The album that made Flea fall in love with music: “Connected”
It’s impossible for any artist to become a legend only playing one style of music. As much as someone could be called a one-trick pony whenever they get into the studio, even bands like AC/DC have found ways to incorporate old blues songs into their sound rather than relying on the same rock and roll riffs they built their empire on. And even for a band so locked into one lane like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea has always found ways of mixing things up whenever he can.
When the band first started, though, they were never afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve. There were pieces of Flea’s approach that drew influence from the biggest names in funk, like James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, but there was also that attitude in his playing that he got from playing with old punk bands like Fear. It still had a groove, but it was impossible not to get swept up in the mayhem of it all as well.
Once John Frusciante returned to the band after a long time away, though, Flea started to rethink his usual approach to bass. There was a lot more opportunities to add some melodic lines into the mix, and when listening to albums like Californication and By the Way, a lot of their best moments come from the tracks that don’t necessarily have a funk groove behind them, like the brilliant chorus on ‘The Zephyr Song’ or listening to the entire band playing a hook of their own on ‘Scar Tissue’.
Even in some of their later work, Flea started to think about his instrument in an unconventional way. The signature slaps and pops weren’t going anywhere, but he was also known for playing a lot more chords in his bass parts, to the point where ‘Hard To Concentrate’ is a masterclass in music theory and how one note relates to the other in the context of the bass chords. But if anyone made a brilliant pop-rock song, chances are The Beatles did it first.
While the Chili Peppers were never the first band to spring to mind when thinking of Beatles fans, Flea was transfixed at seeing one group that could flex their musical muscles and still keep every one of their songs incredibly catchy. And for the bassist, everything he knew about music stemmed from the moment he checked out The White Album when he was a kid.
The Fabs’ double-album experience might be a lot to take in and has more than a few strange moments, but Flea felt that eclecticism was the exact reason why it worked and why it made him branch out into other records, saying, “The White Album was the first thing that I connected with as a kid.” And for those willing to listen, The Beatles’ inspiration might be more than subliminal if you listen hard enough.
Because while it’s clear that Flea could nod to some of his favourite bass players, it’s hard to think of that delectable bassline behind ‘Give It Away’ and not hear a little bit of ‘Come Together’. It’s a hell of a lot funkier than what Paul McCartney played, but that’s only because Flea can internalise his favourite influences and put them together under one roof.
The Chili Peppers may have been known for branching out into new directions by the time they reached the 2000s, but it was never a case of them trying to compete with their influences. As far as they could tell, all of them were musical gods, and it was only a matter of time before some of their favourite bands started to turn up in their music almost by accident.
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