Thread: RHCP - GAH Week 14 - 2.9.23

I'm convinced right now that RHCP are my answer and will remain so to the question that requires a single answer--what's the greatest American band?

I did a super deep dive on the catalog and continued to become more impressed with each song. They have a standard for what gets put on an album.

Ultimately I had a playlist of all the "bad" albums, which are the first three, I'm With You, and Dream Canteen. I enjoyed that playlist. If those five albums are all they ever put out, it would be a band that I'd enjoy listening to. Especially the early stuff--it surprised me.

So. Here's my cliff notes version of "why."

First, the "cons"

1. Keidis ain't Harry Styles, and despite Fru's excellent falsetto backing vocals, the band is missing a certain songbird-type flavor we might expect
2. Music tends to fixate on Flea's style, so the "samey" critique boils down to one musician's style and how much you prefer that style
3. While the band may have a floor on quality, the ceiling is never quite as high as one might like. That is, even their best songs aren't as amazing as many bands' absolute best songs.

Then the "pros"

1. Longevity, volume, and quality--forty years and still CRUSHING
2. Objective sales and streaming measures, international footprint
3. They have a certain "it" in terms of being a band--a three/four musketeers vibe.
4. Inventiveness. Like the Beatles, for me anyways, just about every song is welcome to my ears. Maybe not right away, but that was true for the Beatles, too. They have creative superpowers. They never fell into a formulaic rut (except maybe all the California-based lyrics lol). Each song is a special creation.
5. They didn't overstay or understay their welcome. They put out albums when they had the content. The Getaway and Unlimited Love, their grandpa-rock releases, don't feel contrived. It's just their music. It's a slight evolution, but imo a tasteful balance.
6. They ******* rock man!!!!

I'm watching this on an unrelated tangent (my own interest in the bass guitar).

Highly recommended for anyone who wants an honest sanity check on Flea's musicianship. Flea is a good bassist...but there's like this whole other dimension of "good bassist" among the world's truly virtuosic bass players, and they may give Flea a bit of a side-eye...or not?



For example, the two bassists who preceded Flea are the ones who played on

1. Peter Gabriel's album "So"
2. Paul Simon's album "Graceland"