| The Red Hot Chili Peppers | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Cover: | The Red Hot Chili Peppers (album cover).jpg |
| Caption: | Cover art designed by Gary Panter |
| Recorded: | April 1984 |
| Studio: | Eldorado, Hollywood, California |
| Length: | 31:54 |
| Producer: | Andy Gill |
| Next Title: | Freaky Styley |
| Next Year: | 1985 |
The Red Hot Chili Peppers is the debut studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 10, 1984, via EMI America and Enigma Records. The album was produced by Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, and is the only Peppers album to feature Jack Sherman on guitar. Sherman was in the band as a replacement for founding member Hillel Slovak, who'd left the band along with founding drummer Jack Irons before the album was recorded. After the tour for this album, Sherman was fired and Slovak rejoined the band. The album also features founding members Anthony Kiedis on vocals and Flea on bass, as well as Cliff Martinez on drums.
The band was often at odds with producer Andy Gill over the musical direction of the album. Anthony Kiedis was disappointed with the overall sound, thinking that it lacked the raw energy of the band's original 1983 demo tape.[1] In his 2004 autobiography Scar Tissue, Kiedis recalled, "One day, I got a glimpse of Gill's notebook, and next to the song 'Police Helicopter', he'd written 'Shit.' I was demolished that he had dismissed that as shit. Police Helicopter was a jewel in our crown. It embodied the spirit of who we were, which was this kinetic, stabbing, angular, shocking assault force of sound and energy. Reading his notes probably sealed the deal in our minds that 'Okay, now we're working with the enemy', It became very much him against us, especially Flea and me. It became a real battle to make the record."[2]
Flea expressed similar misgivings in a June 2023 interview with the Los Angeles Times: "I always regret the way we made the first one. I think the songs are really good. Our band was smoking at the time. But [drummer] Jack [Irons] and [guitarist] Hillel [Slovak] quit, and we hired these two other guys: Jack Sherman and Cliff Martinez. Both were great musicians, but the connection just wasn’t as profound as we had with the guys we started with. I’ve often wanted to go back and re-record that album, but I can never talk anyone into it."[3]
The album failed to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching 201 (meaning it "bubbled under" the main album chart for eight weeks in the autumn of 1984). The album received college airplay and MTV rotation, and built the band's fan base. The reviews that were published of the album were mixed, with the first issue of Spin magazine giving, according to Anthony Kiedis in his autobiography Scar Tissue, a positive review.[2] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic later wrote that "their first effort didn't quite gel into a cohesive album".[4] Robert Christgau stated: "As minstrelsy goes, this is good-hearted stuff (and as minstrelsy, it had better be). The reason it doesn't quite come off isn't that it's good-hearted, either: the band is outrageous enough, though probably not the way it thinks it is. Perhaps there's a clue in this mysterious observation from spokesperson Flea: 'Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow have great raps, but not that great music with it.' In a bassist, that's serious delusion."[5]
As of 2007, it had sold about 300,000 copies worldwide.[6] Kiedis and Flea have said over the years that they prefer the demo versions of most of the songs, which were recorded with the original lineup featuring Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons; however, the band acknowledged in various books that Jack Sherman's contributions to the band, particularly his knowledge of funk music and music theory, were instrumental in the band's development that were not present with Slovak. In a June 2023 interview, Flea said that he felt the album was the band's worst saying "I think the songs are really good. Our band was smoking at the time. But [drummer] Jack [Irons] and [guitarist] Hillel [Slovak] quit, and we hired these two other guys: Jack Sherman and Cliff Martinez. Both were great musicians, but the connection just wasn’t as profound as we had with the guys we started with. I’ve often wanted to go back and re-record that album, but I can never talk anyone into it."[7]
Gwen Dickey, better known by her stage name, Rose Norwalt, provides backing vocals on "Mommy Where's Daddy?" Dickey was the singer for the 1970s group Rose Royce. On live performances of the song, her lines are performed by Flea.
As of 2023, many of the songs from the album have not been performed in 21-38 years, with the exceptions of "Mommy Where's Daddy?", last performed in 2017, "Police Helicopter," last performed in 2019 and "Out in L.A.", which was performed in October 2023, marking its first performance since 2004 and only the second time it was performed since 1992.
Red Hot Chili Peppers