How the trauma of Red Hot Chili Peppers made them a great band
Red Hot Chili Peppers formed in the early 1980s after bassist Flea and frontman Anthony Kiedis grew close at high school. Instantly, they were kindred spirits who looked toward music to fill a gaping void in their lives and make them feel whole.
Eventually, when Chad Smith and John Frusciante became part of the group, they were also searching for a sense of belonging, which they found by joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers. All four members were broken due to their upbringings and personal problems, which stemmed from trauma that had taken place during their childhood. If it wasn’t for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and having that sense of community, their lives could have taken an incredibly dark turn, but instead, it fuelled each member to greatness.
Kiedis’ backstory was documented in his autobiography, Scar Tissue, which arrived along with numerous shocking revelations. In the book, Kiedis details his relationship with drugs and his long, rocky road to sobriety in 1999. Harrowingly, the singer was first introduced to Class A substances after moving to Hollywood with his father at the age of 12. Two years later, the frontman first tried heroin after mistaking it for cocaine, and he spent decades struggling with substance issues.
Although the singer’s backstory is the most horrifying to read out of the band, Kiedis believes everybody in the Chili’s were in a similar position of hopelessness before being rescued by music. Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience, Kiedis explained: “If you trace a musician’s history to when they were kids, it’s never an accident they ended up doing that for a living. Like if you look at Chad Smith, our drummer, one of the greatest drummers to ever walk the earth today. But, he was a little stoner living in the suburbs of Michigan, who all he wanted to do was listen to music, and be a part of music.”
He continued: “If you look at Flea, broken home, but his step-dad was a jazz bass player, so as a little boy, he was watching these jazz bands, then he got a trumpet, and he realised if I play the trumpet, then people will notice me. As a little boy who was getting no attention, suddenly people would notice me, people are paying attention and listening. He had the discipline and the intellect.”
Kiedis concluded: “John Frusciante, his great grandfather was an immigrant from Italy who was a master musician, his father, Julliard, pianist, so from the time he’s a kid, it’s just music, and his psychosis and way of dealing with the world by sitting and playing for ten hours a day.”
Without the presence of music in their life, there was no anchor, and all four members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers would have been dangerously rudderless. Thankfully, they had each other, and their shared aim of making it out of the gutter helped drive the Chili’s to global prominence.
