The 500 - #310 - Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 310

Album Title: Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Genre: Funk-Rock, Rap-Metal, Funk-Metal, Alternative

Recorded: The Mansion, Los Angeles, California

Released: 1991

My age at release: 26

How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #186, Moving up 124 spots

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Breaking The Girl

In the spring of 1992, I was finishing my degree at Western University in London, Ontario, while working six or seven days a week at East Side Mario’s restaurant. The Canadian- based chain of casual restaurants "specializes" in Italian-American "cuisine". It is to Italian food what Taco Bell is to Mexican fare -- it's not authentic, or particularly good, but it is inexpensive and acceptable. The location where I worked was wildly popular and busy with crowds of all ages from lunch until close.  

It was an exhausting pace, but was one of the most financially lucrative times of my life. In fact, it was one of those economic bubbles of youth that one intuitively knows is unsustainable. Like any bull market you just know the phase will pass.  Making hay while the sun shines, I managed the restaurant four nights a week for a decent salary, free food and beer and picked up shifts on profitable Friday and Saturday evenings as bartender.

By far, the most exhausting day was Sunday, when I was scheduled, twice monthly, to open the restaurant and run the bar for Sunday Brunch. I needed to arrive by 7 a.m. to let the cooks into the building. Often, I had closed the restaurant five hours earlier. Yes, I debated sleeping there to steal a few extra minutes of shut-eye.

Much like custodial staff and administrative assistants are essential to the smooth operation of a school, cooks are the engine of any restaurant. Without cooks, the doors can’t open. 

Gratitude works.

For night cooks, liquid lubrication at the end of a shift – usually ice-cold beer.

For groggy-eyed and sometimes hungover Sunday morning prep cooks – fresh hot coffee and letting them play their music loud, until the restaurant opened for business.

That spring (1992) their track selection was my introduction to an eclectic mix of genres that would grow in popularity over the next five years. It was on those groggy but hectic mornings that I first heard grunge, rap-rock and funk-metal. Much of it was loud, raw, fuzzy, unkempt and honest. Not unlike the punk rock movement of 15 years earlier, this music was both alarming and refreshing. Every Sunday, the restaurant vibrated to sonic booms I had never heard before – Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Green River, Soundgarden, Babes in Toyland, Mr. Bungle and Mudhoney.

One of the early-morning prep-cooks was an 18-year-old, long-haired skateboarder nicknamed “Boog” – a seemingly unfortunate moniker, but one that he embraced like a rare jewel. Boog blasted many cassette-tape selections through the kitchen boom-box, but was particularly keen on Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik, the fifth release by Los Angeles-based funk-metal rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (1992) (l-r) John Frusciante (guitars)
Chad Smith (drums) Flea (bass) and Anthony Kiedis (vocals)

I was already a “Peppers” fan. As I wrote in an October, 2020, blog post, I was introduced to them in the mid-80s by my good friend Paul Dawson. I had purchased most of their discography, but that November, 1991 , release had thus far escaped my attention. There was something markedly different about the record and it went quickly into heavy rotation during study and workout sessions.

Peppers performing at Lollapalooza (1992)

Later that spring, I bought Funky Monks on video-cassette, a documentary filmed during the making of the record.  Significant changes had been made to create Blood Sugar Sex Magic. In order to achieve the re-shaping after several commercial failures, legendary producer and Def-Jam Records co-founder Rick Rubin agreed to work with the band. Rubin suggested that the group cohabitate for one month at his four-bedroom studio, The Mansion, during production.

The Mansion is an iconic house in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles. Built in 1918, it was originally the home of Golden Age Hollywood star Errol Flynn. Magician/escape artist Harry Houdini had also used the pool area to rehearse his illusions and escape-routines while living nearby.

Errol Flynn

It is also rumoured to be haunted. In the summer of 1918, the son of a wealthy furniture store owner pushed his lover to her death from the balcony. The grisly lore reportedly troubled Pepper’s drummer, Chad Smith, so much that he refused to spend the nights there with Rubin and band mates. Smith has denied this claim, saying he preferred to go home to his wife. However, his chums, particularly guitarist John Frusciante, continue to lightheartedly needle him.

The Mansion Recording Studio

The record was completed at a rapid pace compared to previous efforts. Lyricist and singer Kiedis focused much of his writing on sexual references and bawdy innuendo, but the album’s biggest hit, Under The Bridge, was a dirge about his heroin addiction. The song told the story of Kiedis’ lowest moments, when he literally lived under a bridge in downtown Los Angeles.

Under The Bridge - Single Cover

Blood Sugar Sex Magic went on to achieve worldwide popularity and critical acclaim and is recognized as a seminal record in the alternative rock movement that swept the early 90s – an evolution that a skateboarding dishwasher named Boog recognized far earlier than I.

The 500 - #401 - Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

(On September 14, 2020, Rolling Stone released an updated version of The 500 List. I am sticking with the 2012 edition and, when I get through it, I'll circle back and discuss the new additions to the list.)

This blog post also marks my hundredth in this series. I'll post about the first 100 soon.

Album # 401

Album Title: Californication
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Genre: Funk Rock, Alternative Rock
Recorded: Cello Studios - Los Angeles, California
Released: June, 1999
My age at release: 33
How familiar was I with it before this week: Fairly
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Around the World

There is an expression I've always liked: 

"Show me who you're with and I'll show you who you are."

I suppose I like this quote because it casts me in a positive light because my friends are kind, clever, generous and, perhaps most importantly, funny.

Paul Dawson is no exception. 

Paul and I met in the autumn of 1982 at a house party in the east end of London, Ontario. A part of the city, East of Adelaide (EOA) as it is known, which came with a reputation -- blue collar, tough and hard scrabble...even dangerous.

East of Adelaide Book, published in 1989

My friends and I were from the middle class areas of Westmount and Byron on the opposite side of the city. However, as we walked down the steps of a small bungalow into a crowded, smoke-filled, wood-panelled basement, we surmised how we were being perceived. 

We were interlopers...spoiled rich kids who had no business in this end of town. Again, that is what we thought.

These supositions were, of course, entirely in our heads. These East-end rockers were behaving exactly like most teenagers do...standoffish, skeptical, suspicious and painfully cool. Sure, we were "the unknown", but we had been invited to this gathering and, in short order, we found ourselves socializing and, in several cases, making friendships.

Just as I was getting comfortable, Paul arrived. He was a giant of a man, he was only 18 but he looked like an full grown adult --standing over six feet tall with a head full of thick, black hair. He thundered down the stairs with confidence and was welcomed by many of the partygoers. It was clear he was popular with this crew.

Paul (Circa 1983)

It wasn't long before he made his way across the room to me. His first words were, "So, I hear you're a Dungeon Master?" 

Plainly, he was referring the fantasy role-playing, game Dungeons & Dragons which I played every Sunday with the same group of friends who were at the party with me. 

"Uhm, yes," Expectantly, I paused for an insult, perhaps a joke or sarcastic barb. Playing "D&D" was not considered cool in the early 80s and I was quiet about in most high school social circles.

"Cool", he responded brightly, "I've always wanted to play. Can I join?" With those few sentences, a 38-year friendship was forged.

The reason I mention Paul in the context of Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) is because it was he who introduced me to the band. He discovered them in the mid-80s, long before they achieved mainstream success. Paul, a bass player, was fascinated by the work of Chili Peppers' bassist Michael Peter Balzary...aka: Flea. 

Paul is well known in our friendship circle for his unusual, but comically charming, non-sequiturs. It is one of my favourite things about his humour. One day, while sitting in his living room, he turned to me abruptly and said: "True Men Don't Kill Kie-yotes". I would later learn it was a reference to an early RHCP song entitled, True Men Don't Kill Coyotes. (Coyotes pronounced Kie-Yotes)

While I was still trying to figure this out, Paul pushed in a VHS cassette into the player on his television, which was cued up to this interview with Flea and Chili Pepper singer Anthony Kiedis. Paul had recorded it earlier from a broadcast on Much Music Television. It included, in true Paul non-sequitur fashion, an entirely different Chili Peppers' song at the end -- Jungle Man from their 1985 album Freaky Styley. 

When it finished playing he said, "I like these guys." I had to admit, I did too and became a fan. Eventually, I owned the band's entire catalogue, up to and including their 1995 release One Hot Minute. However, as their popularity grew, their music became an overplayed staple on rock radio stations. In fact, if you listen to FM96 (London's Rock Radio Station) for more about an hour, you can likely win money with the wager: "I'll bet we hear a Pepper's song". 

Eventually, I grew a little tired of the band's sound and my interest waned. This record, Californication, boasts six singles (all played regularly on FM 96) -- so I am familiar with it. However, over the past week, I have listened to all the tracks and I admit my interest has been renewed. This is an entertaining record.

And Paul? We are still friends. I reached out to him to clarify details for this story and he sent me the Much Music link that is included above, as well as picking the song for The 500 Spotify Playlist I am curating. After working for the Ford Motor Company for over two decades, Paul is now an educator, teaching construction and woodwork at Lord Dorchester Secondary School near London. I'm sure his teenage students enjoy his comedy and non-sequiturs.

Paul in October 8, 2020 wearing his
Van Halen Crew shirt to commemorate
the passing of Eddie Van Halen