The Red Hot Chili Peppers entered the rock world like they entered life--bare-assed with nothing much on except their socks. With an early dictum of rocking with their cocks out, the Peppers were almost more well-known for their antics than their funk-laced, spicy rock. Once the Peppers packed their penises in their pants and offered up only their naked souls, they struck it rich in the mainstream--seven years after they formed.
Classmates at Los Angeles’s Fairfax High School, bassist Flea (Michael Balzary), drummer Jack Irons, guitarist Hillel Slovack and MC Anthony Kiedes first made music together as Anthem School. Years later, in 1984, the band reunited as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, stripped down to their socks on their cocks, blended punk-thrash and funk-hop, and released their self-titled debut--which featured one stellar song "True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes." The band gained credibility by having the P-Funk maestro, George Clinton, produce their follow up, Freaky Styley, a more accomplished outing with groovier songs including "Hollywood" and "Jungle Man." Their reputation as sexist party animals was driven home with the song "Special Secret Song Inside" (aka: "Party On Your Pussy") from their third outing, 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, which also contained "Fight Like A Brave." Rumors of drug abuse throughout the band were driven home when Slovack died of a heroin overdose in 1988 and Irons subsequently quit, reportedly because of Kiedes’ drug problems. A more sober Chili Peppers reunited with fan John Frusciante on guitar and Chad Smith on drums to record Mother’s Milk, their highest charting album--No. 52--to date, thanks to the bass-heavy, funk-pumped cover of Stevie Wonder’s "Higher Ground." With the increased attention came increased antics that resulted in various charges--from exposure to battery--against Flea, Kiedes and Smith. The Chili Peppers entered the ’90s in a mansion (reportedly haunted) with veteran rock producer Rick Rubin; the result was the 17-track BloodSugarSexMagik, their most rocking record. While "Suck My Kiss" and "Give It Away" were still driving and rapping, it was the more mellow "Breaking The Girl" and "Under The Bridge" in which Kiedes stretched his vocal abilities, and even though he didn’t exactly meet the goal, it was enough to land the band in the mainstream world, selling almost four million records and landing them the headlining slot on Lollapalooza ’92. Frusciante split before the festival gigs, and after several guitarists, the band finally settled on Dave Navarro, formerly of Jane’s Addiction. Prior to Navarro joining, it was clearly Flea’s wondrous playing that stole the show, but with the black garbed guitarist, the Peppers now have two exceptional players. While BloodSugarSexMagik dragged and lagged through many of the songs, Navarro propelled 1995’s One Hot Minute with his stellar abilities--both at wild, tripped-out licks as well as delicate acoustic strumming. With the party rock mentality deeply buried in the ’80s, Kiedes penned a few lyrical beauties--devoting less time to sex and bragging and more to personal reality.
Through their cock-rock period, and even into attempts at serious behavior, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ career had been peppered with drug abuse and trips to rehab; these battles with the needle caused the untimely death of one member early on, and could have resulted in the demise of the band. But in 1999, Navarro departed for a solo career and a cleaned-up Frusciante returned for the Peppers’ "comeback" album, Californication, which was a massive smash and spawned three big singles ("Scar Tissue," "Otherside," and the title track, all of which were accompanied by awesome music videos). RHCP were back on top of their game and on top of the charts. It remains to be seen if they can stay on top with their long-awaited follow-up, By The Way.
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