Note: For an index of all articles in all three Favorite Songs series, click here, then scroll down.
Who They Are: While many of the artists I’ve covered in this ongoing series are fairly obscure, this is one of a small number of cases (to date) where I’m writing about a massively popular group, with an estimated 120 million records sold world-wide, and with membership in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. So I’m guessing that most folks have at least heard of Red Hot Chili Peppers, even if somehow you haven’t actually heard them. The quartet were formed in Los Angeles in 1982, playing a sort of high-speed punk-funk-rap hybrid in their early years, then expanding their oeuvre over the ensuing four decades to incorporate psychedelic, pop, experimental, and hard-rock elements. Singer Anthony Kiedis and bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary have been in place since the group’s inception, while drummer Chad Smith has held down his throne since 1988, with wayward guitarist John Frusciante back since 2019 for his third stint in the group, his first having begun at the same time as Smith’s. The quartet have endured various tragedies over their careers, alongside the triumphs, most notably the overdose death of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak in 1988, and the near-death incapacitation and (first) departure of Frusciante at the arguable peak of their popular powers in 1992. But the group rumbles on with authority to this day, having released a pair of long studio albums in 2022 (Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen) that stand to these ears as one of the most expansive and audacious huge-form musical dumps since Guns n’ Roses pulled a similar stunt with their Use Your Illusion albums in 1991.
When I First Heard Them: In 1984, at the legendary Washington, DC nightclub Poseurs, where their debut music video “True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes” was a regular and popular floor-filler cut for late night dancing and debauchery. I bought their self-titled debut album on the strength of that single, and it was okay, but didn’t really move me all that much, beyond its lead single. But their second record, 1985’s Freaky Styley, was produced by P-Funk mastermind George Clinton, and that one did blow my mind in the best possible ways with its then-unique frappe of forms and approaches, delivered with muscular power and awesome attitude. I saw them live for the first time soon thereafter in Washington, DC, I believe at the Ontario Theater (memories are fuzzy), and they were dynamite in concert, cementing my love and appreciation for the group. I’ve only seen them live again once, in 2000 at Albany’s Whatever-It-Was-Called-Then Arena, during John Frusciante’s second tenure, supporting the massive Californication album, with Foo Fighters and Muse on the under-card. It was moving to see that they’d survived and thrived that long, and remains so for me, all these years on.
Why I Love Them: Out of spite, it seems much of the time, as the Chili Peppers seem to be one of those groups that most critics and other music geeks in my circuit seem to loathe as a point of principle. See also Korn, who I similarly adore in the face of conventional critical wisdom. Most critical types will grudgingly acknowledge that Flea is a true force of nature on his bass guitar, one of the masters of the instrument, and others will get all goo-goo eyed about John Frusciante’s highly-experimental and often self-indulgent solo work, while tut-tutting about how he’s slumming somehow whenever he returns to the group that made him, playing stadium-sized shows and selling millions of records. Nobody much seems to have many opinions about Chad Smith on drums, but I think he’s also a monster player, and his work is especially punchy and in-your-face on that pair of 2022 albums; after ~35 years together, he and Flea are a fine and forceful rhythm section with which to be reckoned. Most of the critical opprobrium pointed in the Peppers’ direction centers on Anthony Kiedis’ vocals and lyrics, but you know what? I think Anthony is great. I love what Anthony does, and I love the growth he’s shown as an artist over the group’s run. I have little-to-no patience with the “haters gotta hate” crowd who denigrate him as a performer and composer and person who has overcome a wide variety of missteps, mistakes, and misfortunes (yes, many of them self-inflicted, I know) to make joyful, melodic, and rhythmic music that moves me. Together, the Kiedis-Flea-Smith core have produced loads of memorable albums and songs for me since the late ’80s, usually with Frusciante, though I was also fond of the Josh Klinghoffer years ( 2009-2019); the only era of the group’s history that I actively disliked was when Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction (who I can’t stand) stepped in for a couple of years during Frusciante’s first hiatus. No good, that. Glad it was ephemeral. At bottom line, Red Hot Chili Peppers are unique and (as much as most critical folks don’t want to admit it) trailblazing in their own special ways, and their ongoing success and productivity make me very happy indeed. What’s not to love about that?
#10. “Brendan’s Death Song,” from I’m With You (2011)
#9. “American Ghost Dance,” from Freaky Styley (1985)
#8. “Backwoods,” from The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)
#7. “Scar Tissue,” from Californication (1999)
#6. “Dark Necessities,” from The Getaway (2016)
#5. “Tippa My Tongue,” from Return of the Dream Canteen (2022)
#4. “Knock Me Down,” from Mother’s Milk (1989)
#3. “The Heavy Wing,” from Unlimited Love (2022)
#2. “Behind the Sun,” from The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)
#1. “Give It Away,” from Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)