Ok, I get it – the Red Hot Chili Peppers aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. I understand that you can only take so much of Anthony Keidis rap/singing about his genitalia and sexual prowess. Yes, they have performed with socks on cocks. They’ve burned through more guitarists than I’ve had hot dinners, been feuding with Mike Patton since time began, and no-one really knows how Anthony is still alive. Nick Cave was quoted as saying “‘I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the f*ck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.’”. Billy hears ya, Billy don’t care. When this album dropped in 1991, my whole world exploded.
You may know the story by now: Early 90’s, ABC, Afternoon show with Michael Tunn, impressionable teenager branching out into unknown musical waters. The video for “Give it Away” – the lead single from the album – hits the screen. Holy sh*t! What is this?!
I had never seen or heard anything like it. I can still clearly hear my mothers words when she saw it too.
“I don’t like that. It’s dirty.”
Bet your sweet funk ass it was, given they were suggesting what they had they were gonna give and place it in you. It was exhilarating. I needed it. NOW!
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was the first CD I bought with my own money. Prior to that it had been cassettes. It made me feel grown up being able to buy something that had only recently become industry standard. I got my first CD player at the same time, just so I could put on my headphones and rock out in the bedroom. I’m the man now.
First and foremost, this is a damn funky album. I’d not had much exposure to funk before this and I recall my hips doing some weird white boy shimmy as I got more in to it. It’s like an extended jam session between bunch of friend sitting around riffing off each other musically – there’s a sense that each one can anticipate where the others will go before they go there. The change over from “The Righteous and the Wicked” to “Give it Away” has a tapped drum stick count in and Flea muttering “…crank it… that’s good.” as the tape keeps rolling then launches in the track. It’s tight (the story goes that when Chad Smith auditioned for the band Flea played some redicuously difficult bass riff to see if he could follow and he just jumped straight on with the rhythm and drove it), and the songs (particuarly on the first half of the album) feel as if they are all structured well before they hit the sessions.
Lyrically… well… Let’s just say I learned more about sex and sexuality from this album than the “education” classes we got at school at the time.
“Sir Psycho Sexy” is straight up filth, the kind of thing that should be kept under the counter and sold in a paper bag. Keidis plays an over-eggagerated version of himself, able to get any woman he pleases and please any woman he gets. It’s not exactly subtle, and a little uncomfortable singing along to now have a teenage daughter and in this era of #metoo. But honestly, I can forgive almost anything when they hit the extended outro – changing up the grinding bass and guitar to a spectacular bright three minute jam which you feel could go on forever and not get boring. And many a time I would skip back to just that point, just to hear it again. It’s my favourite piece on the album.
The first half of the album is undeniably stronger than the second, which seems to be filled of half ideas fleshed out by producer Rick Rubin. “Breakin’ the Girl” on the A side is a stone killer track, starting from a simple acoustic guitar and then adding the other instruments to the mix as song continues. On the flip, we’re accosted with “The Greeting Song”, where Rubin told Keidis to go and write a song about cars and girls. Keidis hates it, and it shows. I dunno if Rubin missed the rest of the songs on the album, but I though there was enough of that going on already, especially the girls ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. “My Lovely Man” is the heaviest track on the album, and a tribute to their late guitarist Hillel Slovak.
Which leads me to the elephant in the room that is the heartfelt, soulful ode to when Anthony went to score heroin and overdosed during on of his many relapses – “Under the Bridge”. Drug abuse, heroin and addiction was a foreign language to a 15 year old from the bush in the early 90’s. It was just a cool track you could sing along to as you tried to make out with that hottie at the school disco. It wasn’t until I read Anthony’s autobiography “Scar Tissue” a number of years later that I understood that he wasn’t just talking up a storm about this stuff and harboured a lot of guilt over Hillel’s overdose, forming the opinion it should have been him who died. Drugs are bad kids, mmmm’kay. At the Perth Australia day fireworks in 1995, Triple M decided to sterocast the show, with the climactic moment being when fireworks made a curtain of flame under the Narrows Bridge. Of course, they used “Under the Bridge”. The irony wasn’t lost on the wag who wrote to the Perth street magazine X-Press editor later that week to remind the radio station exactly what the subject matter of the song was about. Is it overplayed? Probably. But you can’t tell me you don’t sing along in the car when you hear it.
RHCP kinda imploded after this, not suggesting that they were a harmonious group before. John left the band during their world tour (just before they hit Australia) as he couldn’t cope with the almost overnight success following “Under the Bridge” and the promotional work. The tour was delayed. He went on a giant bender. Anthony celebrated by relapsing hard and going on a giant bender. The recruited Dave Navarro from Jane’s Addiction to play on “One Hot Minute”. Which is pretty average, FYI. Californication is almost, but not quite a great album – most probably because they got John back to play. But somewhere along the way they lost their funk and, more importantly, their mojo and became just another band. Their last couple of albums I couldn’t care less about if I tried. But for a brief moment in time, “… it’s nice out here. I think I’ll stay for a while…”
Won in a JJJ competition in 1994 – identify the 5 RHCP tracks in a 10 second audio clip.
My wife got it framed for my 30 something(th) birthday. It hangs next to the front door.
Yes it’s signed. Yes it has Dave Navarro in the photo. No I don’t care.
Released: September 24, 1991
Length: 73:55
Label: Warner Bros.
Producer: Rick Rubin
Key Tracks: Give it Away, Under the Bridge, Breaking the Girl
fell in love with a girl 