Rodney Bingenheimer: The radio DJ that “changed everything” for John Frusciante
Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante is a lifelong music lover, with his oeuvre encompassing many different forms. However, it was the punk genre that really captured his imagination from a young age, and it provided him with a basis from which to form his distinctive artistry, which now ranks among the most influential of his generation.
During a recent appearance on bassist Flea’s podcast, This Little Light, Frusciante looked back on how he got into punk and new wave and how one radio DJ, in particular, “changed everything” for him. Taking Flea on a trip down memory lane, the guitarist revealed that he was just a child when he got into the genre.
Aged nine, Frusciante was residing in Santa Monica, California, but he and his mother moved to Mar Vista, Los Angeles, to be with his stepfather, and it was when he was transitioning between primary schools he got deeply ensconced in punk. Frusciante explained that no one at either school of his age was into punk. Yet, moving to Los Angeles would expose him to the sounds of the world-famous alternative rock radio station KROQ-FM and the show of Rodney Bingenheimer, which would prove significant for his personal and creative development.
Frusciante recalled: “At some point, I moved to Mar Vista, and I turned on KROQ, and that was what changed everything for me, was that radio station”.
Asked by Flea if it was Rodney Bingenheimer specifically who made such an impact, Frusciante replied: “Rodney specifically, because he was the main one playing hardcore punk, I mean, it wasn’t even called hardcore punk then, but he was the one playing Black Flag and The Germs and stuff.”
Questioned whether Bingenheimer’s show was on daily, Frusciante said: “My memory is that it was on Saturdays and Sundays from seven o’clock at night until midnight; it might have also been on Fridays, but definitely, I remember Saturdays and Sundays, is my memory of it – and I would record it every weekend. It became really important to me because he’d tell you when he was going to play something unreleased.”
He continued: “Like, he’d say, ‘I’ve got some unreleased Germs coming up,’ and so you’d get your tape recorders ready, and so I would have my tape recorder ready, and I’d be in my room listening to it really quiet with my mom in the next room. I would be under the blankets, with it as soft as I could make the cassette player”.
Addressing his love for the influential Californian punk band, The Germs, the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist said: “They became my favourite band really quickly, but there was also some neat things in new wave that I thought had this funny, little kid-like quality, you know, like Talking Heads, and B-52s and Devo and stuff.”
Revisiting the brilliance of the eminent KROQ DJ, Frusciante concluded: “So, Rodney Bingenheimer would play things by groups who didn’t even have records out yet, The Go-Go’s before they ever made a record, I really loved them, and Adolescents, and all kinds of things; so that was my favourite thing, was his show. But even regular KROQ back then played a lot of really good stuff, like the first place I ever heard the Ramones was on KROQ.”
