“All of it, man”: The four artists Flea based the Red Hot Chili Peppers on
Love them or loathe them, it is difficult to think of any group that typified the sound of American rock during the 1990s quite as well as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Complete with a punk-influenced persona, crippling drug addictions, and an endless deluge of songs about California, the band were right at home within the commercial rock landscape of the decade. Their material might not have been as groundbreaking as Nirvana or politically defiant as Rage Against the Machine, but RHCP quickly became one of the most successful groups of that era, something which only slightly impacted their egos.
Ego is an inherent part of the rock and roll genre, affecting virtually every successful rock musician since the 1950s. Inevitably, when playing to thousands upon thousands of adoring fans across the globe, all cheering for you as if you are a god, your perception of self becomes somewhat warped. Couple that with the various ‘yes men’ that often surround groups like Red Hot Chili Peppers, and you are on track for a colossally inflated ego. While the California band were hardly the worst offenders, in this regard, it is difficult to ever refer to them as ‘humble’, either.
In the very early days of the group, they had been no different to the wider spread of teenage DIY rock bands in California, adopting a sound which blended classic rock with the newfound influences of punk and hardcore. The Chili Peppers are often noted for their wide range of influences and inspirations, drawing from the classic rock of the 1960s and 1970s with much more frequency than some of their 1990s compatriots.
When the group began to reach the masses, achieving their commercial peak during the early 1990s, these influences became more and more prevalent within their sound. According to Flea, who must have been in a particularly sentimental mood when talking to Forbes in 2022, “It’s equal parts real pure dedication to the beauty of music, my desire to build bridges of love with other human beings in a band context and my yearning for community and to connect to the communal creative process with my band mates.”
Continuing, the bassist and occasional nudist shared, “[It’s] our desire always to be a band that works in this really universal way like the bands that I grew up loving,” highlighting, “Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix Experience, all of it, man.” Those four artists seem to have formed the basis for the inherent sound and foundation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a band, but Flea aligning his group with such an array of iconic acts does feel a little rich.
Hendrix appears to be the most obvious of all those influences, with the Chili Peppers regularly paying tribute to the seminal guitarist during their live performances. For any artist to compare themselves to Hendrix is fairly controversial. After all, the guitarist was among the greatest rock musicians to ever grace the streets of planet Earth; his music was unlike anything that had come before and, despite a variety of imitators, has rarely been heard since his untimely passing.
Flea’s listing of influences does go some way to explaining his band’s mixture of classic rock with a mixture of funk sensibilities, but it is very difficult to argue that the Chili Peppers could ever be in the same league as any of the groups that he mentioned.
After all, groups like Zeppelin, Funkadelic, or The Jimi Hendrix Experience have been household names for decades, and their music will continue to be revered for years to come. In contrast, the Red Hot Chili Peppers enjoyed a run of commercially successful records three decades ago but have since resigned themselves to arena tours and deluxe reissues, with their new material failing to live up to the successes of their earlier work.
Whether or not the band managed to achieve their aims of reflecting those four groups is ultimately up for debate. Either way, Flea’s account of how those groups built the foundations of the Chili Peppers offers an interesting insight into the band’s listening habits during those early successful days, and how they constructed their distinctive sound.
