Red Hot Chili Peppers (album)
Encyclopedia
The Red Hot Chili Peppers is the debut studio album by American funk rock
band Red Hot Chili Peppers
, released on August 10, 1984 on EMI America Records
. The album was produced by Gang of Four
guitarist Andy Gill
, and is the only album to feature guitarist Jack Sherman.
and drummer Jack Irons
were also in What Is This?
, who had signed with MCA Records two weeks prior, thus, the two were unable to play with the band. The Chili Peppers found replacements with guitarist Jack Sherman and former Weirdos & Captain Beefheart
drummer Cliff Martinez
.
The recording of the album was not a smooth process. Andy Gill and the band fought over creative issues, with Gill directing them towards a more "radio-friendly" sound. Since all the trouble the band had with recording this album, one of the members left a pizza box filled with crap, and one of the mixers ran away screaming from the studio.
In Kiedis' autobiography Scar Tissue
, he says that he was demolished when he saw that Gill had written the word "shit" next to the title of the song "Police Helicopter" on a notepad as it was one of the first songs they had written and in Kiedis' words "It embodied the spirit of the band which was the kinetic, stabbing, angular, shocking assault force of sound and energy". The band were said to not be pleased with the production on the album, preferring the demo versions they had recorded earlier with Slovak and Irons.
They went on tour to support the record but the rest of the band did not get along with Sherman. They only earned about $500 each from the tour. Both albums, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Squeezed by What Is This? did not do well, so Jack Sherman was fired from the Peppers and Hillel Slovak returned to perform on Freaky Styley
, the Chili Peppers' second album.
, reaching #201 (meaning it "bubbled under" the main album chart for 8 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. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic gave the album a negative review, and stated that "their first effort didn't quite gel into a cohesive album", giving the album only 2½ stars out of 5. As of 2007, it had sold about 300,000 copies worldwide.
Many of the albums songs would be played at live shows, notably "Green Heaven", "Get Up and Jump", and "Out in L.A".
Additional musicians
Recording personnel
Artwork
Funk rock
Funk rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience , Eric Burdon and War, Trapeze, Parliament-Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest. The 1990s were known for acts...
band Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
, released on August 10, 1984 on EMI America Records
EMI America Records
EMI America Records was started in 1978 by EMI as a second US label next to Capitol Records. It absorbed Liberty Records in 1984. In the late 1980s EMI America was consolidated with Manhattan Records to form EMI Manhattan Records, which later became known simply as EMI in 1990, then part of EMI...
. The album was produced by Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
guitarist Andy Gill
Andy Gill
Andy Gill is a founding member and guitarist for the English rock group Gang of Four, considered among the most influential post-punk bands...
, and is the only album to feature guitarist Jack Sherman.
Background and recording
Red Hot Chili Peppers struck a deal with EMI America Records. However, guitarist Hillel SlovakHillel Slovak
Hillel Slovak was an Israeli-American musician best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...
and drummer Jack Irons
Jack Irons
Jack Steven Irons is an American musician who is best known as the original drummer of the American rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as the former drummer for Eleven and Pearl Jam. He has also worked with Joe Strummer and The Latino Rockabilly War, Redd Kross, Raging Slab, Spinnerette...
were also in What Is This?
What Is This?
What Is This? was a rock band that originated in Fairfax High School in California and would play numerous shows along the coast of California. Originally named Chain Reaction when the band members were in junior high school, What Is This? were formed before and played around the same time as the...
, who had signed with MCA Records two weeks prior, thus, the two were unable to play with the band. The Chili Peppers found replacements with guitarist Jack Sherman and former Weirdos & Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
drummer Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez is an American film score composer and former drummer.-Biography:Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...
.
The recording of the album was not a smooth process. Andy Gill and the band fought over creative issues, with Gill directing them towards a more "radio-friendly" sound. Since all the trouble the band had with recording this album, one of the members left a pizza box filled with crap, and one of the mixers ran away screaming from the studio.
In Kiedis' autobiography Scar Tissue
Scar Tissue (book)
Scar Tissue is the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis. It was released in 2004 by Hyperion and authored by Kiedis with Larry Sloman, who compiled information and interviewed various parties associated with the plot line. The story follows Kiedis from his birth in 1962 to...
, he says that he was demolished when he saw that Gill had written the word "shit" next to the title of the song "Police Helicopter" on a notepad as it was one of the first songs they had written and in Kiedis' words "It embodied the spirit of the band which was the kinetic, stabbing, angular, shocking assault force of sound and energy". The band were said to not be pleased with the production on the album, preferring the demo versions they had recorded earlier with Slovak and Irons.
They went on tour to support the record but the rest of the band did not get along with Sherman. They only earned about $500 each from the tour. Both albums, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Squeezed by What Is This? did not do well, so Jack Sherman was fired from the Peppers and Hillel Slovak returned to perform on Freaky Styley
Freaky Styley
Freaky Styley is the second studio album by American funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 16, 1985 on EMI America. The album name holds its origins in a commonly used phrase in the 80's to describe anything as being "freaky styley". Freaky Styley marks founding guitarist Hillel...
, the Chili Peppers' second album.
Critical and commercial response
The Red Hot Chili Peppers was released with the Chili Peppers disappointed in the production. It failed to chart on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, reaching #201 (meaning it "bubbled under" the main album chart for 8 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
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
magazine giving, according to Anthony Kiedis
Anthony Kiedis
Anthony Kiedis is an American vocalist/lyricist, and occasional actor best known as the lead vocalist of the Grammy-winning American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his mother before moving, shortly before his 12th birthday, to Hollywood,...
in his autobiography Scar Tissue
Scar Tissue (book)
Scar Tissue is the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis. It was released in 2004 by Hyperion and authored by Kiedis with Larry Sloman, who compiled information and interviewed various parties associated with the plot line. The story follows Kiedis from his birth in 1962 to...
, a positive review. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic gave the album a negative review, and stated that "their first effort didn't quite gel into a cohesive album", giving the album only 2½ stars out of 5. As of 2007, it had sold about 300,000 copies worldwide.
Many of the albums songs would be played at live shows, notably "Green Heaven", "Get Up and Jump", and "Out in L.A".
Track listing
Personnel
Red Hot Chili Peppers- FleaFlea (musician)Michael Peter Balzary , better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Anthony KiedisAnthony KiedisAnthony Kiedis is an American vocalist/lyricist, and occasional actor best known as the lead vocalist of the Grammy-winning American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his mother before moving, shortly before his 12th birthday, to Hollywood,...
– vocals - Cliff MartinezCliff MartinezCliff Martinez is an American film score composer and former drummer.-Biography:Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Jack ShermanJack ShermanJack Sherman is a guitarist best known as a member of Red Hot Chili Peppers, playing on their debut album.He has also recorded with Bob Dylan, George Clinton, Gary Mallaber, Tim Drummond , Barry Goldberg, Jim Keltner, T.Bone Burnett, Danny Kortchmar, Bob Glaub, Peter Case, Gerry Goffin, Tonio K,...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
Additional musicians
- Keith Barry – horn arrangements & viola
- Cliff Brooks – timbales & congas
- Gwen Dickey – background vocals
- Patrick English – trumpet
- Kenny Flood – tenor sax
- Phil RanelinPhil RanelinPhil Ranelin is an American jazz and experimental music trombonist.Ranelin was born in Indianapolis, and lived in New York before moving to Detroit in the 1960s...
– trombone
Recording personnel
- Andy Gill – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Spit StixSpit StixTim Leitch is a Los Angeles-born drummer, producer and songwriter. He gained prominence as drummer for American punk rock band Fear and produced the first Red Hot Chili Peppers demo record.-Early life:...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
(demos) - Dave JerdenDave JerdenDave Jerden is an American record producer, engineer and mixer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock, punk rock and metal genres....
– engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including... - Carolyn Collins – assistant engineer
- Rob Stevens – mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Barry Conley – mixing assistant
- Greg FulginitiGreg FulginitiGregory Fulginiti is an American recording and mastering engineer.In a career spanning three decades, Fulginiti was nominated for the TEC Awards by Mix magazine 6 times, earned 175 Gold and Platinum Awards, 25 Multi-Platinum Awards, 100 Number One recordings, 135 Grammy nominees, including the...
– mastering
Artwork
- Gary PanterGary PanterGary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation of RAW, one of the second generation in American underground comix...
– cover art - Edward Colver – photography
- Howard Rosenberg – photography
- Henry Marquez – art direction
2003 remastered version personnel
- Kevin Flaherty – producer for reissue
- Ron McMaster – remastering
- Kenny Nemes – project manager
- Michelle Azzopardi – art direction
- Kristine L. Barnard – design
- John Dinser – photo imaging and additional design
- Edward Colver – photography
- Howard Rosenberg – photography
- EMI Archives – photography