Anthony Kiedis once revealed the secret to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ success
Starting a band is one thing, but keeping one running is another challenge entirely. It’s not that musicians are innately difficult – although many of them are – it’s just that asking a group of people to work towards a common goal is inevitably going to lead to some friction. Throw a board of label executives and an uncompromising tour schedule into the mix, and you’ve got a recipe for a complete band breakdown. So, what keeps a band together? Red Hot Chili Peppers are far from functional.
In fact, their whole vibe is unashamedly dysfunctional. Heroin addiction, alcoholism, rehabilitation: the members of RHCP haven’t exactly been living the quiet life. And yet, they’ve struck together through thick and thin and continue to make music to this day, making them one of the most enduring bands of their generation.
Red Hot Chili Peppers formed at Fairfax High School in the early 1980s. Their debut album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, was released in 1984 and cemented the group as one of the most promising bands of the blossoming MTV generation. By the time their second album rolled around, frontman Anthony Keidis and original guitarist Hillel Slovak were struggling with crippling heroin addictions.
Rick Rubin even refused to produce RHCP’s third studio album on account of the band’s drug problems. Then, in June 1988, Slovak died of a drug overdose. Kiedis left L.A. while original drummer Jack Irons decided that enough was enough and quit RHCP for good.
For most bands, that would have been the end. However, in December 1988, Red Hot Chili Peppers emerged with a brand new lineup consisting of Keidis, Flea, a teenage fan called John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith. In the 1990s, things started to fall apart yet again when Frusciante, troubled by fame and unable to get along with Kiedis, began isolating himself. After developing a severe heroin addiction, he decided to quit the band after a show in Tokyo in 1992. He spent years struggling with his addiction before rejoining RHCP in 1998.
Kiedis, Frusciante, Flea and Smith released two albums in 2022: Unlimited Love and Return of The Dream Canteen. It seems so unlikely that a band with such a troubled history should be making music so many years later, and yet here we are. Back in 2016, Kiedis revealed the secret to RHCP’s longevity.
“We never had any confusion that everything should be equal: the sharing of the work, the sharing of the money, the sharing of the joy, the sharing of the pain,” he told EW. “That was a big step in the right direction for us having the potential for longevity, because so many bands break over ‘Hey, I wrote that!’ We do love and respect each other; we do fight regularly. Our attitudes, our moods, and our egos clash — but we’ve been able to work it out. We’ve been able to roll with the punches. Flea and I are like brothers. I don’t think that relationship will ever end, no matter what, because you can’t quit your brother. You just can’t.”
