The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Warped" came on at the gym yesterday and I guess I never realized just what a weird little hybrid of a song it is. It came from the single album with Dave Navarro on guitar, and it sounds a LOT like Jane's Addiction, only I didn't really think so at the time. Especially the little chorus nits with the cascading guitar lines. And of course the solo.The really insane thing is that the album it appeared on, One Hot Minute, directly following Blood Sugar Sex Magic, a disc that finally broke the band into the mainstream. Previously the group was better known to skaters, delinquents, and malcontents (like me), and while I don't think anyone begrudged them finally hitting the big payday, it quickly grew pretty uncool to like the band anymore.
And then they release this mindfuck of an album, running in the almost complete opposite direction from anything even remotely resembling a "hit." One could almost argue that this is more an L.A. / Hollywood album than any of their previous stuff, since it's easily the most twisted c0llection in their oeuvre. (And don't even get me started on the b-side "Stretch," but let's just say the boys were finally letting go of any residual homophobia that might have clouded their earlier career.)
Of course the boys dumped Dave after the disappointing performance of Red Hot Minute and ran straight back into the arms of Rick Rubin to create a string of albums that turned the band into superstars worshiped by everyone from frat boys, to yuppie moms, to tweenagers of all stripes. Again, I don't begrudge them the success, but I've always been a little curious as to what would have happened had they continued down the dark alleyways of their soul instead of falling back into that easy Californian funk rock pop groove.
M4A: The Red Hot CHili Peppers "Warped"
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