Blood Sugar Sex Magik is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Rick Rubin, it was the band's first record released on Warner Bros. Records. The musical styles of Blood Sugar Sex Magik differed notably from the techniques employed on the Chili Peppers' preceding album, Mother's Milk, and featured little use of heavy metal guitar riffs. The album's subject matter incorporated sexual innuendos and references to drugs and death as well as themes of lust and exuberance.
Peaking at number three on the Billboard 200, the album has sold over thirteen million copies worldwide and was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' introduction into popularity and critical acclaim. Blood Sugar Sex Magik produced several hits for the band, including "Give It Away", "Under the Bridge", "Suck My Kiss", and "Breaking the Girl". Guitarist John Frusciante quit the band mid-tour in 1992, until returning in 1998, due to his inability to cope with the album's popularity. Blood Sugar Sex Magik is recognized as an integral factor of alternative rock explosion in the early 1990s and the record serves as the most critically praised album the band has recorded; Steve Huey of Allmusic noted that Blood Sugar Sex Magik is "... probably the best album the Chili Peppers will ever make."
Members line-up for "Blood Sugar Sex Magik":
- Anthony Kiedis – lead vocals
- John Frusciante – guitar, background vocals
- Michael "Flea" Balzary – bass, background vocals
- Chad Smith – drums, percussion
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was written at a more rapid pace than the band's previous album. Prior to the Chili Peppers relocation into the mansion, Frusciante and Kiedis collaborated together at each other's homes, in order to arrange song structures and guitar riffs. They would then present ideas to Flea and Smith, and the band would, as a whole, decide what they would use for the bass, guitar, vocal, and percussion ensembles.
Kiedis focused lyrically on sexual references and innuendos as they were frequently on his mind. Songs such as "Suck My Kiss", "If You Have to Ask", "Sir Psycho Sexy", "Give It Away" and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" all contained various sexual links, with lyrics like "A state of sexual light / Kissing her virginity / My affinity", and "Glorious euphoria / Is my must / Erotic shock / Is a function of lust." The concept behind "The Greeting Song" was a request by Rubin, who asked Kiedis to write a song solely about girls and cars. Although Kiedis disliked the concept, he wrote the song as Rubin requested and ended up hating nearly every aspect of the lyrics. Kiedis also began to write about anguish, and the self mutilating thoughts he would experience as a result of his heroin and cocaine addiction; he believed his life had come to its lowest point under a bridge in downtown Los Angeles. Over a month later, Rubin stumbled upon a poem that would become the lyrics to "Under the Bridge", and suggested Kiedis show it to the rest of the band. Kiedis was, however, apprehensive because he believed the lyrics to be "too soft" and unlike the band's style. After singing the verse to Frusciante, they began structuring the song the next day. The two worked for several hours arranging chords and melodies until they both agreed it was complete. Frusciante ultimately chose the chords he played in the intro to balance out the depressing atmosphere of the song: "my brain interpreted it as being a really sad song so I though if the lyrics are really sad like that I should write some chords that are happier."
Blood Sugar Sex Magik integrated the band's typical punk and funk style, but moved away from this with more melodically driven songs. Tracks like "The Righteous and the Wicked", "Suck My Kiss", "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", "Give it Away", and "Funky Monks" still incorporated use of heavy metal guitar riffs, but differed from Mother's Milk in that they contained less distortion. Flea, who had been playing the bass with a technique centered around "slapping", downplayed on this in favor of more traditional and melodic bass lines. He also adopted a minimalist, "less is more", philosophy: "I was trying to play simply on Blood Sugar Sex Magik because I had been playing too much prior to that, so I thought, 'I've really got to chill out and play half as many notes'. When you play less, it's more exciting—there's more room for everything. If I do play something busy, it stands out, instead of the bass being a constant onslaught of notes. Space is good." Kiedis felt that the album would expand the Chili Peppers' musical horizons, and that it was a departure from their previous material. One of Blood Sugar Sex Magik's more melodic tracks, "Breaking the Girl", was written about Kiedis' constantly shifting relationships. He feared that he was following in his father's footsteps and simply becoming a womanizer, rather than establishing stable and long-term relationships: "...As exciting and temporarily fulfilling as this constant influx of interesting and beautiful girls can be, at the end of the day, that shit is lonely and you're left with nothing." The track also featured a bridge in the middle, comprised of percussion instruments salvaged from a garbage dump.
Although jams had always been an integral aspect of song creation for the Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik saw songs being created with more structure. One specific jam would lead to the breakout song on the album: Frusciante, Flea and Smith were all playing together—with Kiedis at another part of the room watching—when "...Flea started playing this insane bass line, and Chad cracked up and played along...I always had fragments of song ideas or even specific isolated phrases in my mind. I [Kiedis] took the mike and belted out 'Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now." The philosophy behind the lyrics originated from a conversation Kiedis had with Nina Hagen, regarding selflessness and how insignificant material possessions were in his life. It, thus, gave birth to the song "Give It Away". He had also been reminiscing about late Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, composing "My Lovely Man" in his tribute. Kiedis wrote "Sir Psycho Sexy" to be an over-zealous and overly exaggerated version of himself; a figure that could get any woman, and do anything he pleased to them. "The Power of Equality" confronted topics concerning racial equality, prejudice and sexism. Kiedis wrote "I Could Have Lied" to document the brief relationship he had with Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor.
Tracklisting:
- "The Power of Equality" – 4:03
- "If You Have to Ask" – 3:37
- "Breaking the Girl" – 4:55
- "Funky Monks" – 5:23
- "Suck My Kiss" – 3:37
- "I Could Have Lied" – 4:04
- "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" – 4:00
- "The Righteous & the Wicked" – 4:08
- "Give It Away" – 4:43
- "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" – 4:31
- "Under the Bridge" – 4:24
- "Naked in the Rain" – 4:26
- "Apache Rose Peacock" – 4:42
- "The Greeting Song" – 3:13
- "My Lovely Man" – 4:39
- "Sir Psycho Sexy" – 8:17
- "They're Red Hot" (Robert Johnson) – 1:12
Critical reception:
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was well received by critics, who praised the Chili Peppers for not overpowering the listener with heavy metal guitar riffs as their previous album had. Rolling Stone's Tom Moon credited Rick Rubin for the change in style; Rubin "[gave] the Chilis' dynamic." He went on to praise the overall sound, which "displayed a growing curiosity about studio texture and nuance." Steve Huey of Allmusic said the album was "The Red Hot Chili Peppers' best album...John Frusciante's guitar is less overpoweringly noisy, leaving room for differing textures and clearer lines, while the band overall is more focused and less indulgent." He considered Blood Sugar to be "varying... it expands the group's musical and emotional range." Guitar Player magazine credited Frusciante with the Chili Peppers' drastic change in style: "by blending acid-rock, soul-funk, early art-rock, and blues style with a raw, unprocessed Strat-and-Marshall tone, [Frusciante] hit on an explosive formula that has yet to be duplicated." Devon Powters of PopMatters said that "in one funked-out, fucked up, diabolical swoop, Blood Sugar Sex Magik reconfigured my relationship to music, to myself, to my culture and identity, to my race and class." In an article published in The Tampa Tribune, editor Philip Booth praised the record as "an ambitious effort that amounts to a culmination and blossoming of the musical forces that have been brewing in the band's sound since Kiedis and Flea birthed the band in 1983." Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a two star honorable mention, one of his highest ratings. Blood Sugar Sex Magik is considered to be an influential album, throughout the nineties, by establishing itself as a fundamental foundation for alternative rock.
"Under the Bridge", which became a breakout song for the band, was considered to be a highlight of the album by several critics. Allmusic reviewed the song individually and called it a "...poignant sentiment...it is self evident among the simple guitar which cradles the introductory verse, and the sense of fragility that is only doubled by the still down-tempo choral crescendo", and ultimately "has become an integral part of the 1990s alterna-landscape, and remains one of the purest diamonds that sparkle amongst the rough-hewn and rich funk chasms that dominate the Peppers' own oeuvre." However, Entertainment Weekly criticized the seriousness that the Red Hot Chili Peppers explored as being "disapproving of the band's usual Red Hot antics", and "Under the Bridge" had "fancy-shmancy touches". The song ended up peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1992. "Give It Away" was also praised, though as "...a free-associative mixture of positive vibes, tributes to musical heroes, and free love", with Frusciante "...adding the song's two most unpredictable change-ups: a sudden contrast to Kiedis' hyperactivity in the form of a languid solo pre-recorded and dubbed backwards over the rhythm track, and a hard-rocking riff which is not introduced until the song's outro..." Tracks such as "Sir Psycho Sexy", however, were criticized for being overly explicit. Devon Powters of Pop Matters said that "Eight minutes of 'Sir Psycho Sexy' will turn RHCP's young listeners into quivering masses of hormonal jello. Oversexed lines sneak their way into 'Apache Rose Peacock'; 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik', simply, sounds like fucking. Even the purest virgin comes away from Blood Sugar Sex Magik with a degree of sexual maturity; even the slickest playa can learn a couple of new moves." In contrast, "Suck My Kiss", according to Amy Hanson of Allmusic, "completely flew in the face of the established pecking order of alternative rock." With the song, the Chili Peppers "fully allied themselves with the very few genre-bending bands that were able to make a radical impact on the sonic landscape that was dominated, it seemed, from every angle by grunge."
Years later, Blood Sugar was placed atop many "Best Of" lists, especially those pertaining to the 90s. Spin magazine charted the album at number 58 on their "Top 90 Albums of the 90s", and number 11 on a similar list compiled by Pause & Play. The record was placed in Guitarist Magazine "101 Essential Guitar Albums"; and included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Blood Sugar Sex Magik also ranked number 310 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment