Thread: RHCP - GAH Week 14 - 2.9.23

Originally Posted by aberdien

Every Red Hot Chili Peppers Studio Album, Ranked
https://uproxx.com/indie/every-red-h...-album-ranked/

As I read, I found myself intensely disliking this "cultural critic" for his snark and pretentious attitude.

On noes, Keidis is a horndog who talks about sex in the open, omg.

Could you imagine someone on a microphone being explicit about sex? So crass!! What's next?! A song about big puss energy?

(jfc)

Oh, plus he ranked Stadium Arcadium as their worst album. That's just incorrect. Their early shit was so poorly produced, and they were still finding their groove.

We're all entitled to our opinions!

I went to school w a girl that looked just like Anthony keidis. Was so odd. Id always sing rhcp songs around her. She never knew why.

I plan on spending an unprecedented 3 weeks with the Peppers. They have legit volume, I'd put them at 6 hours of *quality* material. What I'd call "songs that I don't want to skip."

Songs like Walkabout are dope af. They work in that dope ass afro-brasil squeaky instrument thing that Jorge Ben used on Africa Brasil (1976).

The Peppers are underrated. Zep is probably their closest competitor if you look at guitar, bass, drums. Keidis is a limited vocalist, but he's a good fit and good frontman.

Every Zep album was pretty damned good...because the ingredients were high quality and they went all-in on the creative process.

It's probably good they didn't have someone like Cornell or Levine as their vocalist, they would have broken rock music.

They are no Beatles...but they seem like an American version of the Stones or Zep to me. Maybe more tight and talented than Stones, and imo more consistently good like Zep was, but Keidis is closer to Jagger than Plant.

Obviously, I'm really feeling it.

***not sure if I mentioned: I got in with Mother's Milk just before Blood Sugar dropped. Then I wore the wheels off of BSSM. Songs like Sir Psycho Sexy I loved--the instrumental ending after the Too $hort verses. I didn't buy One Hot Minute because my friend bought it, so I listened to it with him. I was sorta *over* the Peppers by the time Californication came out. But I looked at it and thought "alright, old friend, let's see if you have any of that old magic left." They did. Excellent album from front to back.

I listened a little to songs from By The Way during the Napster-type era. I was sorta like "wtf are you still doing making music, grandpa? didn't you get the memo that bands are only relevant for a few years, and then they are supposed to start sucking?"

Then I remember Stadium Arcadium in a Borders or something. Lots of hype. I figured anything with hype sucked, so I passed. Plus I was way more into bands like Wolf Parade and Modest Mouse. Sun Kil Moon. Radiohead. Death Cab. Etc.

Going back through these later releases, I see that they kept climbing Everest to find the peak of their craft as a band.

They ******* leveled up...if you are into their kind of music...

I had moved on, as I usually do with a band, but I was wrong. Or I wasn't ready.

This could also be my subjective tastes really steering the ship. But I don't think so. I think their continued relevance on Spotify speaks to enduring appeal.

I remember when Stadium Arcadium came out. My cousin from Nebraska visited for the summer, I recall him buying that CD at Walmart and us listening to it a lot. Casino Royal also came out.

That was a great summer.

Peppers top 10 bangers per Spotify plays:

Under the Bridge 1,074m
Californication 1,069m
Can't Stop 879m
Snow (Hey Oh) 870m
Otherside 743m
Scar Tissue 625m
Dani California 557m
Dark Necessities 390m
By the Way 373m
Give It Away 307m

Next 10:

Zephyr Song 202m
Road Trippin' 153m
Soul to Squeeze 136m
The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie 130m
Higher Ground 125m
Tell Me Baby 123m
Sick Love 102m
Goodbye Angels 101m
Suck My Kiss 100m
Parallel Universe 99m

Next 10:

The Getaway 94m
Black Summer 92m
Wet Sand 86m
Aeroplane 83m
Breaking the Girl 76m
The Longest Wave 75m
Dosed 75m
Don't Forget Me 73m
My Friends 72m
Universally Speaking 72m

***

I have no point. This is just data.

After the closure of The Masque, Mullen spent much of the next decade booking shows for another popular L.A. club, called Club Lingerie.[1] Club Lingerie was known more for its eclectic bookings that ran from punk and pop to jazz and blues, as well as the first West Coast appearances by several New York-based hip-hop acts. In 1983, Mullen had his first encounter with Anthony Kiedis and Flea, who came into the club with their newly recorded demo tape, demanding Mullen listen to it. The duo proceeded to play the demo on a boombox they carried around and danced around like maniacs to their music. The music impressed Mullen, as did the duo's energy. He offered their band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, an opening slot on an upcoming Bad Brains show. Kiedis and Flea ended up becoming longtime friends with Mullen until his death. The band credits Mullen with being one of their first major supporters and giving them their start.

What Flea sent to the LA Times.

Brendan Mullen had a lot of friends. I was one of them.

When the Red Hots started in 1983, Brendan was booking the Club Lingerie, and because he was booking it, it was an exciting place to play. One knew that he would be playing in the company of interesting, inventive musicians, the avant of independent music, youth culture or not. Brendan created a fertile, exciting, creative environment, the type of scene that inspired musicians to reach out, to try and find new sounds.

Anthony [Kiedis] and I walked in there one afternoon to see him, armed with a boombox and our first demo tape. We were trying to hustle our act, saying and doing what we thought we needed to do to try to get a gig.

Brendan was polite but could have cared less whether we were cool, or popular, or could sell tickets. He wanted to hear the music. We sat down and played it for him; he focused and listened, making occasional insightful comments about the music. We were so proud and excited when he liked it and booked us to open for Bad Brains.

It was a huge step for us to get that gig, but in a much more important way, I felt profoundly validated to be accepted and acknowledged by Brendan Mullen, who was a crucial part -- a hub -- of a scene that for me had mythological status.

When I first became conscious of the punk, innovative part of the youth rock scene in L.A., it was 1980. We were hovering on the far outskirts of it; about as close as we could get was to hang out in the Starwood parking lot and get in to see shows once in a while. The more I learned about the wellspring for the intense punk rock scene that I loved, the more enthralled I was by it.

--

Universal punk

Then it was not the scene it would become -- macho and violent, with rules about haircuts and uniforms -- it was a freethinking, vibrant, artistic scene of groundbreaking bands like the Germs, the Weirdos, the Screamers, all groups who sounded completely different from each other but were united by their willingness to be their own freaky selves, embrace an intense new rhythm and raise a robust middle finger to the face of the rock music corporate structure and all of its musical lackeys.

--

Nursing the scene

When Brendan started the Masque, it was a pure act, creating a place for people he liked (the aforementioned bands and many others) to do their thing, have fun and get wild, no salesmen allowed.

It became a nucleus for a thrilling new music environment that gave birth to the Southern California punk rock music scene, which later gave birth to some of the most important rock music to ever come out of California: X, Black Flag, Los Lobos and then later, the Minutemen, Jane’s Addiction and the (humbly I say) Red Hots. He also played drums for Hal Negro and the Satin Tones.

It was an exciting cross-cultural punk scene that embraced all races, genders, sexual orientations and any manner of deviant. It was beautiful. Just no phonies. Brendan Mullen was key in all of this. Brendan was also a part of and present for the first hip-hop scene that made its way to Hollywood, working on shows with Ice-T, Afrika Bambaataa and the Arabian Prince.

--

A broad palate

Brendan never deserted the L.A. music scene through its ups and downs; he always looked to what new exciting thing he could find, and in more recent years supported the music as a writer.

We always had great talks about music, of which he had a deep passion and an encyclopedic knowledge. He loved music from the Contortions to Return to Forever to John Coltrane -- he signed off on all his recent e-mails to me “A Love Supreme” -- and everything in between and beyond.

We would talk at length about any kind of music and all the fun stories and folklore that surrounded it, and reminisce about the L.A. music scene. He always had ideas, hopes and curiosities about more new and creative things to happen in the future.

--

One of us

Over the last year the Red Hot Chili Peppers had been working closely with Brendan on a book about our band, and we all spent many hours with him talking about our history, discussing the direction of the book, etc. Throughout all of it, we were grateful to work with someone who cared for and knew as much about music and its culture as he did.

But more than that, we were lucky to work with a friend, part of our family, one of us.

Whenever I came home to L.A. and saw him, I knew that I belonged to something, that I was in a place that was my home.

Brendan was an intellectual, a musician, a writer, a partyer and a regular dude. And I speak for all of us when I say to Brendan . . . a love supreme! Brendan has broken through to the other side!

R.I.P., Brendan Mullen.

Not sure if this is an "underrated" song, but it's among their best for sure

Originally Posted by aberdien

Not sure if this is an "underrated" song, but it's among their best for sure

I'm surprised it's not more played on Spotify.

This one and Breaking the Girl was how I fell in love with the band.

Which is weird because they are "Keidis sings" type of songs, not the band's strength.

Aite, for those like me that missed some of the better deep cuts, here's a sample. Ranked sample of deep cuts. Spoiler--By The Way is Fru's masterpiece and it might be their high point. Not saying, just saying. Frusciante is legit.

*Pretty Little Ditty* - Mother's Milk
Dosed - By The Way
Easily - Californication
Charlie - Stadium Arcadium
Minor Thing - By The Way
Black Summer - Unlimited Love
Especially in Michigan - Stadium Arcadium
Venice Queen - By The Way
Knock Me Down - Mother's Milk
Here Ever After - Unlimited Love
Go Robot - The Getaway ('sup Gorillaz)
One Big Mob - One Hot Minute
I Could Die For You - By The Way
Walkabout - One Hot Minute
Aquatic Mouth Dance - Unlimited Love
Warm Tape - By The Way
On Mercury - By The Way
They're Red Hot - BSSM (so much musicality packed into 1:11, the percussion is outstanding)

I haven't really chewed through I'm with You, Getaway, and Unlimited Love properly yet either.

This is a band that if you don't like them--some peeps don't dig the Beatles--then they just aren't your thing. Like my bro said, 'a lot of their songs sound the same'. If it's not your thing, word.

For me, it's one of those "wow, I didn't even know about this vein of gold, dayum!" And rather than sounding samey, it's more juice concentrate.

Bottom line...music is a massive summation of moments. The more attention to detail and disciplined creativity packed into each song, the better. Flea and Fru and Chad are 1) killer musicians, and 2) reluctant to settle.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

Aite, for those like me that missed some of the better deep cuts, here's a sample. Ranked sample of deep cuts. Spoiler--By The Way is Fru's masterpiece and it might be their high point. Not saying, just saying. Frusciante is legit.

*Pretty Little Ditty* - Mother's Milk
Dosed - By The Way
Easily - Californication
Charlie - Stadium Arcadium
Minor Thing - By The Way
Black Summer - Unlimited Love
Especially in Michigan - Stadium Arcadium
Venice Queen - By The Way
Knock Me Down - Mother's Milk
Here Ever After - Unlimited Love
Go Robot - The Getaway ('sup Gorillaz)
One Big Mob - One Hot Minute
I Could Die For You - By The Way
Walkabout - One Hot Minute
Aquatic Mouth Dance - Unlimited Love
Warm Tape - By The Way
On Mercury - By The Way
They're Red Hot - BSSM (so much musicality packed into 1:11, the percussion is outstanding)

I haven't really chewed through I'm with You, Getaway, and Unlimited Love properly yet either.

This is a band that if you don't like them--some peeps don't dig the Beatles--then they just aren't your thing. Like my bro said, 'a lot of their songs sound the same'. If it's not your thing, word.

For me, it's one of those "wow, I didn't even know about this vein of gold, dayum!" And rather than sounding samey, it's more juice concentrate.

Bottom line...music is a massive summation of moments. The more attention to detail and disciplined creativity packed into each song, the better. Flea and Fru and Chad are 1) killer musicians, and 2) reluctant to settle.

The Getaway is some of my favorite RHCP stuff since Stadium Arcadium. We Turn Red, Sick Love, Feasting on the Flowers, all good stuff. Thought it was a big step up from the I'm With You album.

Next up: Weezer?

Wow. Ok, sure.

Originally Posted by aberdien

Next up: Weezer?

I love Weezer, but I'd like them better if they continued to get weird like they did with that 3 stretch album of Pinkerton to Maladroit. Rivers knows how to write a hit, I'll give him that!

I would put Weezer in the same category as RHCP and the Strokes as the greatest modern American legacy bands.