John Frusciante’s favourite punk songs
What makes a punk band? Most will say noisy, fast, aggressive music, an out-there look and an uncompromising attitude that makes legions of impressionable teenagers start spiking up their hair and stop tidying their rooms. That’s not untrue, but if the American punk scene of the 1980s proves anything, it’s that a punk band really can be anything. From the dark, satirical wackiness of the Dead Kennedys, to the unsmiling rage of Black Flag to the funky monks themselves, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The Chilis, they of the loose-limbed funk-rock, clowning attitude and strategically placed socks, were absolutely a punk band. If you want to be a cop about it, maybe any band that plays stadiums loses the right to be called punk. If that’s the first, I pray for any party you might mistakenly be invited to.
Secondly, at the very least, they came up through the same Southern California scene that gave the world the Circle Jerks, Minutemen and Descendents. An early iteration of the band even had Cliff Martinez of the Weirdos on the drums, so their pedigree is impeccable.
So it makes sense that when the soul of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist and all-around alternative rock godhead John Frusciante, was asked to list his 12 favourite songs by the radio station Dublab and punk rock was a major part of his list. Sitting pretty on an eclectic list containing the likes of Marvin Gaye, Captain Beefheart and Iggy Pop, these four songs showed off the punk rock spirit that has run through the band from the very beginning.
John Frusciant’es favourite punk rock songs:
Ramones – ‘I Don’t Care’
Going back to the previous question of what exactly constitutes the moniker of punk, the correct answer is actually the Ramones. Here they are at their absolute, so-stupid-it’s incredible peak. Three chords. A hundred seconds. Eight words. Joey doesn’t care about the world or that girl. Simple. Catchy. Noisy. Punk spirit, in a nutshell, and it is totally unforgettable.
It may seem strange that a guitarist so technically impeccable and creatively restless as Frusciante would be a fan, but think of it this way. The Ramones show the ultimate in musical minimalism and can get away with it. To a creative mind like Frusciante, that sets someone off thinking, “What else can I get away with?”
Butthole Surfers – ‘Jimi’
The complete and utter antithesis of Ramones, and not just because it’s 12 minutes long. It’s also a ridiculous, creative, unending nightmare of a song where ‘I Don’t Care’ has all the threatening energy of a labrador puppy. Guitarist Paul Leary shredding like an absolute madman over Gibby Haines’ treated voice veering from demonic growl to Alvin and the Chipmunks whine.
Shockingly enough, there are a few Red Hot Chili Pepper hints here too. Both bands are maximalists seeking to get the most out of their sound, though the Chilis are more about jamming on an undeniable groove, whereas the Surfers won’t stop until it sounds like the screams of hell itself coming out of their PA. Put it in words that any Chilis fan will understand: the band are a good trip. The Surfers… the other kind.
T.S.O.L. – ‘Thoughts of Yesterday’
For all my talk of the Chilis being a punk band, it’s absolutely fair to say that they had their eyes on a more expansive musical palette from the word go. Not for nothing was their second album, 1985’s Freaky Styley, produced by George Clinton. The Cali punk scene, though, was a very diverse musical place, where bands were encouraged to take on different styles of music.
T.S.O.L (True Sounds of Liberty) were just as much of an example of this as more extreme cases like Suicidal Tendencies. This banger of theirs comes across like a heavier R.E.M. in its jangling guitar plucks leading into punk rock chugga-chugga. A great sign of the scene’s ambition that the Chilis, for all their self-destructive tendencies, embraced more often than not.
Public Image Ltd – ‘Go Back’
One of the first mainstream punks to totally embrace the idea of what comes next, John Lydon’s post-punk project Public Image ltd are secretly just as important and influential as his first band. This banger off their third album ‘Flowers Of Romance’ shows the ways that punk and funk can coexist in a way that the nascent Red Hot Chili Peppers would have been very keen to hear.
Over a swaggering drum beat and Lydon’s almost robotic delivery, there’s the real heart of the song. One which Frusciante, of all people, would have been frantically taking notes from. Keith Levene defined the sound of post-punk guitar and found the happy medium between technical mastery and sonic boundary-pushing. A mantle that Frusciante himself would take up on both his work in the Chilis and solo.
