backdrop from the eternal aspiring showman Anthony Kiedis; and Tearjerker, which recycles the idea of Breaking The Girl. More than anything, the band is still too caught up in repeating itself. Funk breaks, tempo shifts, and heavy-metal bursts have run their course, and only occasionally do they find the right groove. Their vulgarities increasingly sound gratuitous and ostentatious, making middle-school colloquialism seem Shakespearean by comparison.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Californication (Warner, 1999) finds the band as "clean" (from drugs,
alcohol, punk-rock, whatever) as it has ever been. It also finds the band's
sound wrapped again in Rick Rubin's stripped down production but at maximum
loudness. It also finds
the leaders reunited with enfant prodige John Frusciante, who was the dynamite
behind their greatest commercial success.
Put the three together and you get a "cleaner" version of
Blood Sugar Sex Magik, that was already their most accessible,
radio-friendly, shameless sell-out, album.
Kiedis is still singing of sex and drugs and rock and roll but hardly anybody
takes him seriously. The music is a formulaic repetition of mainstream
stereotypes, whether it's bombast, mid-tempo
(Scar Tissue, basically a revision of Soul to Squeeze),
or generic pop ballads (Porcelain).
Reborn as a pop group with little or no memory of their funk-punk-metal origins,
the Red Hot Chili Peppers reaped even more success.
Dave Navarro's Trust No One (Capitol, 2001) is interesting from a
Freudian point of view but quite pointless from a musical one.
The style ranges from melodic grunge (Rexall)
to Beck's cyber-rap (Sunny Day and especially
Very Little Daylight), from gentle psychedelic ballads
(Slow Motion Sickness) to evil hard-rock (Not For Nothing).
Not sure who's supposed to listen to this.
Red Hot Chili Peppers' By The Way (Warner, 2002) is an album of
mildly-mannered mainstream ballads (On Mercury).
Other than Flea's and John Frusciante's exhibitions of virtuosity (or
presumed virtuosity),
the double-CD Stadium Arcadium (2006) has little to commend itself.
Hidden among an army of terrible pop ballads there are a few poppy ditties
(Dani California, Snow) that prove the band's melodic skills,
but they overrate the human race if they truly believe that we still need
28 generic three-minute songs to add to the millions that came before.
I'm With You (2011), featuring Josh Klinghoffer on guitar, contains
The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie and little else.
Atoms For Peace was a supergroup formed by
Radiohead's singer Thom Yorke, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea, Radiohead's keyboardist Nigel Godrich, Walt Mink's drummer Joey Waronker, and Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco that recorded the awful Amok (XL, 2013).
Jack Sherman died in 2020 at the age of 64.
There is little to salvage on
The Getaway (2016), produced (or, better, over-produced, by Danger Mouse,
who also plays mellotron, organ and synthesizers):
Dark Necessities and
Dreams of a Samurai.
John Frusciante and producer Rick Rubin rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the sprawling Unlimited Love (2022), which was a commercial success around the world. However, half of its songs could have been trimmed away, and the others fall into three categories:
formulaic funk-rock (notably Aquatic Mouth Dance, She's a Lover and It's Only Natural),
embarrassing ideas (Poster Child and White Braids & Pillow Chair)
and frustrating incursions in pop muzak masquerading as alt-rock
(strip them of the funky lines and Bastards of Light is country-pop,
Here Ever After is power-pop,
Black Summer is psych-pop,
Let 'Em Cry is reggae-pop, and
The Heavy Wing, the album's standout, is grunge-pop).
It is certainly one of their most radio-friendly albums, with catchy melodies
gushing out of any riff-rhythm combination.
|
