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RHCP: Frusciante back, Klinghoffer gone


Gil Bang

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Outside of festivals, do they even have any relevance left? I suppose they'll keep making new music, but they should be well into their annual "Play the Hits" tour/cash grab stage for diehards only.

I dug Californication when I was in middle school as their "we're finally off drugs, so here's a bunch of tortured songs about how shitty drugs made our lives" album. Everything since has been about a milquetoast, safe, and generic as it gets from dudes who were probably always better performers than musicians anyway.

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1 minute ago, aggie08 said:

dudes who were probably always better performers than musicians anyway.

I think it's almost the opposite . . . Flea is a monster, Chad Smith is plenty talented, and whatever heroin addict they have on guitar has always been fantastic (and I don't really like Frusciante, but yeah, he can play).  They just don't write many good songs, and if Kiedis is doing anything but rap the whole thing goes down the tubes.

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1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I think it's almost the opposite . . . Flea is a monster, Chad Smith is plenty talented, and whatever heroin addict they have on guitar has always been fantastic (and I don't really like Frusciante, but yeah, he can play).  They just don't write many good songs, and if Kiedis is doing anything but rap the whole thing goes down the tubes.

Yeah, I should have specified that comment to Kiedis.  Smith and Flea's names always pop up in best drummer/bass conversations, and Frusciante was there when they were huge, so maybe that will pull on some people's nostalgia.  But bands tend to go as their lead singer, and ain't no one wants to hear another barely comprehensible rap/talking song with a catchy, but empty, chorus over the top.

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24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I think it's almost the opposite . . . Flea is a monster, Chad Smith is plenty talented, and whatever heroin addict they have on guitar has always been fantastic (and I don't really like Frusciante, but yeah, he can play).  They just don't write many good songs, and if Kiedis is doing anything but rap the whole thing goes down the tubes.

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9 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Blood Sugar Sex Majic or however they spelled it, was a soundtrack of my youth album.  Really enjoyed it.  There were some great songs there.

But that was peak RHCPs as far as I'm concerned.  Been downhill since.

 

*Magik.  And for the 5 or so years preceding that were an original, if not innovative sound.  

I am an absolute fool for a rhythm section of the caliber of Michael and Chad, especially Flea, so I forgive their later "transgressions."  The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie was pretty solid in the Blood Sugar vein.

It's kind of funny, I'm quite unmusical so this may be inapt to those who are, but RHCP guitar has always to me been kind of like bass in other bands, sort of fills in the background.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

*Magik.  And for the 5 or so years preceding that were an original, if not innovative sound.  

I am an absolute fool for a rhythm section of the caliber of Michael and Chad, especially Flea, so I forgive their later "transgressions."  The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie was pretty solid in the Blood Sugar vein.

I don't disagree with this take.  Compared to a lot of other stuff going on in the 80s, early RHCP was certainly distinct and I appreciated that.

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They were one of my favorites in high school and college, and I have definitely outgrown Anthony Kiedis.  I bailed when Frusciante left.  I listened to the post-Frusciante albums a time or two, but found it all boring as hell.

By The Way holds up very well.  It was the most heavily involved Frusciante was in the songwriting, I think.  Stadium Arcadium has some obnoxiously dumb songs (Dani California), but Frusciante just tears shit up all over that one.  Plus it was a heavy part of my collective friend group's summer of 2006, a particularly wild time in our lives, so it always breaks back great memories.

I saw them live twice.  One was incredible, and the other completely sucked.

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Agree with JJ and others about Flea & Smith.  They are a fantastic duo that made this band work.  The band's ability to have a plug-and-play attitude towards guitarists shows how great those two are.

Keidis is someone who's musical legacy would have greatly benefited from joining the 27 club.

Edited by Goredho
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7 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Agree with JJ and others about Flea & Smith.  They are a fantastic duo that made this band work.  The band's ability to have a plug-and-play attitude towards guitarists shows how great those two are.

Keidis is someone who's musical legacy would have greatly benefited from joining the 27 club.

giphy.gif

Strong words.  But you're not wrong.

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Also, I'm not sure the timing lines up quite right, but it's close.  I became aware of RHCP and the Beastie Boys at about the same time.  And they were vaguely similar as white dudes dabbling in black genres with a kind of punk sensibility.

I saw the Beasties on the Get Off My Dick tour.

Who would have figured their relative trajectories.

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/15/2019 at 11:58 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Lulz.  That band hasn't been worth a shit in over 25 years and Frusciante is only a tangential part of their "quality".  (Anthony Kiedis trying to sing actual notes is antithetical to any quality they might possess.)

S6Ja.gif

Edited by Cajun
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