Was John Frusciante the compositional lifeblood of Red Hot Chili Peppers?

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EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Because I'm on a binge at the moment, and of the opinion that an overwhelming majority of their best work, especially considering albums as a whole and a developing sound, was when Frusciante was present.
 
EatChildren said:
Because I'm on a binge at the moment, and of the opinion that an overwhelming majority of their best work, especially considering albums as a whole and a developing sound, was when Frusciante was present.
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He is a staggeringly brilliant musician, and on a selfish level I wish he'd stayed... but he picked the right time to leave. He left on top, his work on Stadium Arcadium beyond brilliant and Desecration Smile in particular having a staggeringly great sound.
 
Of course he was, don't care much for the peppers, but i absolutely loved everything John did in THAT YEAR. Was it 2004 or when? Don't remember, but it was glorious.
 
Well all the RHCP songs i like have him admittedly, though i think Flea also had some pretty good moments, in many of their songs.
 
EatChildren said:
Because I'm on a binge at the moment, and of the opinion that an overwhelming majority of their best work, especially considering albums as a whole and a developing sound, was when Frusciante was present.
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Yes. In fact you can kinda see this early on in the Blood Sugar making of doc, where he's telling the other bandmates how to do the second half of under the bridge (the section beginning "under the bridge down town, is where I drew some blood etc).

Additionally, the Klinghoffer album is a mess when it comes to the composition (in part due to Klinghoffer not being a guitarist first but like third or fourth, which leaves flea and rubin (lol).
 
Even though I like pre-Frusciante Peppers and One Hot Minute, I agree.

Aside from one or two songs I'm With You was terrible and when I saw RHCP live in 2013 (without Frusciante of course) they were awful. The new guitarist kinda just stood in the background and Flea tried desperately to make up for that by making sex jokes and playing 10-minute jam sessions with Chad. Also, Frusciante's backing vocals are sorely missed.
 
I'm not sure if it was made clear from my previous comment, but everyone that likes this kind of music and is not familiar with John Frusciantes solo work should check it out. In 2004 he released 6 albums (the last may have been beginning 2005, don't know.) and i think all of them are better than everything the rhcp ever released. That is of course a very personal opinion, but you guys should still check them out. Not only the 2004 albums, the other ones too.
 
Dinda said:
I'm not sure if it was made clear from my previous comment, but everyone that likes this kind of music and is not familiar with John Frusciantes solo work should check it out. In 2004 he released 6 albums (the last may have been beginning 2005, don't know.) and i think all of them are better than everything the rhcp ever released. That is of course a very personal opinion, but you guys should still check them out. Not only the 2004 albums, the other ones too.
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Klaus Kinski would never tell a lie.
 
EatChildren said:
Because I'm on a binge at the moment, and of the opinion that an overwhelming majority of their best work, especially considering albums as a whole and a developing sound, was when Frusciante was present.
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Yes, in fact, i love John more as a solo artist. His solo stuff is very trippy.
 
He was never technically excellent but you can certainly know when he's playing in a song. His solo work speaks for itself (The Empyrean being the best of his records). He would add a lot in terms of sounds and overall feeling, new guy is much more texture-oriented imo.
That said, while I'm With You doesn't exactly feel like a RHCP record, I think it's quite good. At some points I feel songs are musically better than previous efforts. BSSM still goat though.

About Dave Navarro, he was great in RHCP. Fit much better in terms of style than Klinghoffer, specially in that era.
 
Dinda said:
I'm not sure if it was made clear from my previous comment, but everyone that likes this kind of music and is not familiar with John Frusciantes solo work should check it out. In 2004 he released 6 albums (the last may have been beginning 2005, don't know.) and i think all of them are better than everything the rhcp ever released. That is of course a very personal opinion, but you guys should still check them out. Not only the 2004 albums, the other ones too.
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His solo work is amazing, I love almost all of it up to The Empyrean, haven't really checked out his last three albums though. His two Ataxia albums are also awesome. Guy is unbelievably talented.
 
It takes everyone pulling together to make a band, and I think it's downselling the talents of other members of the band to say it was all Frusciante. I think RHCP with Frusciante is good chemistry.

As for the new guy, he worked with Frusciante before joining RHCP. IIRC, the reason they took him is he was able to imitate Frusciante's style well, which is good for playing old RHCP songs.
 
Jill Sandwich said:
Glad to see other folk appreciating Navarro's work on One Hot Minute. I was disappointed more with Californication.
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Californication and Blood Sugar Sex Magic are my favourites.
 
The riff for Snow (Hey Oh) gets me every time! Good shit indeed.

I always liked Frusciante style, in that it was very diverse. Funky at times with songs like Funky Monks, melodic with songs like Under the Bridge and Californication, loud and boomy in songs like Breaking the Girl.

Fantastic musician, even if none of the songs and incredibly difficult to learn.
 
I too prefer Frusciante's solo stuff over RHCP, but I prefer his guitar playing in the band vs. solo. That funky playing was straight dope during my high school years.
 
absolutely

their other stuff isn't bad... but it's very different and just isn't the same. it's not what you'd associate with RHCP
 
I've always studied John's guitar playing. Blood Sugar was their greatest work imo. If you haven't seen the making of Blood Sugar, I encourage you all to. His guitar style changed after BLood Sugar, could've been due to the drugs or his departure.

I can't really listen to the later stuff, but I still enjoy the early albums even with that Pearl Jam drummer/ pre Chad.
 
yes, unfortunate he was paired with the most annoying/least talented frontmnn in history

"how could i forget to mention, the bicycle is a good invention"

really breh, that's noel gallagher bad
 
FortuneFaded said:
Who?
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To me RHCP has always been a nice enough band. I feel about them like I feel about lots of those rock bands that still keep it strong.


But it's Frusciantes solo stuff that is really special. I've tried searching high and low, but there are some brilliant articles about him, from right around when The Empyrean was released. That album still is an experience.

I am addicted to this old song he made back in the day; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scT-ImWYZyc



He also did this amazing radio interview some years ago, but its lost in all the other ones. He talks about how he got so good, on letting go and moving on from the drug addiction that was so close to killing him. Even by rockstar standards, I am surprised he made it at all.
 
Vigilant Walrus said:
To me RHCP has always been a nice enough band. I feel about them like I feel about lots of those rock bands that still keep it strong.


But it's Frusciantes solo stuff that is really special. I've tried searching high and low, but there are some brilliant articles about him, from right around when The Empyrean was released. That album still is an experience.

I am addicted to this old song he made back in the day; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scT-ImWYZyc



He also did this amazing radio interview some years ago, but its lost in all the other ones. He talks about how he got so good, on letting go and moving on from the drug addiction that was so close to killing him. Even by rockstar standards, I am surprised he made it at all.
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That whole album, The Will To Death, is ridiculously good. There's not a single song on it I don't enjoy immensely. Same for Inside of Emptiness which he recorded only a few months before that.
 
His solo stuff is especially impressive. I'd take it over RHCP any day.

I especially enjoy Inside of Emptiness. One hell of an album that I don't put on nearly enough.
 
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