In the world of popular music, the Red Hot Chili Peppers remain a conundrum,
an enigma, a goofy group of screwballs whose success is as sporadic as a bungee
cord in a stiff wind. The only thing you can really count on is that if guitarist
John Frusciante is part of the Peppers’ lineup, as he has been this round
since 1999’s Californication, there’s a good chance of
a heady artistic upswing in need of appreciation. Without missing a step, the
band’s newest album in four years, the two-CD Stadium Arcadium,
plays it relatively safe with an effective punk n’ funk formula firing
away on all cylinders whilst hitting pay dirt with fans and critics alike. Now
that the CD has gone on to become their first Number One, the Red Hot Chili
Peppers are being hailed as one of the best alternative bands of the last 20
years — a title, typically reserved for mainstreaming conformists like
U2 and REM, that has alluded the gangly Los Angeles band of misfits since they
came into being.
Everything about Stadium Arcadium — from its title to
the individual disc names (Jupiter and Mars as opposed to
the more practical 1 and 2) to the smoldering pile of 28 songs
that fill the damn thing up — suggests that the Peppers have finally decided
to abandon their on-again/off-again cult status and turn pro. Indeed, here’s
a hybrid of styles and moods with enough shaking interplay and spinning melodies
to make it a fun and frothy ride. The hooky opener “Dani California”
— publicly cited as a direct lift of “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’1993 hit that borrows more than a couple
of chord progressions from the Jayhawks’ “Waiting For The Sun”
— sets the tone and is opulently followed up by the wickedly wobbliness
of “Snow” along with the title track, eerily reminiscent of the
band’s most identifiable hit from 15 years ago, “Under The Bridge.”
The self-important yearning behind brazen, beautifully calculated material like
“Slow Cheetah, ” “Desecration Smile,” “Hard To
Concentrate,” “She Looks To Me, “ “If,” and the
effulgent “Animal Bar,” does little to temper the fires or dull
the senses. Instead, it keeps the record from floating off the map into a void
of meaningless affectation.
All heavy sundering and sparse pretentiousness aside, Stadium Arcadium
is popping fresh with heaps of loose-fitting, familiar-sounding funksters like
“Hum De Bump,” ‘Warlocks” (featuring the late Billy
Preston on clavinet), “Tell Me Baby.” “Storm In A Tea Cup”
and “Turn It Again.” Still, other tidbits like “Especially
In Michigan,” featuring a guitar solo from Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The
Mars Volta, along with “C’mon Girl,” “Wet Sand,” and
“Death Of A Martian,” all function more or less as slurry-eyed showcases
for Frusciante’s kinetic guitar work and alchemic chemistry with bassist
Flea and drummer Chad Smith. Meanwhile, vocalist Anthony Kiedis’ skittish vocals
and quirky lyrics snake around the instrumentation with subtle indifference
and powerful results. Leave it to the grand and tasty milkshake called the Red
Hot Chili Peppers, aka Hollywood Knuckleheads, with the precarious and lofty
wherewithal to make something as vibrant and self-indulgent as Stadium
Arcadium in the all-encompassing, lack-of-attention-span digital age.
We can only hope others will follow in their stead.
~ Shawn Perry
