February 25, 2010

Two months down and 2011 has already experienced some big waves in music. Arcade Fire stood tall at the end of the Grammy’s, Radiohead abruptly announced an album release & just as quickly bumped it up, Enrique seduced us very bluntly, and so much more. But perhaps the biggest waves are yet to come. Again, it’s only February, but with the look of what’s to come for the rest of the year in music, there’s a lot to look forward too. Sure, The Decemberists & PJ Harvey have delivered strong showings so far, but on the horizon, we can definitely see potential albums we will still be talking about in 2021. So let’s be cliche for a moment and pop out a Top Ten List for our most anticipated albums in 2011. Hell, if Spin can do a list with albums that have already been released, why can’t we?

10. Wilco – Untitled
To Be Determined
Wilco (The Album) was no Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but in reality, not a lot of albums could match up to that instant classic. But what Tweedy’s
band offered up last go round was something still fresh & original which on their seventh outing isn’t exactly something easy to do. So far, all we have are vague details except for a concrete promise that it will see the light of day in 2011. However, with not many missteps in their career, we can at least count on a solid offering from a still remarkably strong band.

9. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
March 14th
Perhaps the most anticipated debut of the year, The Vaccines have some very big shoes to fill already. The band has already been nominated for Best New Act by MTV while also placing highly in a Sounds Of 2011 poll for BBC. Having won over critics with their demo “If You Wanna” last year, the band quickly set out to record properly. Details quickly emerged about the new album and we were given the ultimate teaser: “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra).” Clocking in at a minute & a half, the band knows the urgency it takes to make an impression and sets out to do it. Those shoes aren’t going to fill themselves.

8. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
May 3rd
The album could be titled Sophomore Blues for all we care. Too many acts burst into the scene in the 2000s with a great album only to fizzle out with their second album and all because someone in the band wanted to change up the formula that made them who they are. We aren’t talking about MGMT evolving their sound to a new level; no, we are talking Maroon 5 going from hip funksters that everyone loved to boring crooners that only your grandmother would like. Fleet Foxes have said they are tweaking with the sound from their last album so we’ll see what that all entails, but after a strong 2008 debut, there’s more than a few of us pondering if they won’t just drown in deeper waters.

7. Death Cab For Cutie – Codes And Keys
May 31st
A lot has changed since Ben Gibbard’s band released an album last in 2008: Gibbard himself got married for starters! But more importantly, the climate of the music world seems to have changed, perhaps most prominently for Indie music. Newcomer heavyweights Vampire Weekend & MGMT stand tall with fresh debuts & perhaps better follow-ups. Older pillars like The National & Arcade Fire are experiencing their greatest success yet. So where does this leave a band that had their biggest hit to date of their long, illustrious career last go around? A lot to say & a lot to prove.

6. Dr. Dre – Detox
To Be Determined
It’s been a long road since Detox was first announced in 2003. We’ve gone through Dre abandoning performing for producing, plans for a concept album about planets, “Aftermath Cognac,” and everyone on the album talking about how great it will be. We can’t sit through another Chinese Democracy because like the single states, we need a doctor. More importantly, hip-hop needs the doctor and 2011 will finally get it. Will it be worth the wait or more importantly: can Dre go out on a high-note like so many others hope for, but very few actually achieve?

5. The Strokes – Angels
March 18th
The 2000s ended and when they did, it only brought to light how influential & important Is This It really was. Almost exactly a decade later, The Strokes are in a similar position. Like in 2001, they have a lot to prove. Back then, they were a new band in a rock-less music world; today, they are a band five years removed from their last release which was a lapse in judgment to some. Again, so much has changed in the past five years and The Strokes could just as easily dominate this new decade with a new instant classic. The challenge is there for them to accept.

4. Lou Hickey – Untitled
To Be Determined
Teaming with Jon Fratelli for Codeine Velvet Club in late 2009/early 2010, Lou Hickey was introduced to the world in a grand style. While she & Jon shared the vocal duties, it was arguably her voice that made the record the gem it was. Now on her own with an album almost completed, Lou Hickey is ready for round two. Leaks so far from the album like “Zombie Love” & “Minutes Hours Day” offer a very unique, new pop sound that could just as easily dominate the airwaves as “Rehab” or “Bubbly” have in the past. Let’s only hope the right doors open for her as the album gets closer & closer to its release.

3. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
April 12th
Prepare to tear the volume knob off. Dave Grohl has promised a straight hard rock record after teaming with famed Nevermind producer Butch Vig and that’s what we expect. Patience, Echoes, Silence, & Grace was an incredible step for the band, but if Them Crooked Vultures showed anything, it’s that Grohl has the most fun & perhaps makes the best music while rocking out as hard as possible. The Foo Fighters are one of the most successful rock bands of the last 15 years, if not the most, so why should we not expect the “Godlike Genius” and company to deliver once again?

2. Chiddy Bang – Untitled
To Be Determined
Forget Drake; these are the real saviors of hip-hop. Since releasing their mix-tape in late 2009, the duo has just filled a very real void in hip-hop. No gimmicks, no self-promoting, and definitely no self-pretentious propaganda; the duo just rap & rap well. It no-doubt helps that their samples can back up their raps just as well. Sampling Gorillaz, MGMT, & La Roux, the band has some room to boast as their rhymes transcend those amazing beats. But the pair can do it on their own too like “The Good Life” and hopefully that’s exactly what hip-hop is in for once this album comes out.

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Untitled
To Be Determined
The site is named after a RHCP song: who else did you think would be number one? Seriously though, this has to be the most anticipated album of the year and the aging rockers definitely have a lot to prove. John Frusciante is out once again and replaced by an even younger prodigy and a man just as immersed in Frusciante as the rest of RHCP: Josh Klinghoffer. The dynamic has changed as their “mad scientist” is gone and Flea has now immersed himself in music. Pianos will finally have a proper slot on songs and a recent trip to Africa tells us that new & different melodies or beats may pop up here and there. The working title so far is Dr. Johnny Skinz’s Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-head and as awesome as that is, we know it will change. We know the sound will change too from Frusciante to Klinghoffer, but let’s just hope that the band retains some of what made them one of the greatest acts of all time.

So there you have it. Ten albums that might just define this year if all goes as planned. Sure, there will always be surprises such as Robyn coming out of nowhere with big releases last year. But with a list like this, we at least know we don’t have to count for miracles to have a great musical year. My only thought is with all this great music announced at only February, what will be announced come summertime?

In all seriousness, I talk about John Frusciante a lot here in this blog. Quite honestly, he’s my favorite musician, but he’s also right up there with the best guitarists of all time, was part of one of the biggest bands ever (the best parts too), and is probably one of the most musically diverse artists out there. The man is a great musician – there’s no doubt about it – and with anything great, there’s always a peak period in their career/life. Athletes have it, television shows have it; hell, even some people’s relationship’s have them. Just like Shaq had his best run during the three-peat with the Lakers & Seinfeld shined bright popping Bubble Boy, John Frusciante had a peak period as well. Writing that though is a little cryptic; almost like I’m writing it as if he stopped making music or is making bad music now. No, he hasn’t “jumped the shark” by far and hopefully he has another peak period, but with his sporadic career thus far, Frusciante has really had one truly great peak period and obviously that’s what I’d like to talk about today.

From the recording of By The Way starting in November of 2001 until the tour for that album ended in June of 2004, there was not a better musician alive in the world than John Anthony Frusciante. Dead serious here. Now, let’s look at that time period and single out some stuff to signify his work. Obviously it started with the recording of By The Way and that album’s a testament to his peak period. The laid-back guitar work that proves that less is truly more (hear “Universally Speaking“), the serene background vocals that are more fun to sing too than the main vocals (hear “Dosed“), the intriguing compositional work that Flea said took artistry to a whole new level (hear “Midnight“); all some of the best traits of Frusciante are present on this record more than any others. With just a guitar and a few oohs and aahs, he became the true star of the band in the most unselfish way possible as everything he did was designed to enhance something else. The tour that followed was undisputable fact as to the skill level John was performing at. The album Live In Hyde Park, the DVD Live At Slane Castle, or any YouTube video of the band performing all show John at the height of his career. Elongating popular hits into unrecognizable jam sessions, delivering some of the best solos of all time (you have to hear this one), and belting out pristine vocals no longer hiding behind a sound collage. This work alone proves my point.

But of course, like any good argument, there’s more to back-up my point. Let’s look at his solo career. We have Shadows Collide With People, The Brown Bunny Soundtrack, The Will To Death, DC EP, Inside Of Emptiness, & Curtains. Hell, all of those were released in the time span of just a year. A year! Let that one sink in after you realize that some bands only release a new album every four years. You might think that with all that released in such a short time frame that it was just rushed and a little watered down. Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts! It easily contains some his best solo work ever. My favorite Frusciante song, and one of my favorite songs ever, comes from this period (read about it here). The music doesn’t even connect in actuality. Shadows Collide With People is his attempt at sonic perfections (hear “Carvel“), The Brown Bunny is lo-fi divinity (hear “Dying Song“), The Will To Death was a minimalist’s love affair (hear “Unchanging“), DC EP stripped him of his beloved synthesizer (hear “A Corner“), Inside Of Emptiness was his tribute to true rock and roll (hear “Look On“), and Curtains was his acoustic album (hear “The Past Recedes“). All of it different, yet still great.

And we’re not done yet! Collaborations? He had them in spades with all different genres. He had his side-band Ataxia formed with current-RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and Fugazi’s bassist Joe Lally which merged experimental, progressive, & jam rock into a forty minute trance (hear “The Sides“). He had an electronic album release with Klinghoffer that would ignite the techno world on fire if released to radios (hear “The Afterglow“). Oh, both of those albums were released in the same time frame as the six above pushing the count to eight releases in a year. He laid blues & country guitar-work down for Johnny Cash on his amazing covers of Heart Of Gold” & “Personal Jesus.” He joined in on the epic soundscape remix of David Bowie’s “Bring Me The Disco King.” He played on perhaps the best Mars Volta song ever in “Cicatriz ESP.” Mars Voltan Omar Rodriguez-Lopez even recorded some work with him. Finally, Ziggy Marley, Ekkehard Ehlers, and more boasted his help during this period too. Not one to sit still, huh?

Phew, lot of typing. I supplied a lot of links in the paragraphs above. Check them out – trust me, they’re great and only back up my argument more. John was just on fire in this time period and I can’t stress the musical greatness of it all. Had John wanted more of a commercial return on the music, I could easily predict a wave of musicians being influenced by his work. However, seeing as how Captain Beefhart received no mainstream attention and influenced hundreds of artists; hopefully we’ll see the weight of Frusciante’s work pushing into decades to come. Check out those links above or allow me to tell you about one his greatest songs from this period.

I said it all started with By The Way and I’m not kidding. There are so many key tracks on that album not only for Frusciante himself, but for the band itself. Perhaps the stand-out track on the album for Frusciante’s greatness comes at the very end with the two-part masterpiece “Venice Queen.” Anthony Kiedis wrote the lyrics to the song about his former drug counselor Gloria Scott after she passed away from cancer. For all her help & guidance, Kieids always remained close friends with her and even bought her a house at Venice Beach. Despite the touching memorial to a fallen friend (in some of his best lyrical work too), Frusciante shines bright in the song. The opening melody plays out so straightforward yet is quickly made haunting by the wrapping synthesizer work in the background. As Anthony comes in with the lyrics, it’s the soothing background vocals that even out the eerie serenity of the music. Part one wraps up and part two breaks down: Frusciante’s intricate work spans multiple guitar parts (two, three, or maybe even four?) that do so only for the sake of adding to the atmosphere. While it’s not at the forefront, it builds up perfectly as Kiedis comes right back in. But after his first verse, the true star shines again as Frusciante’s mournful vocalizations in the background steal the show at least for this listener. Every time I listen to the song, I always begin to sing a long to Kiedis’ part by default, but after maybe thirty seconds, I’m pulled into the reverie of Frusciante’s vocals and I’m enjoying myself far more. God, I could really go on and on about this song for another page, but I’ve talked you guys up enough. Check out this song – believe you me, it’s worth the time.

Song: Venice Queen
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: By The Way
Year: 2002

To download, right-click here and select “Save Target As.”

Or watch this:

I know a bunch of you guys are scratching your head at that big word I just used twice so let’s go over that first off. For a straight definition, interpolation is the abrupt change of elements while still continuing the first idea. This process was generally used in the classical world in order to stretch out musical ideas & phrases to give diversity to pieces (and, let’s be honest, as filler too). A great example of this would be Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10. Look at that – classical music discussion in a blog post about hip-hop music; now you know why you keep coming back for more. Anyway, interpolation still goes on today, but it is now known widely as the same practice as “sampling” & “covering.” While covering is just a bad term to lump it with, sampling & interpolation are not that far off in reality. In fact, it’s one of those things where all interpolations are samples, but not all samples are interpolations. A good example of the difference would be the classic sampling war over “Ice Ice Baby.” We all know it samples Queen’s “Under Pressure,” but the lyrical and musical differences in the songs are huge with the only thing really connecting them is that (in)famous bass line. The rest of the music is changed, the tone is quite different, and the lyrics don’t even belong in the same grouping. See the difference? But if that’s a good indication as to what isn’t an interpolation, then what is? Well our song choice today is!

Our song choice today comes to us from Tricky, an English artist defined by his fusion of rock & hip-hop as well as his part in the rise of trip-hop in the mid-to-late 90′s. His 2001 album Blowback was designed to make an impact on the radio (his earlier work shied away from being accessible for the radio) and featured a bunch of guest appearances. In fact, a total of four Chili Peppers made an appearance on the album. Anthony Kiedis & Frusciante worked on the track “Girls” with Tricky. Another song on the album featured John Frusciante on guitar & vocals, Flea on bass, and the current guitarist Josh Klinghoffer on drums (what a talent there). The song was Tricky’s take on interpolating the theme song to the Wonder Woman 70s show (featuring Lynda Carter) into a fresh, song with the same lyrical content. A weird song to pick I know, but it yielded something great here. If you listen to the song, it is a man’s obsession with Wonder Woman (or a woman with the same features) as they lament on how to get her into his life while stating all their feelings & what they would do for her. The music stays about the same with a funkier feel (it’s the Chili Peppers – duh!) as well as some blistering guitar parts by Frusciante. This song is a perfect example of an interpolation. It carries on the same musical & lyrical ideas of the previous one despite being blatantly different. Of course, it only helps my case that it’s a fantastic song, but now all you know what interpolation is!

Titled “#1 Da Woman,” this is a clear favorite of mine. The feeling of unrequited love are very well expressed by Tricky’s trademark whispering sound and John Frusciante’s almost-mournful, epiphanal singing. That singing & tone fight against the addition of the funk & hip-hop element into the song in a great contrast. It’s almost as if this is playing on in the background during Wonder Woman’s theme from a different perspective. The guitar fills & riffs throughout the song soar over that funk style and give the hip-hop song an unmistakably feel of great rock music. The climax of the song around the two minute mark (following the explosive-sounding bridge) is definitely the highlight of the song. Frusciante’s singing finally hits its peak and the addition of a descending guitar riff blisters the singer’s lament more than anything else in the song. Can you tell I really like this song? Not only it is a great example for interpolation, but there’s just nothing unlikable about the song itself. Trust me when I say you’ll love this.

Song: #1 Da Woman
Artist: Tricky
Album: Blowback
Year: 2001

To download, right-click here and select “Save Target As.”

Or watch this:

Appearing on To Record Water For Only Ten Days, the genesis of “Going Inside” is a long-ride that I’ll try to briefly sum up here. Key word there: try. After the Peppers hit it big with Blood Sugar Sex Magik in the early 90s, the sudden success proved to be too much for Frusciante. He would later recall a conversation he had with the original guitarist for the Chili Peppers Hillel Slovak that would weigh on his mind in this time. Slovak asked: “Would you still like the Chilis if they got so popular they played the Forum?” Frusciante responded with: “No. It would ruin the whole thing. That’s great about the band, the audience feels no different from the band at all.” Hard to think about when playing to sold-out arenas in Japan. While recording the album, the band holed themselves up in the famed LA Mansion for the duration of the recording process, isolating Frusciante from the real world. What was waiting for him when he came out wasn’t the same world he left either. No, he came out to find the Peppers played on virtually every radio and selling out arenas worldwide. Interviews, television appearances, constant traveling; it’s a lot to expect of a guy who as a teenager spent his days just playing guitar in his house by himself virtually all day. So he quit and retreated to a life of quiet isolation that was haunted by drugs while bordering on becoming a recluse.

It was during this time that he released his first two solo albums: the double album Niandra Lades And Usually Just A T-Shirt in 1994 and Smile from the Streets You Hold in 1997. The recordings were a sharp turn from the music he made with the Peppers. Lo-fi recordings with cryptic lyrics, eerie guitar riffs, and devilish screeches, the music (even though some was not recorded while on drugs) represents the life that he was leading at the time. Extremely avant-garde, some fans find beauty in it while others (like myself) appreciate the music, but can see the potential yearning to break through out of most songs like “Head (Beach Arab).” A few years later, he had truly hit rock bottom and entered rehab at the behest of his friends. He came out of it a new man; not defined by his past life, but guided by it. As he joined the Chili Peppers and recorded the monumental Californication album, the world could see that not only was John Frusciante back, but he was better than ever. Now it was time for his new solo album.

Recorded during the tour for Californication, To Record Water For Only Ten Days was also a departure from his previous sound, but in my opinion, for the better. His album kept much of the same home-recording feel as his previous albums, but the avant-garde style & stream-of-consciousness lyrics seemed to be dropped from most of his work. Drawing influences from New Wave & electronica bands (such as New Order), Frusciante crafted an album that described who the newly re-born man was. Now known for his amazing singing voice, this album was the one to start him down that road. While not his best vocal work, it’s a sharp increase from his previous two works and the improvements he made here would continue on with his next album Shadows Collide With People, but that’s for another day. Here we have some haunting tracks and some amazingly beautiful, yet the album comes together to show a man who has survived the knock on death’s door and doesn’t regret it. Frusciante was much more in tune with what he calls “the spiritual plane” during the making of the album. He actually got the title of the album while being visited by one of these “spirits.” Suffice it to say, this was a bold album for Frusciante and one that really stood out at the time compared to his work with the Peppers & his previous albums.

The opening track on the album, “Going Inside,” is a strong declaration for Frusciante and perhaps one of the best opening tracks on an album ever. I can only think of a couple that are on the same level (one we will encounter in the Beatles countdown) and even this song might be better. It opens with what Frusciante does best: blare his guitar. A psychedelic-flavored song, it has a distinct guitar riff built around before each of the verses as well as an extremely memorable guitar solo. Like I’ve mentioned in the blog before, Frusciante is the master of crafting the tone of the lyrics into his solos and this is no exception. It’s almost as if he let out all the pain of his reclusion into a short burst of noise. The lyrics, as I’ve alluded to, actually don’t renounce his previous time, but show how strong they can make you as the opening lyrics say “You don’t throw your life away, Going inside.” It’s open to interpretation, but to me, that just seems to be a plea that it’s never wasting time by yourself discovering yourself. Later on, he delivers some of his best lyrical work in summing up his feelings as he states: “Where you go doesn’t matter cause there will come a time when time goes out the window. And you’ll learn to drive out of focus: I’m you. And if anything unfolds, it’s supposed to.” The song goes on in the same fashion delivering deep lyrics & great guitar works before wrapping up in an outro that really points you toward the mirror so you can look inside at yourself to see how you measure up.

I can talk all day about this song. It’s an amazing piece of rock music and one of the first songs I always play for people who ask me who John Frusciante is. Do yourself a favor and check out the song.

Song: Going Inside
Artist: John Frusciante
Album: To Record Water For Only Ten Days
Year: 2001

To download, right-click here and select “Save Target As.”

Or watch this:

Oh, the best day of the week for Balarama Music: Frusciante Friday! Since the site is now official at balaramamusic.com, I figured I would explain where I got the name from and the story behind the song to me.

The lyric I got the name from comes from “Wet Sand” which is near the end of the first disc of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s 2006 album Stadium Arcadium. It’s a good time to talk about this seeing as how there is news & rumors (check out Invisible Movement for the best RHCP/Frusciante news!) galore of RHCP back in the studios this fall for their follow-up album, especially after people thought they were done as a band, so let’s look at their last work.

I love Stadium Arcadium. I would rank it up there as probably one of their best albums, falling definitely short of Blood Sex Sugar Magik, Californication, & By The Way. Depending on my mood, I might rank some of their albums from the 80s ahead of it, but most of the time, it ranks consistently above those. I have to say that as much as I love the album though, I adore what it could have been. As the band recorded thirty-eight songs in the studio, the original plan seemed to be to release three separate albums three to six months apart as System Of A Down did in 2005. Pressure from who I’m sure was the record company made them cut out ten songs and make it just a double-album released at once. While both had positives and negatives, ultimately, the triple album idea would have been the best in my mind.

While they touted out that they brought the funk back, what really happened was a mesh of styles on the album. Funk had its good share of numbers, but so did the straight-up rock tunes & the slower sound found on their last album. They easily could have released three albums all of different styles: a funk album, a slower alt-rock album, and a hybrid of the two. Being the obsessive fan that I am, I lunged at singles as they were released for their B-Sides and while there’s still one song of the remaining ten missing, the B-Sides themselves are up there amazingly with the quality of the songs on the album. Any of them easily could have been traded out for a majority of songs. Songs like “I’ll Be Your Domino, Funny Face,” & “Save This Lady” could have found space on the funk, alt, and hybrid albums respectively and listening to those songs, you can see the picture I’m trying to paint here.

Sadly, we never got Sandinista! from the Peppers nor did we get three albums in 2006, but there was still a hell of an album to be found here. While it wasn’t as concise as the other albums and definitely very scattered-brained at times, the album contains some of the best work the band has done & continued the trend of the Chili Pepper’s great albums. Since re-forming their best line-up in ’98, the band really did coin the phrase “musical chemistry” and it seems like each album they made, the chemistry rose higher & higher. It certainly added to the fire that Frusciante’s presence in the studio definitely increased around this time as well. And while I love By The Way more, this album definitely seems to be a better effort from all four members, rather than one or two like on 2002′s release. I’m just rambling so we’ll move on to the actual song…

“Wet Sand” is it. Just it. In my opinion, it is the best Chili Peppers songs and one of the greatest rock tracks ever made. It takes you on an ethereal roller coaster of emotion where you experience the full gamut of rock sentiments. You get the cherub sounding verses linked together by befuddled bridges that seem to resolve themselves a few times only to end up in a whirlwind climax of anger, acceptance, and passion. The lyrics themselves match the music’s intensity as well. Describing a complicated, dysfunctional relationship, Kiedis paints a picture of an on-and-off again union that ends with the sudden realization that this person is not the one in one of rock’s great epiphany moments. What’s interesting here is the line Wet Sand was the first lyric to the song and Kiedis worked backwards from it. While rehearsing the music to the song during pre-production, Frusciante hummed along a vocal melody in the song’s climax and began muttering “gibberish” as they called it on the DVD in the box set of the album. Frusciante has always been reported to be very gung-ho that his solo work and his work with the Chili Peppers stay separate. At times, Kiedis has asked for certain lyrics or to cover certain songs from Frusciante’s solo work or notebook only to be answered with a steadfast, “Never!” Whatever sparked Frusciante (who claimed he had lyrics to the song written) to allow Kiedis the vocal melody and the basic lyric…well, we’ll never know but it was obviously meant to be. Kiedis then framed the whole song based on the idea of “forming in the wet sand” and crafted an amazing monument of a song fit with memorable lines. One of those just so happens to be the namesake of this very website too: “balarama beauty going toe-to-toe.” The music and lyrics meshed together to create an unbelievable song that really has everything one would want in a song. From the beginning where you can almost drift away to the end where you’re screaming at the top of your lungs, this song can not simply be overlooked. Oh and I forgot the best part: the guitar solo. Everything, and I do mean everything, seems to build to the final guitar solo which is definitely one of the best of all time. It follows the lyrical epiphany and keeps that tone going of a man still in love with this woman yet knowing she’s not the one for him. The solo does so much with such a few amount of notes and really exemplifies the musical idea of “less is more” better than anything I can think of. And as the guitar solo winds down and you come off the adrenaline high from the roller coaster, just like any good ride, you can’t wait to do it again.

This, my friends, is what you need to be listening to right now.

Song: Wet Sand
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: Stadium Arcadium
Year: 2006

To download, right-click here and select “Save Target As.”

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers originally consisted of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Jack Irons, & Hillel Slovak. However, due to contractual obligations to another band, Slovak and Irons were not around for the first album and only Slovak was around for the second. However, the Chili Pepper’s third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (featured “Fight Like A Brave“) is where the original line-up was finally together on an album. What resulted was a clearly better representation of their funk-punk fusion than their first low-rent punk album and they’re second mostly funk album (it was produced by George Clinton: what are you going to do?). Their third album did miles better than the second as it got to 148 on the Billboard 200 as opposed to…not charting before…so there was definite cause for celebration. However, that celebration was short-lived as Kiedis & Slovak both developed horrendous heroin addictions and tragically, it took Slovak’s life. Adding a smaller, but still substantial blow to the Peppers after this was the announcement that Irons would be leaving as he thought the band would keep killing his friends and didn’t want to be part of it. So what to do, what to do? Well, by this point in 1988, Kiedis & Flea had barely scratched their musical potential and with Kiedis clean, they both decided to keep the band going. They quickly snagged up DH Peligro & DeWayne McKnight to play the guitar and drums respectively, but chemistry is very vital in bands & ultimately the lack of it here lead to their departure. As luck would have it though, Peligro knew someone who had not only passed a class on RHCP Chemistry, but was now ready to teach it.

John Frusciante was one of those crazy guitar kids. You know, the ones you see on YouTube these days. Well, he was that kid in the 80s playing guitar from the moment he woke up to the moment he fell asleep. He played so much that he got his parents’ permission to drop out of school, passed his equivalence test, and moved to LA to continue his guitar learning. And of course, when he got to LA, he ended up seeing a RHCP concert and quickly fell in love with them. He went to all their concerts, learned all the guitar & bass parts, and even stayed late after shows to talk to Slovak. Frusciante was an undiscovered guitar god at this point simply by spending every waking minute in music, probably half of which were the Chili Peppers’. By the time ’88 rolled around, Frusciante just needed a band to be apart of so he could show off his skill and believe it or not too, he was dangerously close to two other bands besides the Chili Peppers. He almost auditioned for Frank Zappa’s band (one of his guitar heroes), but decided against it as he could not live the rock lifestyle (the one that killed his idol, you know). He also almost signed a contract with a band called Thelonious Monster (Bob Forrest was the leader of the band – remember him, he’ll come up later in the blog) and had been playing gigs with them for two weeks. But also during that time, Peligro had introduced Frusciante & Flea to each other and they began to jam. It wasn’t long before the switch went off in Flea’s head that this guy was born to be a Chili Pepper and Kiedis & he quickly snagged him up from their old friend Bob Forrest (who jokes about it to this day). After that, Chad Smith soon auditioned and nailed the part (albeit a hiccup with a hat incident at the actual audition) & RHCP was back as a quartet. They would go on to make their biggest album yet, Mother’s Milk, which contained their biggest hit yet, “Higher Ground.”

All right, back story out of the way, let’s talk about the song. When I mentioned the jams that Flea & Frusciante did, I actually understated them as they proved to be pretty beneficial to the band’s setlist for the next album. The bass riff for “Nobody Weird Like Me” was made up in these jams by Flea and the very initial jam between the two musical legends was actually remembered and re-done in the studio as the song “Pretty Little Ditty” as a throaway instrumental between odes to Hendrix & punk rock. The song, in my opinion, is pretty amazing especially for the initial session between the two, but it was obviously never released as a single and like most songs on album, most people never gave it much mind or even heard it.

Thirteen years later, nu metal (which many artists pay tribute to RHCP for) was taking the musical scene by storm with bands like Linkin Park & Limp Bizkit dominating the laughable things that people listen to in the car. In 2001, one nu metal band became a complete one-hit wonder with a song when their frontman wrote a song about his ex-girlfriend. Despite being a nu metal band, the band, named Crazy Town, recorded an unmistakable pop song called “Butterfly” and scored a crossover hit at the beginning of this decade. Butterfly dominated Cuba Gooding Jr’s mentally-challenged character and enjoyed much success. But the catch is that that memorable hook that everyone remembers to this day from the song…wasn’t theirs. Lifted right from that initial jam between Frusciante & Flea in 1988. To even grab more from RHCP, the band reportedly told their producer to make the song mellow sounding like “Under The Bridge.”

A crossover hit all thanks to the guitar prodigy John Frusciante and you know what’s funny? Well yeah, radios, but you know what else is? That jam that nobody paid any mind to…it was never ranked as one of the worst songs ever. In fact, it’s been on many best guitar tracks of all time lists. Funny, huh?

Song: Pretty Little Ditty
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: Mother’s Milk
Year: 1989

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Well, every Friday I’ll be putting up a song by or featuring John Frusciante. Go figure! Frusciante is the current guitarist and back-up singer for Red Hot Chili Peppers and has been since 1998 and was in the band also from 1988 to 1992. He has been consistently pointed to as one of the major factors of RHCP’s success and perseverance since the 80s which can also be more or less proven in the commercial and critical decline that One Hot Minute faced, the album that directly followed Frusciante’s leaving the band in 1992 (Dave Navarro replaced him – there’s a weird choice). John Frusciante has also been avid solo musician as well having released ten solo albums since 1994. He also has a sporadic side band called Ataxia which has released two albums. Even more, John Frusciante has also become an extremely sought after studio musician as he has made regular guest appearances on Mars Volta albums as well as members of and Wu-Tang Clan itself and Johnny Cash. He has also been featured on songs by Macy Gray, George Clinton, David Bowie, Tricky, Perry Farrell, Bob Forrest, and so many more that I could name. Suffice it to say, he does a lot more than just work with RHCP and the man keeps himself busy.

In my opinion, not only is John Frusciante easily and I do mean easily the best guitarist going today, I would also say he is one of the best singers and musicians going around today in the music scene. His guitar playing to me is amazingly diverse and emotional which is more different than 90% of guitarists out there. In fact, many guitar schools and the like show his solos (such as I Could Have Lied) to teach their students to play solos in relation to the feeling and tone of the song, rather than just trying to impress people. Utilizing his “less is more” guitar approach (see songs like Scar Tissue), it doesn’t exactly make people think, “Wow, that is a great guitarist,” but definitely makes for better songs overall and more focus on the tone and melody of said songs which makes the songs ultimately better. His singing is something I can’t even begin to explain.

His first foray into actual singing would be heard on his first two albums, released at the height of his drug addiction. This singing…is not pretty. I know a lot of people love those albums and while I don’t dislike them, I definitely would not call that singing good and it’s very apparent the man was doing horrendous amounts of drugs.

However, he eventual became an amazing singer which you can see on his later solo albums Shadows Collide With People and especially his latest one The Empyrean. Have you ever listened to the Chili Peppers and heard some really pretty backing vocals? They’re him. Have you ever heard some very high pitched backing vocals? That would also be him. The man has an incredible voice range that is unremarkable at times and adds so much depth to Chili Peppers songs. His musicianship can just be pointed to most, if not all, of the By The Way album which all members of RHCP have gone on record saying he laid out all in his head for the rest of the band to play. When you listen to his solo records, his musicianship stands out all the more.

Suffice it to say, I love John Frusciante. Listening to his music in the car with the volume turned all the way out, I literally get goose bumps especially when he’s hitting the climax of his songs. It gets to the point sometimes that I judge music as Frusciante Music and Everything Else. His music just puts me in another place. On a side note though, I actually do think John Frusciante is crazy to a certain degree. He is a very intelligent man when it comes to music (in the same vein as Pete Townshend I believe); however, outside of that, he is quite loony on the subject of other dimensions, spirits, ghosts, et cetera. If that’s what it takes to make good music though, I’ll gladly put up with. We soon forget that John Lennon released and fawned over Revolution 9. Frusciante still stands out to me in music though. Hopefully with each of these Frusciante Fridays, I’ll be able to at least make you a simple fan of his. Not a super-fan like I am who hounds John Frusciante websites for the latest news (Invisible-Movement.net rocks), but hopefully someone who would download a few tracks and enjoy them.

Fuck, I’m long-winded. I’ll try and hurry this up. It took me a while to figure out what song to do of his since I will be including RHCP. I wanted to go with She’s Only 18 since it has an amazing guitar solo that bends time, but then I thought I’d go with Going Inside which always is my introduction to John Frusciante. I ultimately figured that this is my blog so why not put my favorite John Frusciante song? Simple idea; don’t know why it took me so long to get there. Oh, I’m retarded; that’s right. Anywho, that song is “Look On” from his album Inside Of Emptiness (my favorite album of his as well). Inside Of Emptiness is the fourth of his six albums released through Record Collection between June 2004 and January 2005 (about six albums in six months) and is mostly centered around basic rock with him letting the synthesizer take a back seat for a change. When the album was released, he said this song was his attempt at making a long guitar-centered 1970s rock song which I think he did and then some. This song also contains one of my all-time favorite guitar solos and is just kind of awe-inspiring. I’ll shut up now and just let you guys listen to the track. I’ll try not to be so long-winded next Friday.

Title: Look On
Artist: John Frusciante
Album: Inside Of Emptiness
Year: 2004

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