659 Hello Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground

Chart  entered : 10  February  1990

Chart  peak : 55  ( 54  on  reissue  with  a  different  B-side  six  months  later )

Number  of hits : 26

These  are  an  odd  band  for  me; I  never  know  whether  they're  going  to  release a  great  song  or  some  tuneless  loose  funk  jam.

They  were  formed  in  Los  Angeles  in  1983  by  four  guys  at  Fairfax  High  School  as  Tony  Flow  and  the  Miraculously  Majestic  Masters  of  Mayhem. They  were  Anthony  Keidis  ( vocals ), Michael  "Flea"  Balzary  ( bass ), Hillel  Slovak ( guitar ) and  Jack  Irons  ( drums ). They  were  an  instant  hit  as  a  live  act  playing  a  sort  of  improvised  punk  funk  and  changed  their  name  to  the  more  manageable  Red  Hot  Chili  Peppers  to  please  promoters.

In  November  1983  their  manager  negotiated  a  deal  with  EMI  America. However  Hillel  and  Irons  were  also  committed  to  another  group  What  Is  This  ?  and  declined  to  sign. They  were  replaced  by  Jack  Sherman  and  Cliff  Martinez  respectively. They  started  recording  their  eponymous  debut  with  Gang  of  Four  guitarist  Andy  Gill  as  producer. It  was  a  fraught  process  as  they  did  not  see  eye  to  eye  with  Gill   particularly  after  they  found  his  notebook  where  he'd  written  "shit"  against  one  of  their  song  titles.

Their  first  single  "Get  Up  And  Jump"  came  out  just  before  the  LP. It's  unequivocally  about  sex,  specifically  about  Slovak  wanting  to  get  off  with  a  Miss  Frumpkin . No  prizes  for  guessing  the  rhyming  word. There's  no  real  song though , just  a  hard  funk  bass  line  with  Anthony rapping  over  the  top. The  eponymous  debut  came  out  just  a  week  later. The  band  were  never  happy  with  it  feeling  that  Gill  had  over-polished  and  sucked  the  life  out  of  their  songs. There  may  be  something  in  that  but it's  a  tedious  listen , a  set  of  rap rock  numbers  owing  a  fair  bit  to  the  British  funk  of  the  early  eighties  with  no  memorable  hooks  anywhere. Only  the  jazz-flecked  incest  tale   "Mummy  Where's  Daddy ?" ( featuring  Gwen  Dickey as  guest  vocalist ) and  the  empty,  space-filling  instrumental  "Grand  Pappy  Du  Plenty "  stand  out.

The  album  came  in  the  middle  of  a  year  long  tour, often  in  support  of  other  acts,  which  exposed  tensions  between  Anthony  and  Sherman. When  it  ended , the  latter  was   fired  and  Slovak, having  recently  quit  What  Is  This ? , resumed  his  place  in  the  band.

Making  their  second  album "Freaky  Styley"  was  a  much  more  enjoyable  experience. After  a  brief  dalliance  with  Malcolm  McLaren,  they  approached  George  Clinton  and  moved  into  his  home  for  a  time. Clinton  introduced  them  to  the  song  "Africa"  by  The  Meters which  they  re-wrote  as  "Hollywood"  and  released  as  the  first  single. The  other  single  was  "Jungle  Man", Anthony's  tribute  to  Flea.  The  album  was  a  big  improvement  on  its  predecessor  with  a  brighter  sound, more  inventive  arrangements  ( for  which  experienced brass  players  like  Maceo  Parker and  Fred  Wesley deserve  much  of  the  creditt )  and  a  sense  of  fun  throughout. On  the  downside,  tunes  remain  at  a  premium  and  they  audibly  run  out  of  ideas  on  Side  Two  rattling  through  the  last  six  tracks  in  less  than  ten  minutes.

Clinton  also  encouraged  the  band's  heavy  cocaine  use ( his  drug  dealer  had  a  spoken  part  on  the  album  because  Clinton  couldn't  pay  him )  with Anthony  and  Slovak  becoming  increasingly  debilitated. Both  were  using  heroin  as  well. Martinez  was  fired and  Irons  rejoined  the  band but  in  1986  it   was  put  on  hiatus  for  a  while  as  Anthony  was  sent  home  to  get  clean. He  came  back  semi-cured  and  with  some  new  songs  although  he  fell  back  into  heroin  use  while  recording  the  new  album.

The  original  choice  for  producer was  former  PiL  guitarist  Keith  Levene   but  that  didn't  happen  and  the  job  went  to  the   unknown  Michael  Beinhorn who  got  the  impression  the  label  had  more  or  less  given  up  on  the  band. The  album "The  Uplift  Mofo  Party  Plan"  was  released  in  September  1987. It  was  much  harder  than  its  predecessors  with  Slovak's  guitar  coming  to  the  fore and  re-balancing  the  sound  towards  rock  rather  than  funk. There's  also  the  hint  of  a  melodic  sensibility  emerging  with  Anthony  actually  singing  for   the  first  time  on  "Behind  The  Sun" although  it's  a  pretty  average  song. The  lyrics  generally  revolve  around  sex ( hence  the  infamous  "Party  On  Your  Pussy" ) , drugs  and  friendship. The  lead  single  was  "Fight  Like  A  Brave"  containing  Anthony's  musings  on  his  recent  travails  with  a  football  chant  chorus  and  wild  guitar  solo. Although  it  wasn't  a  hit  it  attracted  attention  with  a  promotional  poster  featuring  the  four  band  members  wearing  just  a  sock  on  their  member. The  album  became  their  first  to  enter  the  US  album  chart, peaking  at  number  148.

Although  "Fight  Like  A  Brave" was  the  only  single  released  in  the  US, the  hard-driving  "Backwoods "  featured  on  a  UK  EP  "The  Abbey  Road   EP "  put  out  in  May  1988  to  coincide  with  the  band's  tour  there  and  introduce  some  of  their  back  catalogue  to  UK  fans.It  attracted  more  attention  for  the  cover  picture  of  the  four  be-socked  guys  walking  across  that  famous  zebra  crossing  than  its  musical  merits  and  the  record  wasn't  a  hit.

That  tour  was  marked  by  both  the  increase  in  their  fanbase  and  the  worsening  situation  around  drug  use  particularly  Slovak's  addiction  to  heroin. He  died  of  a  heroin  overdose   just  a  month  after  the  tour  finished. Irons  couldn't  handle  it  and  felt  he  had  to  quit  the  band.  the  band  hired  temporary  replacements. The  guitarist  was  fired  off  almost  immediately  and  replaced  by  eighteen  year  old  John  Frusciante,  a  fan  of  the  band  who  Flea  had  heard  play. The  drummer  didn't  last  much  longer  and  Chad  Smith  came  through  an  audition  process.

"Higher  Ground"  was  the  first  release  to  feature  the  new  boys  when  it  came  out  as  a  single  in  the  US  in  April  1989. It's  a  cover  of  Stevie  Wonder's  1973 hit  ( UK  number  29. US  number  4 )  and  melodically  faithful  to  the  original  meaning  Anthony  had  to  sing (  not   particularly  tunefully ) once  more.  Flea  leads  into  it  with  his  steel-thumbed  take  on  the  original  bass  line   then  John's  riffs  and  an  uncredited  synthesiser  ( a  first  for  them  )  fill  out  the  sound. The  band  rounded  up  a  bunch  of  friends  to  do  a  vox  pop  rendition  of  the  chorus. It's  not  essential  listening  but  it's  not  a  bad  record. It  wasn't  chosen  as  the  next  single  in  the  UK   where  the  Inxs-like  "Knock  Me  Down"  came  out  instead  but  that  wasn't  a  hit. "Higher  Ground"  was  originally  issued  in  November  1989  but  didn't  chart  until  the  new  decade. It  was  reissued  after  the  subsequent  single  "Taste The  Pain"  reached  number  29  here.