The Red Hot Chili Peppers Should Never Have Made It This Long
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ self-titled debut album. It’s a good — but not great — album. It has a few songs that are beloved among the Chili Peppers’ most ardent fans: “True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes,” “Get Up And Jump” and “Out In L.A.” The Red Hot Chili Peppers have always relied on a near-telepathic rapport between members, but their debut album was recorded with a lineup that never really gelled. Anthony Kiedis and Flea, of course, were there – they’ve always been there – along with guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez.
Sherman and Martinez had replaced original Chili Peppers Hillel Slovak (guitar) and Jack Irons (drums). Slovak and Irons attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles with Flea and Anthony, but left the band before they made their debut album. So, a band that has always been about chemistry started their recording career with a lineup that seriously lacked chemistry. During the recording of Red Hot Chili Peppers, they often found themselves at odds with their producer, Andy Gill (the guitar player in a great band called Gang Of Four).
The album didn’t make a big impression, but the Chili Peppers are a great example of a band that was given time to grow into themselves. Things improved vastly on their next album, the classic Freaky Styley, released a year and a week later. This time they were teamed with a producer who was a much better fit: funk legend George Clinton. And even more importantly, Hillel Slovak returned to the group. From there, we learned that the Chili Peppers were only as good as their vibe with their guitarist. By the following album, 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Jack Irons rejoined the band. It’s a classic: while there aren’t radio hits, fans love “Fight Like A Brave,” “Backwoods,” “Behind The Sun” and the song that is sort of the band’s anthem, “Me And My Friends.”
I became aware of them during this era. They didn’t fit in anywhere. They were way too strange to get played on mainstream rock radio. I think I’d heard them on alternative radio and maybe on MTV’s 120 Minutes, but they certainly weren’t A-listers. In 1987, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame had just started inducting artists: by that point, inductees included Ray Charles, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison and Marvin Gaye. If you told me that the Chili Peppers would one day join all of these artists in the Rock Hall, I would not have believed it. Anthony and Flea probably wouldn’t believe it; Flea actually would probably laugh at the very idea. Indeed, they were one of the first ’90s alt rockers to be inducted (Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine and Foo Fighters all followed).
Tragically, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan would be the only album that featured the friends who made up the original lineup of the band. That’s because drug problems have plagued and haunted the Red Hot Chili Peppers throughout their career. On June 25, 1988, Hillel Slovak died of a drug overdose. Kiedis has struggled with substance abuse for years as well (his 2004 memoir Scar Tissue documents his story and is heartbreaking, frustrating and – because he’s still with us – uplifting).
After Slovak’s death, Irons left, but the band marched on and eventually landed on another lineup that matched the greatness of the original when drummer Chad Smith and 18-year-old guitar phenom John Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers. Some fans would say that this is the band’s definitive lineup; it’s certainly the most commercially successful one.
The revamped band’s first album was 1989’s Mother’s Milk. The big hit was a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” but the song that changed their trajectory was “Knock Me Down”: it’s a song about knowing that you need help and being able to accept it. It also served as a tribute to Slovak; originally intended to be a duet between Kiedis and Frusciante, it was mixed in a way that spotlights the guitarist’s vocals and burying Kiedis’s. It has a haunting effect: you are effectively hearing Chili Peppers fan-turned-member Frusciante singing to the man he replaced (even though the video makes it look like Anthony is singing). This kind of unexpected emotional depth would be something the Chili Peppers would explore – with incredible results – on subsequent albums.
Frusciante, too, would also end up in the clutches of addiction. 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik made the band massive stars, thanks to the funk masterpiece “Give It Away” and a trio of ballads (!),”Under The Bridge,” “I Could Have Lied” and “Breaking The Girl.” But right as they were about to headline 1992’s Lollapalooza tour – cementing their status as one of the most important artists in America – Frusciante left. (This documentary showed just how bad of a shape he was in, in the subsequent years). That led to a series of replacements, including Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction. While that sounded like an exciting combination – and they had some good songs with that lineup – it just didn’t gel. Like I said, “vibe” is essential to the Chili Peppers.
I was fortunate enough to be in attendance for the first Red Hot Chili Peppers performance with John back in the band, on June 14, 1998, in Washington, D.C. They played three songs at the Tibetan Freedom Concert. The energy – both on stage and in the audience – was off the charts. Everyone was glad to have the Red Hot Chili Peppers back. They could have just used that performance to kick off a victory lap: they could have toured, leaned on their classics, and played big venues. Instead, they hit the studio. Their next album – 1999’s Californication – was a classic, as was the follow-up, 2002’s By The Way.
Related: Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Californication' Is One Of Rock's Great Comebacks
John quit again again in 2009, but he rejoined a decade later. I saw the band in 2022 at New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium. It was an incredible show, and I reflected on how unlikely it was that these four guys were still playing together, that all of them were still alive, and that they were headlining their first stadium tour more than three decades into their career. The day after their debut turns 40, they’re going to perform to one of the biggest audiences of their career when they perform at the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremonies.
The band itself is kind of improbable. There are at least two virtuosos in Flea and Frusciante. Smith is one of rock’s most solid drummers. But they are fronted by Kiedis, a guy who no one would refer to as the best singer or the best rapper. But sometimes, being the best isn’t what’s needed to be the greatest: just ask any fan of the Ramones. A better singer wouldn’t have worked here. What Kiedis lacks in conventional musicality, he makes up for with originality and heart.
The idea that this combination of guys would become a massively popular band that has endured through decades, tragedy, and way too many guitarists is crazy. But they’re a reminder that you can work your way through grief, and forgiveness and reconciliation are possible. It’s surely not what Anthony and Flea, or their bandmates or fans, would have expected in 1984 when they released Red Hot Chili Peppers. I’ve often felt that their music is uplifting on its own merits. Their music is at times really fun (and in the ’90s, not many rock bands were fun), and at times really deep. So yeah, they never should have lasted this long, and the fact that they did is kind of a miracle. But I’m glad that they’re still here, still playing, and still rocking huge crowds four decades later. I’ll be going to their shows for as long as they keep playing.
