Since the formation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the spring 1983 (originally called "Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem"), the band has endured numerous changes in personnel. To date, the guitar chair has been held by: Jack Sherman, Hillel Slovak (died June 27, 1988), Dewayne McKnight, John Frusciante, Arik Marshall, Jesse Tobias(for about two weeks), Dave Navarro, and now, John Frusciante. In addition, drummer Chad Smith replaced Jack Irons who vacated the drum throne shortly after guitarist Hillel Slovak died. The Red Hot Chili Peppersī founding members, Anthony Kiedis and Flea (Michael Balzary), met in their teens at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. The pair have remained optimics (throughout triumph and tragedy), with an unwavering intent on remaining firmly rooted in reason, despite having to live in a world that sometimes seems doomed by design - in fact, Flea and Anthony once even admitted to jokingly discussing changing the bandīs name to "The Doom Prolongers".
At that time, the bandīs lineup consisted of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons. Slovak and Irons were also in a bend called "What Is This". When the Red Hot Chili Peppers were approached by EMI America for sevenrecord deal, What Is This was also about to be signed by MCA. Slovak and Irons had to make a decision about which band to stay with. They chose What Is This. The Red Hot Chili Peppers had only a few months to find new members. Anthony and Flea chose guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez for the bandīs first album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In January 1985, guitarist Jack Sherman got the boot. It was clear that he and the band just didnīt click live or in the studio. Hillel Slovak rejoined the band. Anthony Kiedis (Homes), Flea (Homeboy), Hillel Slovak (Homesqueeze), and Cliff Martinez (Homey) soon got to work on creating their sophomore effort, Freaky Styley. In April 1986, missing his relationship with Hillel, Jack Irons rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Anthony and Hillel were using heroin on a regular basis. Before Jack rejoined the band, Flea had been a nervous wreck trying to deal with the escalating chemical intake of his buddies. Jackīs return eased the tension for a bit, but it wasnīt long before Hillelīs pharmaceutical dabblings began to take their toll.
The Uplift Mofo party Plan was released in September 1987. On bandīs first European tour the Red Hot Chili Peppers shot the "cocks in socks" cover art for their Abbey Road EP- ironically the Beatlesī final album, and the last for Hillel. Hillel Slovak died on June 27, 1988- two weeks after the band retourned from its European tour. (The band was playing in Provinssirock, Finland, two weeks before Hillel died). Jack Irons left the band shortly thereafter.
With the death of Hillel came a change in the bandīs lifestyle. They became more focused on positive things like basic loving bond between band members and no longer took those relationships for granted. Hillel was replaced briefly by guitarist Dewayne McKnight. But the real Chili Pepper magic really returned when the guitarist John Frusciante joined the band! Fruscianteīs first appearance with the band was on a television show called 2HIP4TV, which was broadcast on Christmas 1988.
When John Frusciante was growing up, he used to practise 10 or 15 hours a day. working on everything from technique and theorectical applications to Frank zappa and Jimi Hendrix songs. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were Fruscianteīs favorite band in the world. He allready knew all their guitar riffs, solos, lyrics, bass parts-everything! Flea invited him to come over and lay down some tracks. Flea decided to snatch John up right away because Johnīs work was so impressive. The newly-reformed Red Hot Chili Peppers hit the road in March 1989 to recording their fourth album, Motherīs Milk. The album was released in August 1989 and, as a tribute, featured cover art by the late Hillel Slovak.
"Under The Bridge" (from the album BloodSugarSexMagik) was the commercial hit that propelled the Red Hot Chili Peppers into the mainstream spotlight. On a day when Kiedis and the albumīs producer, Rick Rubin were going over sheets of completed lyrics, Rubin came across a page that Anthony had never intended anyone to see. It was an autobiographical piece that illustrated Anthonyīs painful recollection of a time (Fall 1986) when he frequently met with a band gang members under a particular bridge in down-town Los Angeles with the intentions of scoring heroin. Anthony never even considered showing these lyrics to Rubin. He hadnīt even shown them to the band yet. Rubin encouraged Anthony to sing it for him. The song floored Rubin and when the band finally heard the song for the first time, reacted the same way.
Unfortunately John Frusciante left the band because of his personal problems and he missed to play for the smaller audiences. Jesse Tobias was in the band for about two weeks before being replaced by Dave Navarro. After hooking up with Navarro, the Red Hot Chili Peppers rehearsed for a bit, then flew to Hawaii where the newly-formed quartet of funksters bonded and wrote most of the tunes for their forthcoming album, One Hot Minute.
