The Red Hot Chili Peppers song written in tribute to River Phoenix
There’s more to the Red Hot Chili Peppers than what meets the eye. For all of the funk-rock goofiness and frontman Anthony Kiedis’ comical scat-like delivery, the band have experienced much darkness in their time, which serves as a fascinating counterpoint to the largely sunny essence of their music.
Of course, some of the quartet’s best-known moments are tender ones, from ‘Under the Bridge’ to the likes of ‘Scar Tissue’ and ‘Californication’. The band are evidently adept at tapping into an honest, emotional area lyrically and musically, which has been a key to their immense critical and commercial success over the years.
Several personal issues have brought some of the finest Red Hot Chili Peppers songs to life. Aside from the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, arguably the most famous tragedy that made its way into their music was the death of River Phoenix. The 23-year-old actor and musician was lauded as one of the talents of his generation. He made his name as a teenage actor in hits such as 1986’s Stand By Me before maturing with Generation X classics such as Gus Van Sant’s 1991 outing My Own Private Idaho alongside Keanu Reeves.
However, Phoenix’s life ended tragically in the early hours of Halloween 1993. He overdosed on a speedball – a mixture of cocaine and heroin – at the celebrity haunt The Viper Room, which Johnny Depp partly owned at the time. In Running with Monsters, the book by Bob Forrest, he claims that Phoenix spent the days before the night at the venue on a drug binge with Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and had not slept for several days.
The story goes that on the evening of October 30th, Phoenix was at The Viper Room with his brother Joaquin, sister Rain and girlfriend Samantha Mathis. He was due to perform with his band P, which featured both Flea and John Frusciante from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Butthole Surfers leader Gibby Haynes, Ministry’s Al Jourgensen and Johnny Depp.
Per Haynes’ account, P were playing their song ‘Michael Stipe’ when Phoenix was convulsing in seizures on the sidewalk. When the news made its way to the band, Flea immediately rushed outside. Yet, at that stage, paramedics had arrived, and he found Phoenix turning cyanotic, suffering from cardiac arrest. He was given medication to try to restart his heart.
Flea even accompanied him to the hospital but attempts to resuscitate Phoenix there were unsuccessful, and he passed away. Understandably, this tragedy left an indelible mark on Flea. A couple of years later, when Red Hot Chili Peppers were writing One Hot Minute, the long-awaited follow-up to Blood Sugar Sex Magik – the only one featuring guitarist Dave Navarro – the bassist wrote most of the lyrics to ‘Transcending’.
The track is a tribute to lost friends, but mainly River Phoenix. While the music is dynamic, the spiritual lyrics clearly reference the late actor throughout, with lines such as, “Round and round inside your head / Smartest fucker I ever met / Vicious fish bit at your toes / Made you lie and numb your soul”.
Listen to ‘Transcending’ below.
