August 10, 1984 - Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Six days after my last release a new band joins my library when a Californian band named Red Hot Chili Peppers released their debut album "The Red Hot Chili Peppers" on August 10, 1984. But who are the Red Hot Chili Peppers? They are a four-piece rock/funk band from Los Angeles and are credited with being one of the first bands to play this blend of hard rock music mixed with speedy, almost rapping vocals. Only two of the original four members feature on this album, but they both have very distinct styles that would make the Chili Peppers instantly recognizable. The remaining founding members are lead singer Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea and they are joined on this debut by guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez. This album wasn't a big commercial success, but it's the beginning of a budding career for this unique band. Let's check it out!

The album begins with "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes" and Flea plays a pretty cool bass riff to kick things off and his funky bass drives the song while Sherman's guitar is more in the background. Kiedis begins the first verse and his voice certainly doesn't sound like your typical good singing voice. He sings pretty low at times and quite high at other times in his funky/unorthodox voice and although it's not gonna win any awards in this form, it does fit the style of the music quite well. The chorus has pretty much the same tune as the verse as Kiedis sings the name of the song a couple times. There's a brief nice guitar lick by Sherman then it's back to the groovy main riff. They repeat this formula of verse, chorus, cool guitar bit several times over and each time Sherman's guitar part gets a little longer. By the final go through he plays some slow but cool guitar and they play the chorus one last time before Flea ends things as they began on bass. This style of music is definitely unlike anything else in my library so far! Up next is "Baby Appeal" and Flea plays another groovy bass line as Sherman leads the main riff with some cool guitar and Kiedis sings some fast, almost rapping vocals. His rapid fire lyrics mesh nicely with the slow and funky riff and these guys seem like they just wanna relax and party as everyone seems like they're having fun. The verse leads right into a similar chorus and Kiedis does lots of weird things with his voice, accenting words in odd ways, but I like it! After another verse and chorus, Flea plays a new dirty bass riff that sounds great and Sherman plays a very short solo overtop that sounds solid as well. Martinez does a nice drum fill at the end of the solo and brings it back to the main riff for a final verse and chorus. Track 3 is called "Buckle Down" and a simple but heavy guitar drives the riff as Flea and Martinez form a nice rhythm section. Kiedis sings some high-pitched and frantic vocals in the verse and they move into the chorus with heavy bass and nice guitar as the rest of the band echoes Kiedis for a louder chorus. Flea comes firing out of the chorus with some sweet bass and Sherman plays a pretty great little guitar solo that sounds like it would fit in a much heavier song! It's back to the main riff as they repeat the verse/chorus/cool guitar formula before ending the song with a new verse that is really repetitive and a bit of an unexciting way to end things. The next song was their only single off the album, "Get Up And Jump" and some really fast guitar and bass drive this song as both Sherman and Flea are playing some great stuff! Kiedis sings a fast verse to fit in and Flea's bass in particular stands out so much as you can hear every one of his many notes perfectly. The chorus is just the name of the song repeated eight times but inbetween each one Martinez adds in some nice drum fills and keeps things interesting. After another fast-paced verse and chorus we hear a horns section and it sounds pretty good! The fast trumpets fit the mood nicely and they jam out a final verse to end this short but pretty cool song. Track 5 is "Why Don't You Love Me", a Hank Williams cover with lyrics that frequently say "why don't you love me like you used to do?" I've never heard the original but I'm guessing Kiedis's singing is a far cry from what it's meant to sound like as he sings almost comically. It's not a flashy main riff but it's catchy and Flea's bass sounds great as is becoming the norm already. Kiedis continues to list the things that this person no longer does as they turn what i'm sure was originally a sad song into a funny, funky tune. The horns are here again as we hear some more cool trumpets and it's a very breezy and catchy song and they play it really well with solid contributions from everyone, albeit a bit of a weird ending to finish it off.

Side two begins with "Green Heaven" and it has a slow rhythm section with more cool bass and Sherman plays some nice epic guitar overtop as Kiedis sings a fast verse in his weird vocal style. The chorus is very simple and surprisingly has little to no lyrics; only noises by Kiedis adds to the unusualness of this song. They play a couple more slow and funky verses and end the song with a pretty sweet guitar solo by Sherman. If you thought that song was weird, here's the next track, "Mommy, Where's Daddy?" which has a smooth main riff with solid bass and guitar and the horns are back, sounding pretty good and adding emphasis. Kiedis's singing is especially weird in this one as he tries to sound like a little kid as he whines the name of the song for the chorus. He sings a more standard RHCP verse and also sounds weird when he says "give daddy a kiss girl". The music sounds pretty good though, especially the horns section which sounds great. They repeat the cycle with another chorus, verse, and more cool horns before moving to a final chorus. Martinez plays it out on drums until it fades to a close. Track 8 is "Out In L.A." and it has some fast guitar with groovy backing bass as Kiedis sings very quickly along and his speedy vocals sound pretty good over this funky main riff. He sings the prophetic line "I'm shootin' for the top and my best friend's Flea" and it shows the bond these two had since the beginning. This 2 minute song has a nice bass solo by Flea and the guitar solo to finish it off is pretty sweet as well! The songs keep getting shorter as "Police Helicopter" is just over a minute long, but it's still a solid fast-paced jam similar to the last song. It has fast guitar, great bass from Flea and spitfire vocals by Kiedis. Their producer famously wrote one word about this song: shit. He clearly doesn't get it as this perfectly encapsulates early RHCP. Up next is "You Always Sing The Same" and it's a 19 second song with drums and Kiedis repeating the name over and over. It's a very odd and very short song. The album wraps up with "Grand Pappy Du Plenty", an instrumental with a nice epic drumbeat by Martinez and echo-y and distant guitars and bass. It's unlike any other song on the album; very trippy and space-y instead of fast and funky. Sherman plays some cool trippy guitar and although it's not usually their thing, I like it. The same riff continues for the whole 4-plus minutes until the album slowly fades to an end.

That is the end of "The Red Hot Chili Peppers" and I thought it was a strange but cool album. These guys sound like no other band at this point with their unique and interesting style. I thought Flea's amazing bass playing was the highlight of most songs on the album and Anthony Kiedis certainly is a one of a kind singer. Nothing on this album was mind-blowing and it's not shocking at all that it wasn't popular when it first came out, but it's a raw and feisty beginning for the California funk rockers and I look forward to seeing where they will go next.