Check’n The Charts: Red Hot Chili Peppers
For nearly two decades, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have demonstrated an instict for survival that would do any rock band proud. In the face of countless upheavals in personnel, struggles with substance abuse, and even death, the band has managed to forge a style in both music and performance to which a multitude of groups continue to aspire. The Red Hot Chili Peppers is like a family. How else can you explain bonds that have held the band together. These engaging Hollywood hooligans mixed an irresistible blend of punk, thrash, and funk, the Chilis have blazed a trail, which groups like the Offspring and Sugar Ray have failed to imitate. Moreover, to judge by the interest that continues to accompany the band’s every move, the Peppers’ stronghold as a musical force will likely continue for many years to come.
The beginning of the Chili Peppers can be traced to Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, where Flea and Anthony Kiedis met at age 15. Both were California transplants; Flea was born in Melbourne, Australia, and lived in New York before moving to L.A. as a teen, while Kiedis left his mother’s home in Michigan at age 11 to come live with his father, who was a struggling actor. Flea, the son of a Jazz misician, was a gifted trumpet player who idolized Herb Albert and Louis Armstrong. As for Kiedis’ artistic yearnings, he was having sporadic luck auditioning for small roles in films and television.
Around the time Kiedis and Flea were getting to know each other, fellow student Hillel Slovak was busy teaching himself guitar. Slovak’s zeal for Kiss and Jimi Hendrix rubbed off on Flea, who reluctantly took up the bass. By the time the three graduated high school in 1980, Flea and Slovak, along with drummer Jack Irons, had formed a band called Another School. After a short stint with the hardcore band Fear, Flea reunited with Slovak and Irons in 1983. This time they called themselves the Red Hot Chili Peppers. During a particularly chaotic performance, Kiedis joined the band on-stage, and immediately, the chemistry between him and the group was apparent. Within six months, the Peppers as a foursome had landed a contract with EMI.
The band’s eponymous debut was released in 1984 failed to generate much interest on the part of record buyers. The group’s live performances, howerver, were another matter. Often the group performed wearing nothing but strategically dangled tube socks.
For its second album, the Peppers enlisted P-funk legend George Clinton to help emphasize the funkier side of the band. The 1985 release Freaky Styley further solidifed the groups’ hybrid sound, but sales remained limited.
With the release of The Uplift Mofo Party Plan in 1987, the Peppers’ commercial fate took a turn for the better. Though the album stalled at No. 148 on the Billboard charts, it was their first album to chart at all. The band’s growing fan base and improved record sales seemed do indicate a good chance for a major breakthrough. But tragedy struck first with the overdose of Slovak. Fearful that he was heading down the same road, Kiedis got clean. Irons left the band, so Flea and Kiedis forged ahead looking for replacements. John Frusciante was a quick choice as guitarist, and, after a series of auditions, Chad Smith was selected as drummer.
Released in 1989, Mother’s Molk left no doubt that the retooled Peppers was a force to be reckoned with. On the strength of hits such as Knock Me Down, a tribute to Slovak, and Higher Ground, the album was their first to go gold. After signing to Warner Brothers, the group began work on a new album with ace producer Rick Rubin. BloodSugarSexMagik, released in 1991, broke the band in a big way. Songs like the propulsive Give It Away and the ballad Under The Bridge gave full range to the group’s songwriting skills. In addition to reaching platinum status, the album earned the Peppers their first Grammy Award.
Just as the Peppers seemed at the height of their potency, personnel troubles once again threatened to shatter the band. Frusciante, struggling with the band’s success, left the band just as they were gearing up to headline Lollapalooza in the summer of ’92. For the next two years the band relied on a revolving door of guitarist including Arik Marshall, Zander Schloss, and Jesse Tobias to see them through a series of tours.
With the addition of former Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro as a more or less permanent member, the Peppers released One Hot Minute in 1995. The album went platinum in mere two months, but making the record had been an laborious provess. Unlike Frusciante, whose jam-oriented approach to songwriting meshed perfectly with the rest of the band, Navarro preferred working out his guitar parts with a meticulous precision that required isolation. Despite some grand moments together, Woodstock ’94, the affiliation between Navarro and the Peppers seemed hazy from the start.
Flea had kept in touch with Frusciante, and after discussing the idea with Kiedis and Smith, Flea asked Frusciante if he would like to rejoin the Peppers. He leaped at the proposition, and a year later the band entered the studio. The resulting album, Californication, was released in June of 1999. The album features stand-out tracks like the first single Scar Tissue, and the melodic Easily. The other hits include Around The World and Otherside. So catch the antics of the Red Hot Chili Peppers March 30 at the Nutter Center with Foo Fighters and Muse.
— David Kotlinski
