Published on Jan 21, 2005
When Mother’s Milk was released in 1989, I admit I wasn’t ready
for them. I was a sophomore in college and more interested in
Poison, Winger, Slaughter, and other late-80s groups. I wasn’t into
funk, punk, or slap bass. I dismissed the band as being borderline
interesting. I didn’t want to like this band. Upon the release of
1991’s
Blood Sugar Sex Magik, I gave this band another chance to
stand out as a special band. It was one of those things were I
liked the three radio singles (“Under The Bridge,” “Breaking The
Girl,” and “Give It Away”) from
Blood and made a conscious effort to investigate the band’s
previous release with the hot chick on the cover.
What that means is that by the time I found myself with
Mother’s Milk, I had their future releases to guide me
through their style. And that’s the way my local rock stations
worked as well. After the success of
Blood, I began hearing songs from this release. “Higher
Ground” and “Taste the Pain” were getting airplay. It’s the same
thing that has happened with bands that achieve commercial success
with a second or third release. It’s like having a current hit
single gives the radio stations license to investigate where the
band came from. This happened with Metallica. It wasn’t until after
the success of “Enter Sandman” that my local rock stations started
playing “Seek and Destroy,” “Creeping Death,” “Fade to Black” and
“Master of Puppets” in regular rotation. The same thing happened
with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In my experience, after the trio of
singles from
Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the band’s back catalogue was
investigated further.
In early 2005, I don’t think a lot has changed. I listened and
re-listened to this release recently and it just doesn’t do it for
me. I like it when a band makes a first person connection with the
listener. I don’t want preaching or way out there lyrics. One
element of a band is to make a connection with the listener. For
me,
Mother’s Milk fails in that category. I don’t feel a
connection to the band.
“Good Time Boys” strikes me as an anthem about how much the band
thinks their feces doesn’t stink. “Funky young kings we sing of
truth and soul / We’re the modern day braves with one strong hold /
through the world of song our boldness is exposed” and then later
“We play it loud for everyone to hear it.” These lyrics are
laughable. What strikes me the most is that they chose to make
“Good Time Boys” their first track, the position that usually gets
the most attention from reviewers and casual listeners. It’s
unfortunate because it sets the release in the wrong direction.
“Subway to Venus” doesn’t do much more for me than indicate it’s
time to press Skip. While I appreciate the horn accents, this song
is another example of misdirection. “Step right up and listen
please / you’re gonna get it with the greatest of ease.” I am glad
this wasn’t followed with lyrics like “We fly through the air
without a net on the trapeze.”
“Magic Johnson” is a song that the Los Angeles Lakers probably
could have commissioned the band to write and to then use as a
theme in their promo spots. And while I can appreciate the band’s
devotion to the basketball team, this track just comes across as
stupid. The “M-A-G-I-C” chant, lyrics like “Knucklehead suckers
better duck / when the buck comes through like a truck.” I just
can’t wrap my mind around this song.
“Nobody Weird Like Me” should never have been released. That’s
as cut and dry as I can get. Either that or Kiedis should’ve been
sent back to write better lyrics. “Bless my britches / bless my
soul / I’m a freak of nature/ walking totem pole / look and see I
think you’ll agree / Nobody weird like me.” Later, he sings
“intercourse with a porpoise / is a dream for me / Hell bent on
inventing / A new species.” Some things that we are hell bent on
doing should remain private.
The final two tracks “Sexy Mexican Maid” and “Johnny, Kick a
Hole in the Sky” tidy up the release without much of a kick. “Maid”
talks about a sensual adventure with a female and “Johnny” doesn’t
connect with me, describing “a jagged flash of light struck me in
the eye / I turned around and found that I was still alive / Snakes
rise high from the purple black sky.” Um. . . the last time I
checked, if a snake was coming from the sky, it would come down to
earth. “Rising high from the sky” may be a great rhyme, but it
makes no connection with me.
I do like the band’s cover of “Fire,” my favorite Jimi Hendrix
song ever. Everything I love about the jam band attitude on the
original comes through. The tempo is faster on this version and
vocalist Anthony Kiedis takes a few lyric liberties, but it comes
together as a quick 2:03 jam. Second, I still like the radio
singles from this release. Flea’s repetitive bass line in “Higher
Ground” is mesmerizing. I do wish guitarist John Frusciante would
have written a guitar riff that doesn’t mimic Flea’s bassline so
tightly. Drummer Chad Smith makes this song for me with the
pounding drumbeat that drives the song. Third, I like the
reflective lyrics from Kiedis of “Knock Me Down.” I don’t know if
when Kiedis sings, “If you see me getting high” in the chorus if
he’s talking about being high on drugs or high on themselves. I
think the latter because of the other lyrics in the chorus: “If you
see me getting mighty . . . / I’m not bigger than life.” I like the
instrumental “Pretty Little Ditty” which allows Flea and Frusciante
to combine their instruments.
I didn’t think I would dislike this release as much as I did. It
failed to make a connection with me lyrically. Musically, sure,
Flea is a great bassist and Chad Smith can hammer down the
backbeat. Frusciante can play riffs. This release is not their
best.