Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Pepers

It took the Chili Peppers a while to rise to the mass stardom that they achieved later on in their career. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was actually their fifth released album which makes sense because their production quality seems rather polished. The countermelodies throughout a variety of their songs mesh well with the intriguing vocals. I feel that the sounds that the Chili Peppers release is an acquired taste. I feel that if I had listened to more of their previous material, I would be able to appreciate this album more. While there are peaks in the album (like any), I think when I first began listening to their songs, it kind of hit me with surprise. The uniqueness of their sounds stood out to me as different than anything else I had heard. They sound like a mix between funk sounds of the 70s and country countermelodies. There are also elements of punk that makes this music seem very versatile and intriguing.

Lyrically, I feel, the Chili Peppers are a good stepping stone between the lyrically sufficient past and the lyrically deficient present music society. While lyrics began to deteriorate once the 80s hit (I’m thinking the intense rap of NWA and others) popular music/rock didn’t really see the drastic change in lyric deficiency until modern times in this century. The Chili Peppers, who straddled these two time periods, illustrate the transition to a music realm dominated by profanity and rather meaningless lyrics. For example, in “Suck My Kiss”, the Chili Peppers use rebellious terminology like “Most motherfuckers
Don't give a damn”. This phraseology is not needed but grabs the attention of the audience. Because lyrics like this add intensity and act as a slap to the listener’s face, they are utilized expertly by the Chili Peppers in order to make their rock wilder.

While some of the early songs in the album didn’t really appeal to me very much, I rather enjoyed the versatility and diversity that the Chili Peppers show throughout this album. Although some of their transitions between songs are not necessarily the strongest (and at times I feel like they pushed me off a cliff of music intensity), I like the mixture that they incorporate. They seemed to build in intensity throughout their first five tracks, climaxing at “Suck My Kiss” but by the sixth track, they release a much more mellow sound. “I Could Have Lied” is probably one of my favorite tracks on this album because it starts out pretty slow with mild vocals and gradually escalates into something more. I can really cherish the vocals throughout this track because the countermelody is soft and mild enough for the calm vocals to shine through. This track also seems like a brief intermission in the middle of the album because immediately after, the seventh track sounds like a tidal wave of blaring sound in the introduction.

It is very hard for me to distinctly classify the countermelody and vocals in the album as a whole, because there seems to be little similarities between them. Some songs are chock full of powerful and forceful electric guitar strums that unleash pure rebellion upon the listener. Others take on a softer vibe dominated by light percussion. A major similarity between all of their songs is that they seem to have short intense introductions before they delve into their main melody. Then, their songs build up until they climax very near the end of the songs in a wild guitar solo. This part of their songs is very exciting. They repeat a minor escalation of intensity and seem to cut off the songs at a rather climactic point without much denouement to leave the listener elated. Then they jump right into the next track! This style is interesting but it MAGIKally works (I apologize for that sad sad attempt at a joke in advance).

On a last note, the Chili Peppers’ album is rather misogynistic throughout a variety of their songs yet they possess a level of youth that makes it seem more innocent lyrically at least(if that makes any sense at all). When listening to their actual tracks, I think the exact opposite.

Anyway, check out some of their tracks below. I’d like you to compare the fifth track with the sixth track in particular because they contrast so much.