As far as I’m concerned, the Red Hot Chili Peppers exist solely to fund guitarist John Frusciante’s numerous solo endeavors.
In 1988, Frusciante became friends with then-Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, who would lose his own battle with heroin addiction later that year. Through Slovak, Frusciante befriended the rest of the band – and they turned to him when their next hired gun didn’t pan out. He joined in time to contribute to Mother’s Milk, and later, their 1991 breakthrough Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Unable to cope with the band’s quick rise to fame, Frusciante quit in 1992. He retreated home to California, where he buried himself beneath both his own creative work and drugs.
This article appears in Jan 14-20, 2009.
