![]() ![]() On an album that can be a bit broody at times, this track snarls from a different angle, bringing energy and bite. It’s an unusually uncluttered song for the band, and Kinghoffer makes excellent use of the space with a reverb and delay combo that allows his attacks to breathe. He hardly plays any notes, just the occasional stab, run and cut that punches its way into the mix. Kiedis and Smith dominate proceedings during the verses, but Kinghoffer takes his strat to its bright, thin limits and wahs expressively to add spice to an otherwise only-lightly-peppered song. It is leant a certain majesty, though, by Josh Kinghoffer. In truth, the song as a whole is little more than passable, a vaguely interesting interlude between more interesting songs and in fact more interesting albums. It is not a mind-bending and fear-inducing discoteque death march in the way some other songs on this list are. ![]() The band was struggling with the arrangement until the opening riff emerged and an anthem was born. ![]() Californication almost didn’t appear on the album that ended up bearing its name. It’s a twisted response to the Surfin’ USA California sung about in the 1960s. The slow tempo and picking gives it a desolate quality, though. In a way the intro is a classic case of Frusciante playing embellishments over wandering chords, as he picks his way through a creeping Am and Fmaj7/C progression while Flea gives direction from the octave below. It touches on everything from conspiracy theories to addiction to the commercial side of fame. Of all the odes to California that RHCP produced, this must be the darkest, which is perhaps why it resonated with people so much. It competes with some phenomenal drumming from Chad Smith but keeps the section tight and brings a level of sense to the band exploding around it, all without doing anything overly complicated. The solo at the end is a whammy-heavy dive into chaos. Flea’s bassline bubbles underway in the background, giving Navarro room for a quacky and brightly wah-ed rhythm section, hanging off that Hendrix-y E9 chord with stabs and muting propelling the song forward. If you were to take a Voodoo Child and feed it some Red Hot Chili Peppers, you would end up with something like Shallow Be Thy Game. Shallow Be Thy Game ( One Hot Minute, 1995) The song was inspired by a jam session the band had after Frusciante had been listening to Public Enemy.ħ. Its as if the bass and the strat are one big ten-string. The throaty wah riff that persists through the song gives it a unified forward motion. The bassist’s Fender Jazz grumbles and snarls in the background, but it pops all the more because it dovetails with Frusciante’s gently driven tone. Get on Top ( Californication, 1999)įlea is the real star here. It’s a masterclass in subtle palm muting, as Navarro keeps the articulation in a bitey tone that could easily lose its attack. The track bursts into life at the minute mark, as Navarro keeps the same accent to his playing but dials in bite and attack that sits in psychedelic opposition to Anthony Kiedis’ Tommorow Never Knows-esque vocals. ![]() Navarro perhaps lurks in the shadow of other RHCP guitarists, but songs like Warped show he bought into the knack for building an unsettling atmosphere that the band did so well. Dave Navarro opens the song with what is in essence a basic droning riff on the low E and A, but he builds in a tension with a Boss delay and super chorus that gives the intro an enormity that perfectly sets up the carnage that follows later in the song. ![]()
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