John Frusciante: Red Hot Chili Peppers Important Link
By Matthew Spence
In December of 2019, Red Hot Chili Pepper fans got an announcement that was unexpected and yet a dream come true. That is the return of guitarist John Frusciante coming back to the band for the 3rd time, taking place of his replacement of Josh Klinghoffer. In the bands' 30+ career John has remained the band's signature guitarist and truth be told Frusciante has become an important piece to the bands' puzzle.
Joining the band in the late 80s, following the death of the band's former guitarist Hillel Slovak, he would work with the band for 5 studio albums, offering new musical creativity for each new era of the band. His first run with the RHCP ended in 1992 when he left the band abruptly on tour due to tensions between him and frontman Anthony Kiedis, and personal issues of him not enjoying the lifestyle of being in a major rock band. Sadly during this era, John’s drug addiction started to exacerbate and his mental/physical deteriorated. With John gone, RHCP carried on with guitarist Dave Navarro of Janes Addiction to release “One Hot Minute” but things were starting to go backward for the band after making progress to get the level they were at. One Hot Minute wasn’t the commercial and critical success as their previous album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik., though going platinum, it didn’t do the numbers the predecessor did. In his autobiography, Anthony discusses the making of the album and highlights John’s chemistry that can’t be recaptured in the band saying: “John Frusciante had been a true anomaly when it came to songwriting. He made it even easier than Hillel Slovak to create music, even though I’d known Hillel for years… “I just figured that was how all guitar players were — that you showed them your lyrics and sang a little bit and the next thing you knew you had a song. That didn’t happen right off the bat with Dave.” One Hot Minute is a project they’d stay away from live shows in the future and not perform songs off the project. In a Rolling Stone Interview from 2000, Frusciante was asked about the project and he says he never listened to it saying: “Nobody’s ever made a good case to me why I should”.
However, after a few years, John thankfully kicked his heroin addiction and picked himself back up and rejoined the band in 1998 after friend and bassist Flea asked if he liked to play with the band. They would then would make a comeback with the successful “Californication” album in 1999. In the same Rolling Stone interview from 2000, Kiedis explained what it was like working with John again and the first rehearsal for the album: “When John gets excited, he’s like 8 billion volts of electricity. He was knocking things over — it was absolutely chaotic, like a little kid trying to set up a Christmas tree. And when he hit that first chord, it was so perfect — this blend of sounds from these people who I hadn’t heard play together in so long.” With John back, they would release 3 more commercially and critically acclaimed albums: Californication, By the Way, and Stadium Arcadium and cranking out hits like: “Dani California” and “Can’t Stop” before leaving amicably in 2009 for longtime touring member and friend Josh Klinghoffer to take his place.
While the band has had several guitarists, John has become the guitarist that completes the lineup in everyone’s eyes. Giving the band a majority of their hits and help to define their signature funk-rock sound. When you hear the iconic opening riff on “Under the Bridge”, your mind immediately envisions John standing with his signature Seafoam Green Jaguar wearing an outfit that I still want to this day. Whether it be his Hendrix inspired riffs and licks. John is a masterful guitarist and songwriter. Speaking on John, Anthony elaborated on working with John: “My experience with John was one of the most wonderful and easiest people to make music with,” Kiedis says. “We could sit down on the floor, John and I, and I could take out a piece of paper, and I would say, ‘Okay, I wrote these words.’
“And he would like [say], ’Let me see those words,’ and he would take the words, he would read them, and he’s like, ‘Okay.’ He would start to play something, I would start to sing it, and I would say, ‘Can you play something that feels like this?’ And he would say, ‘Okay, let me try this.’ Then we would have a song.
“Never did I meet someone who was so easy to write songs with, and really good songs.”
However it’ s not like Josh Klinghoffer isn’t great in his own right, adding to the band as well after joining as lead guitarist for their two projects of the decade (I’m With You & The Getaway) received acclaimed reviews as well. In the New York Times review of 2016’s “The Getaway, Nate Chinen states: “It doesn’t sound exactly like classic-vintage Chili Peppers, but it might just sound like how you remember them”. Yet, it’s John, that helped shaped the bands' sound. Adding to Flea’s bass-lines and Chad Smiths, who may be an underrated drummer in his right, RHCP is one of the best and synchronized rhythm sections of any band of all time. With him returning, after working on Electronic music the previous, it’ll be interesting to see what comes from the band once again.
