The Time John Frusciante Sabotaged the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Live TV
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
This could be my favourite story. The time a fierce relationship between two members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers went awry…on Saturday Night Live. Years of bubbling tension between John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis erupting on live television. Through musical head butting. Frusciante protesting the band’s rising popularity by sabotaging their first nation-wide prime-time performance. He tries to take them down. But in doing so — creates a captivating performance that only spring-boards them further into fame and fortune.
John Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers at age 18. He replaced the band’s founding guitarist Hillel Slovak, who tragically died of a heroin overdose in 1988. If you’re not familiar with his work — and I assure you, you are — Frusciante is a guitar savant. The Chilis have had a string of guitarists over the years, but Frusciante reigns supreme in talent and tenure.
He played on classic albums Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication and By The Way. Rolling Stone once named him the 18th greatest guitarist of all time. Chilis bassist, Flea puts it best, describing a 17-year old Frusciante as:
this interstellar, transcendent, incredible, virtuoso, musician
Before joining the Chili Peppers, Frusciante was obsessed with them. As a fan in the late ‘80s, Frusciante frequented Chili gigs when they were raucous club shows in the grimy punk underbelly of LA.
He worshipped then-guitarist Slovak. Studying his style. Learning his parts. When Slovak passed and the band auditioned for a new guitarist — Frusciante crushed it and they knew they had their man.
Imagine that — becoming the lead guitarist of your all-time favourite band
The Chilis popularity soared after the release of their fifth album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Under the guidance of legendary producer Rick Rubin, the band explored different styles and John’s more melodic guitar style came to the forefront of the Chili sound. This led to songs like Breaking the Girl and the pièce de résistance of the album — and this story — Under the Bridge.
But as the fan base grew, so did the tension. Frusciante resented mainstream success. He had fallen in love with the Chilis at their club shows. Shows that were wild, but also intimate. He couldn’t stomach the jump to sold-out stadiums. Here is Frusciante recalling his frustration with the band’s growing success in RAW Magazine:
“It’s not like I’m against popularity,” John admits. “When I was 17 and I was at the last Chili Peppers show I ever saw before joining them, Hillel asked me, ‘Would you still like the Chilis if they got so popular they played the LA Forum?’”
“I said, ‘No. It would ruin the whole thing that’s great about the band. The audience feels no different from the band at all.’ There was this real kind of historical vibe at their shows….So I couldn’t picture the band playing the LA Forum, and when we got to that point of popularity it bugged me for that and a number of other reasons.”
Frusciante’s relationship with Kiedis broke down. Kiedis explains in his autobiography Scar Tissue:
“Things deteriorated to the point where John and I didn’t talk on the bus, and if we ran into each other in passing, we wouldn’t even acknowledge each other.”
Things came to a head on the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour when the band was booked to play the coveted live slot on Saturday Night Live. A huge gig. They were to perform two songs, Stone Cold Bush and latest single, Under the Bridge.
The story goes that Frusciante was unhappy to be there — carrying on backstage — getting into a tiff with a crew member — having a tantrum at being snubbed by Madonna.
The band performed Stone Cold Bush. Watch from 3:20 as Kiedis flails around on stage in his signature way. At 3:33 you can see Kiedis kick Frusciante in the back of the leg.
Interestingly, when Kiedis tells the story of what transpired in Scar Tissue, there is no mention of the kick. Was it intentional? Like most of the facts in this story — we will never truly know. However, it does set a pretty interesting stage for what was to come next.
Under the Bridge is a devastating, beautiful ballad. Its release was a complete change of pace from the Chilis’ punk, hip-hop style at the time. Frusciante’s sunny, inviting guitar line expertly masks Kiedis’ lyrics. Which are terribly sad — grounded in the throws of heroin addiction and the death of his close friend Slovak.
Here’s a breathtaking acoustic version. Listen to the intro and Anthony come in. Remember how that sounds.
Technically, it’s a difficult song to sing. The tricky part for Kiedis is coming in after the guitar intro at the right time and in the right key. This meant that when they played it live, Kiedis was in Frusciante’s hands. Later in the song, its Frusciante’s job to sing backup vocals on the chorus —
Is where I drew some blood
(Under the bridge downtown)
I could not get enough
(Under the bridge downtown)
So there you have the context. The Chili Peppers’ big break. Frusciante, angry at Kiedis and the success of the band. Possibly having been kicked in the previous song. About to cue him in on live television. Scores of viewers. What could possibly go wrong…
Incredible. This is Kiedis’ take:
“I had no idea what song he was playing or what key he was in. He looked like he was in a different world. We were on live TV in front of millions of people, and it was torture. I started to sing in what I thought was the key, even if it wasn’t the key he was playing in. I felt like I was getting stabbed in the back and hung out to dry in front of all of America while this guy was off in a corner in the shadow, playing some dissonant out-of-tune experiment. I thought he was doing that on purpose, just to fuck with me.
The story is now musical folklore. To this day Frusciante denies he was trying to throw Anthony off. We will never know what really went on. It doesn’t really matter, does it? What a raw performance it makes for. The insane guitar intro. The look on Frusciante face when he serves it up. The unplanned distortion pedals. I come back to this video and this story. Time and time again. Frusciante wanted out of the MTV trajectory. Out of the national television spotlight. Yet here we are — dining out on this tale and re-watching the clip. The only thing sweeter than that irony is Frusciante’s backup-vocals-turned-primal-screaming at about 3:35.
