Published on Jan 24, 2005
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released upon an unsuspecting
public in 1991. Working with producer Rick Rubin, who was known for
his work with metal giants Slayer among others, the band (vocalist
Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, guitarist John Frusciante and drummer
Chad Smith) was focused on creating a release that would change
their world. And change it did. The media got behind
Blood and literally shoved and pushed and grinded the three
singles (“Under the Bridge,” “Breaking the Girl,” and “Give it
Away”) onto your local rock radio station. MTV played the videos a
lot (yes, MTV used to actually play videos!), further cementing the
band as a mainstream rock act. Combined, the trio of singles
brought the Red Hot Chilli Peppers mainstream success that
continues today.
I divide this release into quarters. Because 4 doesn’t go into
17 evenly, I don’t consider track 17 “They’re Red Hot” as nothing
more than a hidden track that is mentioned on the back of the
CD.
The first quarter opens with “The Power of Equality,” making it
quickly evident that the band is more than the trio of singles.
Flea’s bassline drives this song. “If You Have to Ask” is propelled
by guitarist John Frusciante’s riff. This duo quickly establishes
that the band is more than Flea’s basslines. The single “Breaking
the Girl” highlights this quarter. Flea’s contribution to the
band’s sound is highlighted in “Funky Monks.”
The second quarter starts out with my favorite non-radio single
song on this release is “Suck My Kiss.” I like the attitude in
Kiedis’ lyrics, the music of Flea, Frusciante, and Smith is focused
and tight with syncopated starts and stops. My second non-radio
single song on this release immediately follows, “I Could Have
Lied.” The subtle music, the sincere lyrics like “I could never
change / just what I feel/ my face will never show/ what is not
real,” and the emotional guitar solo take this song over the top
for me. “Mellowship Slinky in B Major” and “The Righteous & the
Wicked” showcase Flea, Frusciante, and Smith jamming. These two
songs offer the most simple riffs on the release.
The third quarter features the remaining radio singles, “Give It
Away” and “Under The Bridge.” Thirteen years later, I still get
goosebumps when I listen to “Under the Bridge.” Where Mother’s Milk
fails to make a connection with me, “Under The Bridge” hits home
musically and lyrically each and every time I hear it. Flea’s
bassline and guitarist John Frusciante’s riff provide a perfect
example of how the guitar and the bass can play together, without
having the two instruments play the same riff.
The following lyrics describe loneliness and the love affair
between the band and Los Angeles: “It’s hard to believe/ that
there’s nobody out there/ it’s hard to believe/ that I’m all alone/
at least I have her love/ the city she loves me/ lonely as I am/
together we cry.” There are no fancy words, only bared emotion. The
other tunes “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” and “Naked in the Rain” don’t
really do much for me. I skip over these two when I listen to the
release. As a title track “Blood” is weak and boring. Drummer Chad
Smith provides a solid backbone in “Naked in the Rain” but can’t
save the track from . . .. (yawn) sorry. What was I saying?
That leads up to the final quarter. “Apache Rose Peacock” does
nothing for me. The lyrics are stupid “Sittin’ on a sack of beans /
sittin’ down in New Orleans / You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen /
sitting on that sack of beans.” A great release doesn’t allow for
filler tracks and that’s what this one is. For as much as I like
the opening duo of “The Power of Equality” and “If You Have to
Ask,” I think track 14 “The Greeting Song” should have been the
first track. Instead, burried in the last quarter of the release,
it sounds out of place. It’s still a great song, just misplaced in
the sequence of the songs on this release. I can get into the
lyrics of “My Lonely Man,” though the music doesn’t do the
emotional words justice. “I love you too / See my heart / it’s
black and blue / when I die / I will find you.” The last song in
this quarter “Sir Psycho Sexy” is a methodically slow cluster. The
lyrics “A long, long, long, long time ago/ Before the wind before
the snow/ lived a man, lived a man I know” are too stupid to
accept. I can’t suspend my belief in reality long enough to analyze
the following: the subject lived a long time ago from the present
(in the past), but the speaker knows him. How credible is the
speaker if he has been around for a “long, long, long, long time”?
It doesn’t get any better in the last stanza as Kiedis sings, “Now
I lay me down to sleep / I pray the funk will make me freak / if I
should die before I waked (sic) / allow me Lord to rock out naked.”
“Waked” and “naked” don’t rhyme just because they are spelled
similarily!!
This release would have been so much stronger if the band would
have had someone, anyone, tell them to quit with the self-indulgent
crap. Listen to this release in the following order:
Track 1 – The Greeting Song Track 2 – If You Have to Ask Track 3
– Breaking the Girl Track 4 – Suck my Kiss Track 5 – I Could’ve
Lied Track 6 – Give it Away Track 7 – Mellowship Slinky in B Major
Track 8 – Under the Bridge
In my opinion, those are the best songs on this release and,
listened to in that order, this release rocks. I dropped “The
Righteous & the Wicked” in this lineup as it duplicates the
vibe of “Mellowship Slinky in B Major.” Unfortunately, the band
released it with 8 other tracks that drag down this release. Eight
right out of 16 is 50% and I can’t, in good conscience, recommend a
release where I skip through half of the tracks.