With the Chili Peppers releasing their latest record, I'm With You, later this month with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, it will be the band's first album of new material without John Frusciante since the mid-90's. While, I'm With You will mark a newfound rebirth in the band, back in 1995 after major drug battles and internal struggles forced Fruscante out of the band, he was replaced for one record by the band's long time friend and Jane's Addiction guitarist, Dave Navarro. The result was One Hot Minute, a drug induced, highly sexual overtone and very bizarre sounding rock and roll landscape. With Navarro in the band, he single handedly altered the band's sound and style with his more aggressive approach to guitar work. One Hot Minute is a very different piece of music but only a band like Red Hot Chili Peppers could pull it off. The record was done over the course of eight months and with singer Anthony Keidis fighting off a new addiction to drugs and failing to admit it, bassist Flea was taking several vacations through the process of making the album and Navarro being the new member, the recording was not as precise and concentrated as many critics would have hoped. Yet, the sound and style of One Hot Minute is far from a failure, it showed the band explore darker territory and had Keidis getting much more personal again with his lyrics, hence the band's third #1 single, "My Friends." While the critical reception was mixed, the sales of the record were high. While fans may not flock to the album today as they really should, back in 1995 no one was taking chances in bending their own sound and style and risking losing a strong fanbase as the Chili Peppers would do. In '95 as grunge was coming to an end, Britpop was hitting heavy, electronic based music was rising and neutral boring rock was on the radio. The Chili Peppers spiced it up on One Hot Minute and we are curious to see what they do now with I'm With You.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Underrated Classic - Red Hot Chili Peppers "One Hot Minute"
With the Chili Peppers releasing their latest record, I'm With You, later this month with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, it will be the band's first album of new material without John Frusciante since the mid-90's. While, I'm With You will mark a newfound rebirth in the band, back in 1995 after major drug battles and internal struggles forced Fruscante out of the band, he was replaced for one record by the band's long time friend and Jane's Addiction guitarist, Dave Navarro. The result was One Hot Minute, a drug induced, highly sexual overtone and very bizarre sounding rock and roll landscape. With Navarro in the band, he single handedly altered the band's sound and style with his more aggressive approach to guitar work. One Hot Minute is a very different piece of music but only a band like Red Hot Chili Peppers could pull it off. The record was done over the course of eight months and with singer Anthony Keidis fighting off a new addiction to drugs and failing to admit it, bassist Flea was taking several vacations through the process of making the album and Navarro being the new member, the recording was not as precise and concentrated as many critics would have hoped. Yet, the sound and style of One Hot Minute is far from a failure, it showed the band explore darker territory and had Keidis getting much more personal again with his lyrics, hence the band's third #1 single, "My Friends." While the critical reception was mixed, the sales of the record were high. While fans may not flock to the album today as they really should, back in 1995 no one was taking chances in bending their own sound and style and risking losing a strong fanbase as the Chili Peppers would do. In '95 as grunge was coming to an end, Britpop was hitting heavy, electronic based music was rising and neutral boring rock was on the radio. The Chili Peppers spiced it up on One Hot Minute and we are curious to see what they do now with I'm With You.