• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

John Frusciante more than likely has quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Status
Not open for further replies.

Teddman

Member
Argh, not again!

This is terrible news... It was basically Frusciante's band ever since he rejoined with Californication. This was a departure from the earlier days when Flea's basslines dominated. Frusciante's riffs were the core of the band now, and to great results.

Got a feeling the band is going to fall off.

On the other hand, I don't really like Frusciante's solo material much, it's too weird. They need each other, so this is bad news on both fronts.

Maybe he's back on the smack.
 

bud

Member
their last album was pretty lame, but him and flea have great chemistry. i loved watching them live.
 

eggandI

Banned
riskVSreward said:
It isn't about me or what I like, stop trying to make me the bad guy. I don't care that you don't like a band I like, I'm sure if we waged a long enough list war we would find a band we both like.

It's immature in the sense that no mature person would consider it a valid criticism. "Repetitive riffs" can be used to describe anything, so much music is repetitive. "Whiny vocals" doesn't make any sense, singing in higher octaves =/= whiny. If that were so, I guess Rush is pretty fucking whiny. I could consider "whiny lyrics" at least logical, but that would be more suited to RHCP because a lot of their lyrics are about love, suicide, depression, and other stupid things people would typically whine about. Finally, "terrible song structure." That's about the only thing here I could debate. On one hand you have RHCP, whose library consists mostly of 4/4 time signatures, following a typical Verse, chorus, verse, chorus structure. TMV meanwhile, uses a vast array of time signatures and different overall structures throughout. I prefer music that takes a risk, does something unexpected every now and then. The biggest risk RHCP takes when straying from their formula is maybe the occasional key change.

It doesn't matter anyway, and it isn't a worthwhile debate. Music is art, art is subjective and open to each individual's interpretation. What's tried and true to some is garden variety to others. What's nonsense and noise to one is experimental and bold to another.

It was just an off hand comment, and I have listened to a considerable amount of TMV to know they are fucking terrible. But like you said, music is art and art is subjective. The things people consider to be aimless, unlistenable, licks that sound like they are being played by a 9 year old, prog-rock noise that goes on and on with no end in sight, others consider to be prog-rock at it's best. :lol

If there is one thing we can hopefully agree on it's that these guys make their careers out of taking 1 minute songs they made while on LSD or some other fucking drug and stretching them out into 17 minutes of pretentious laptop noise. I shudder at the thought that nowadays, having a good/normal song structure isn't considered good enough while randomly putting some drum beats and licks together (might not be the case but it sure as hell is what it sounds like) is experimentally bold.

Also :lol TMV lyrics are a joke. It's like they are there for the fuck of it. Kiedis lyric's are not whiny pretentious crap. TYVM.
 
eggandI said:
It was just an off hand comment, and I have listened to a considerable amount of TMV to know they are fucking terrible. But like you said, music is art and art is subjective. The things people consider to be aimless, unlistenable, licks that sound like they are being played by a 9 year old, prog-rock noise that goes on and on with no end in sight, others consider to be prog-rock at it's best. :lol

If there is one thing we can hopefully agree on it's that these guys make their careers out of taking 1 minute songs they made while on LSD or some other fucking drug and stretching them out into 17 minutes of pretentious laptop noise. I shudder at the thought that nowadays, having a good/normal song structure isn't considered good enough while randomly putting some drum beats and licks together (might not be the case but it sure as hell is what it sounds like) is experimentally bold.

Also :lol TMV lyrics are a joke. It's like they are there for the fuck of it. Kiedis lyric's are not whiny pretentious crap. TYVM.
High road; I'm taking it.
 

Dead Man

Member
Azuran said:
:lol

One Hot Minute is their worst album for a reason.
You shut your filthy whore mouth! :D Sure, it was not their strongest effort, but it is better than either of the post Californication efforts.
 

Agnostic

but believes in Chael
/subscribes to musicradar podcast

I love when a thread gives me something to check out that I never heard of.

The RHCP hate is funny.
 

Teddman

Member
idahoblue said:
You shut your filthy whore mouth! :D Sure, it was not their strongest effort, but it is better than either of the post Californication efforts.
No way... By the Way has ridiculously good guitar work from Frusciante and a slew of good songs (Can't Stop foremost), and Stadium Arcadium is bloated but Tell Me Baby, Dani California, and Snow are better than anything on One Hot Minute.
 

Dead Man

Member
Teddman said:
No way... By the Way has ridiculously good guitar work from Frusciante and a slew of good songs (Can't Stop foremost), and Stadium Arcadium is bloated but Tell Me Baby, Dani California, and Snow are better than anything on One Hot Minute.
They are pleasant, nice, well crafted, easy listening songs, no doubt. I just don't really like them as much as their other albums. I really prefer the more raw, eclectic, and sometimes crappy :D sound of their pre Californication stuff.

It took me about 4 or 5 listens to get into Californication when it came out, it was completely not what I was expecting. I still like them, I just prefer their earlier style of playing.
 

Meadows

Banned
Fortune Faded is amazing btw. Doesn't have anything to do with anything, but it is. Even if the lyrics don't make sense.
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
Every RHCP album has at the very least a couple of great songs, so I tend to pick them up.

Lately I've been a bigger fan of Frusciante's solo work though so this doesn't displease me. Empyrean was one of my favorites this year.
 

NGAMER9

Member
Agnostic said:
/subscribes to musicradar podcast

I love when a thread gives me something to check out that I never heard of.

The RHCP hate is funny.
This too. This website is pretty awesome. Checking out it's Top 50 Guitar Riffs article right now. :D
 
They've been around forever. Put the band on hiatus for awhile, do solo projects, and then wave some money at Frusciante in 2 or 3 years.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
VistraNorrez said:
I believe it when it's official. I can't see them continuing without him though. They've said numerous times how the 4 of them are the RHCP. I'd hope they'd all just try something new.

They got along fine without him on multiple occasions.. both before he joined the group and with One Hot Minute.

Although at this point they may as well break up. Californication was their last good album.. not really my cup of tea, but it has some really strong songs on it. Stadium Arcadium became a self parody of their new style. By the way was just complete shit. Listened to it once on the way home from the record store the day it came out.. listened to it a second time on the way to school the next day to confirm I hated all of it. Never listened to it again.
 

Gouty

Bloodborne is shit
StoOgE said:
Although at this point they may as well break up. Californication was their last good album. Stadium Arcadium became a self parody of their new style.
1. Why break up when they can see what another guitarist can bring to the table? They've changed quite a bit over the years and I'd like to see that happen again.
2. By The Way was fucking awesome.
3. I do agree with your last point though.
 
YagizY said:
I agree with this so much. I remember when I bought his first solo album "Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt" and after I listened to it I was so pissed I spent any money on it. It was terrible.

The guitar playing on those first 2 albums is insane though. Just accept his voice for what his is, and take in the rest of the music. In many ways it's still his best stuff.

And anyone who doesn't like the Chili Peppers since Californication has to put most of the blame on Frusciante. He has been the creative head of all their recent albums. And it's incredibly evident if you listen to his recent solo albums and side projects. They have that same creative impulse just more experimental.
 

YagizY

Member
VistraNorrez said:
The guitar playing on those first 2 albums is insane though. Just accept his voice for what his is, and take in the rest of the music. In many ways it's still his best stuff.

And anyone who doesn't like the Chili Peppers since Californication has to put most of the blame on Frusciante. He has been the creative head of all their recent albums. And it's incredibly evident if you listen to his recent solo albums and side projects. They have that same creative impulse just more experimental.

Yes the guitar playing is great, I never question his skill as he's one of my favorites. However a lot of songs just kind of rambled on that album. Some riffs were so heavily repeated that I remember getting bored just listening to some tracks (it's pretty difficult for me to skip tracks on a cd, I can't bring myself to do it.) I never question his talent, I just don't care for his solo stuff. Some of it is too "out there" while some of it just feels to repetitive. He has some good tracks on his recent solo stuff but as an overall album I haven't cared much for them. Their will be one awesome track followed by one rambling tracks that just turns into a riff-fest.
 
Chamber said:
Uh, what does TMV have to do with anything? John hasn't even played on their last two albums.

Omar has been quoted as saying that if John wasn't in RHCP he would consider asking him to join TMV full-time, so it is potentially very relevant.
 

Helmholtz

Member
YagizY said:
Yes the guitar playing is great, I never question his skill as he's one of my favorites. However a lot of songs just kind of rambled on that album. Some riffs were so heavily repeated that I remember getting bored just listening to some tracks (it's pretty difficult for me to skip tracks on a cd, I can't bring myself to do it.) I never question his talent, I just don't care for his solo stuff. Some of it is too "out there" while some of it just feels to repetitive. He has some good tracks on his recent solo stuff but as an overall album I haven't cared much for them. Their will be one awesome track followed by one rambling tracks that just turns into a riff-fest.
Have you listened to Shadows Collide With People? I'm guessing you have, but it's his most accessible and listenable album imo, and quite good. The Empyrean is also pretty accessible, and Curtains is a nice little acoustic album with some great tracks. DC EP has 4 good tracks as well, a couple of them are really great.

However, I realize a lot of people dislike his voice, which is a shame because I really like it. The early albums, like you said, are often a lot of screeching and noise because of his drugged out phase. But those albums I just mentioned are mostly very enjoyable imo.

He has a few awesome instrumental tracks too, namely Ramparts, 0, and some of the untitled tracks from niandra lades if you dig deep enough.
 

Fusebox

Banned
StoOgE said:
TCalifornication was their last good album.. not really my cup of tea, but it has some really strong songs on it.

I personally thought it was crap. The chorus to the title song made me wanna slit my wrists.
 

Helmholtz

Member
Alivor said:
RHCP, the band that got me into music. Sad news. :(
It's not 100% confirmed, I wouldn't quite give up hope yet.
However it does seem somewhat likely :/
Check out his solo stuff if you haven't already.
 
Lorr said:
Too bad TMV need a drummer more than a guitarist.


Rumor is they have a new drummer already.

Anyway, this doesn't effect me much seeing as I never really enjoyed RHCP but if this means John and Omar make something together that d be great, even better if its a full fledged TMV/John collaboration.
 
MorisUkunRasik said:
Rumor is they have a new drummer already.

Anyway, this doesn't effect me much seeing as I never really enjoyed RHCP but if this means John and Omar make something together that d be great, even better if its a full fledged TMV/John collaboration.

Dave Elitch is their European tour drummer. I really hope he does some new shit with Omar. That jam with him, Omar and Flea from back in 2004 is fuckin' awesome.

While Amputechture kind of got lost in itself trying to be too layered and epic, Tetragrammaton and Day of the Baphomets are two of the best songs to come out of The Mars Volta. I would definitely like to see what Frusciante could do if Omar wanted to do another concept album.
 

Fonds

Member
RHCP became a parody of themselves. Their music is becoming more and more bland by the album (since californication).

Hopefully Frusciante's leaving will bring some new life into this band, they seriously need it.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
I know I'm in the minority here but I think By the Way is their best album - funnily enough I recently discovered that Frusciante wrote most of the album.
 

wRATH2x

Banned
By The Way and Stadium Arcadium were both great.

It's sad to see John go, hopefully RHCP gets a new good guitarist. And Hopefully Mr. Frusciante has a great solo career.
 
Returning to the RHCPs at all was his first mistake, should have kept the mystery that he was the magic ingredient to them being good, instead of returning and continuing to make progressively worse records. Fucking horrid, should have stopped after Blood Sugar Sex Magic
 
This is a shame, but I found their past couple of albums a bit bland. Not relevant to the Frusciante discussion but my favourite album by them is Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
 
I was never a huge fan of the RHCP but I never hated them...

Thing is, I don't understand the "OH NOW NOW THEY ARE BAD" comment- I honestly thought public opinion was against them already. Back in the early 90s I loved everything I heard from them, I also liked their singles from californication, but since then it's just stupid shit constantly... I mean I turned on the music channel a year ago and saw them dancing around in 'gangsta' get up singing some atrocious song, and lyrically I mean even californication was flakey but since then... even more so. Ugh.

Not trying to troll, just wondering, are the singles just terrible and there is a great band under there? Because every single I have heard after the album californication came out has been laughable.
 

Jill Sandwich

the turds of Optimus Prime
By The Way was so much better than Californication, but the latter gets more love. But I love One Hot Minute so what do I know?
 

btkadams

Member
eggandI said:
Is that what they are calling fucking around with repetitive riffs, whiny vocals and terrible song structure, improvisational nowadays? Ah well. Maybe they will bring Navarro back, so it could be for the better.
WTF? i can totally understand not liking the mars volta, but saying they have terrible song structure and repetitive riffs is ridiculous.
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
tms may sound like they dont know what they do... but they replicate that live - so they do know what they are doing... and playing tmv music live is quite a feet.

i would say that if you play an instrument you start to love tmv because of the skill and crasyness of what they play. if you never touched a drum or a guitar i could see why some of you call it noise from 9year olds...

its like when people say that terry bozzios solo albums sound like a retard is hitting on the drums, or that bleed by meshuggah is easy to play XD

maybe J.F. became a burden for the c.peppers ... have you ever hear him talk? after his heroin days he was on the way down, i think that maybe the band kinda told him that he needs to be fit for recordings and tours and that he just cant do it anymore?...
 
Tater Tot said:
What the, on another forum I read that he clarified that he did in fact not leave the band like yesterday on his Twitter? o_O

P.S.: I kind of hope he really quit, his playing was starting to start sounding more generic with every record they put out after he rejoined them, I like as few power chords and guitar overdubs as possible in my RHCP, thank you very much.
 

StuBurns

Banned
magicalsoundshower said:
What the, on another forum I read that he clarified that he did in fact not leave the band like yesterday on his Twitter? o_O

P.S.: I kind of hope he really quit, his playing was starting to start sounding more generic with every record they put out after he rejoined them, I like as few power chords and guitar overdubs as possible in my RHCP, thank you very much.
He said on his own blog that he left a year ago.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom