Album Anniversaries: The Everlasting Funk Rock Fever Dream of ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’
Thirty years since its release, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ fifth studio album still captivates listeners with its mix of funk, rock, and everything in between.
In Album Anniversaries, writers honor their favorite aging albums and their subsequent legacies, revealing which projects have stood the test of time.
Written by Miranda Garza
Photo courtesy of Mark Seliger
A band notorious for their electrifying instrumentals, unforgettable lyrics, and tendency to lose their shirts, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ funk sound has remained a staple of the band. Since first releasing music, the band members have attributed much of their influence to groups like Sly & The Family Stone and Funkadelic. In 1991, the four-piece group released its fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the project before Frusciante’s departure from the band in 1992. Production-wise, the record is a standout in their discography with its sonic whirlwind of rhythmic complexity and integrated grooves. Still with its fair share of provocative lyrics, the album also shows the band’s lyrical range, covering themes of loss, addiction, and heartache.
As seen in the documentary “Funky Monks,” the Chili Peppers recorded the album in producer Rick Rubin’s remote Los Angeles mansion, hoping to escape the sterility of the traditional recording environment to fully focus on creating an artistic masterpiece. In the band’s earlier tracks, every song was an opportunity for them to show off their skills, which cultivated a sound that felt uncontained. This alternative setting gave the band a sense of comfort and intimacy, creating less pressure during the recording process and leading to a more structured, textured album than its predecessor. This is exemplified in the song “Funky Monks,'' a sonic rollercoaster that takes listeners through fast-paced loops and spikes; The track carries a steady funk rhythm that stops abruptly halfway through with a moment of silence, until the guitar returns with a mellow blues riff that builds into an intricate arrangement of metal shreds.
“Give It Away,” the album’s lead single, is a punchy tune with a hypnotic bassline. The track begins with sharp guitar licks that meet explosive cymbals to create a drum-heavy chorus. Guitarist John Frusciante’s reversed guitar solos mesh with Anthony Kiedis’ brazen voice to add even more energy to the song. In his’ memoir “Scar Tissue,” Kiedis revealed that the animated and sensual lyrics were inspired by his friend and German singer Nina Hagen, who after giving him the best jacket she owned, advised him to give material things away because it created good energy. The mantra stuck with him since and became the driving force behind the track’s title and lyrics: “Greedy little people in a sea of distress / Keep your more to receive your less / Unimpressed by material excess.”
Thus far into their careers, it was a rarity for the Chili Peppers to feature an acoustic guitar in their tracks, making the standout “Breaking the Girl'' an eye-catching gem. Inspired by the emotional fallout of a past tumultuous relationship, the song features poignant lyrics like, “Twisting and turning / Your feelings are burning / You’re breaking the girl,” the perfect match to the track’s heavy, heart thumping instrumentals. Inspired by Led Zeppelin ballads, the remorseful guitar strums mirror Kiedis’ emotional turmoil as a lingering flute whistles throughout the track. The latter half of the song is more chaotic: the instrumental swarms with percussion that the band members created by slamming on metal debris from a junkyard.
Image courtesy of Warner Brothers Records
Sombering guitar chords that fans have memorized to the very pluck mark the beginning of “Under the Bridge,” a title that references a spot in downtown Los Angeles where Kiedis said in his memoir he would consume drugs at the height of his heroin addiction. The song personifies the city as an entity that watched over him during his period of isolation: “I drive on her streets ‘cause she’s my companion / I walk through her hills ‘cause she knows who I am / She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy.” Though reflective on feelings of alienation and loneliness, the signature hit is progressive and full of determination with lines like “I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day / Take me to the place I love / Take me all the way.” The music is equally poignant, with a strutting bass that harmoniously builds until the crescendo at the song’s outro to complement the repeating line that accompanies Kiedies’ haunting memories: “(Under the bridge downtown) I gave my life away.”
Tugging at the heartstrings as much as it does the guitar strings, “My Lovely Man” is a tribute to the band’s former guitarist and close friend Hillel Slovak, who died of an overdose three years prior to the album’s release. In the drumming segment “Red Hot Rhythm Method,” bassist Flea revealed that it was difficult to record the song because of its personal nature. Each drumbeat is heavy and grief-ridden, and the coiled blues-based guitar riffs are almost reminiscent of Slovak’s own playing style. The bassline is relentless against Kiedis’ wails to his late friend, devastation evident in every line.
Rest with me, my lovely brother
For you see, there is no other
Memory so sad and sweet
I’ll see you soon, save me a seat
A wave of fame led Red Hot Chili Peppers after the album’s release. “Give It Away” won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance, which would be the first of six Grammy wins that the band would earn over time. Despite their release of six more albums since Blood Sugar Sex Magik, this project is one of the group’s top-selling records and still remains a favorite among fans. Its candid lyrics and emotional subject matter offer a degree of vulnerability that the group members had yet to show their audience. Whether it was a bias to the carefully tailored tracks or favoritism for Frusciante in the band’s wide rotation of guitarists, it is clear that the album struck a chord (or guitar string) with listeners.