The album Flea called the definition of rock and roll: “I wouldn’t change a note”
Flea has never been a snob about the music he listens to. From waxing poetic about jazz to playing the funkiest music known to man, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist has never been shy when pointing out his biggest influences from every given genre. Although Flea may appreciate the beauty of being a musical technician behind the bass, one of his biggest inspirations came from music without any perfectionist mindset.
After starting in the jazz world, Flea quickly fell in love with punk rock as a kid, becoming a member of the hardcore punk act Fear before he found his funk-rock calling. Although the blemishes of punk rock were part of its appeal, Neil Young had already been finding beauty in mistakes before acts like Sex Pistols or The Clash had come along.
First becoming known as the guitar player in Buffalo Springfield, Young quickly moved on to a solo career, going down any musical direction that would suit his fancy. Although many casual rock fans would remember Young for his folk-tinged classics like ‘Heart of Gold’ and ‘After the Gold Rush’, he never felt comfortable settling into one sound, toying with hard rock on Rust Never Sleeps before moving on to strange musical detours on Everybody’s Rockin and Trans.
While most fans would see Young’s career as tonally incoherent most of the time, Flea had nothing but respect for what Young could do. When discussing his favourite albums, Flea counted Young among his favourite artists ever, claiming that Zuma is one of the best records that he has ever made.
Even though Flea has been known as a master of his instrument, the beauty of Young’s records came from the imperfections. When talking about the album Tonight’s the Night, Flea thought that the human element of the music gave it its unique character, telling Rolling Stone, “[It] is probably the greatest raw rock record ever made. It’s such a mess, with stuff recorded so loud that it distorts. The background vocals are completely out of tune, and I wouldn’t change a note. It’s the spirit of what rock music is, and it’s the reason to play rock music”.
Compared to Young’s earlier work, Tonight’s the Night remains the most blemished album in his catalogue due to its tragic backstory. Witnessing the slow decay of his guitarist Danny Whitten, Young poured his soul into the songs for this album, sounding like he was on the verge of an emotional breakdown at points during the album.
While Flea may not have known the emotional resonance of Young’s work then, he would find himself drawing on the same emotional stress when working on several Red Hot Chili Peppers tunes. Continuing after the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, the band channelled their grief into songs in tribute to their fallen bandmate, penning ‘Otherside’ and ‘Knock Me Down’ as cautionary tales about a friend that takes their vices one step too far.
Despite Flea having an encyclopedic knowledge of how to play the bass, the power behind Neil Young can’t be taught in any music school. While it might be easy to play the notes on the page, it was all about feeling the music in one’s soul before the tape started rolling.
