Mother's Milk - Background

Background

After Red Hot Chili Peppers received a record deal with EMI in 1983, the group established themselves as a prominent funk rock band with their 1984 debut album The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Disappointed with the results of the production, vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea replaced guitarist Jack Sherman with founding member Hillel Slovak, who had quit his band, What Is This?, several weeks before. The group's George Clinton-produced second album, Freaky Styley (1985), was Slovak's first effort with the band. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, which was released in 1987, saw original drummer Jack Irons return after he too left. The record, a critical success that peaked at number 148 on the Billboard 200, is the only Red Hot Chili Peppers album the original members recorded together. Shortly following the ensuing tour, Slovak died of a heroin overdose and left the rest of the group in complete shock; Irons, citing an inability to cope with the death, quit. Kiedis and Flea, similarly devastated, were determined to persevere despite the loss of two key members. In September 1988 they chose DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, a friend of Clinton's and former member of the funk band Parliament, to replace Slovak on guitar; D. H. Peligro of the punk rock outfit Dead Kennedys replaced Irons. The new lineup made it through three shows before the band felt McKnight didn't fit and he was fired. McKnight was so angry he threatened to burn Kiedis' house down. McKnight however was with the band long enough to record "Blues for Meister", the first Chili Peppers song featuring Flea on lead vocals and only song to feature Peligro as well. The song would appear a few years later on Out in L.A..

The band wasn't without a guitarist for very long. In October 1988, Kiedis and Flea found a replacement for McKnight in teenage guitarist, John Frusciante. Flea had originally directed Frusciante to audition for the band Thelonious Monster. An avid Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, Frusciante was, according to Flea, "a really talented and knowledgeable musician. He knows all the shit I don't know. I basically know nothing about music theory and he's studied it to death, inside and out. He's a very disciplined musician—all he cares about are his guitar and his cigarettes." Frusciante was also not very familiar with the funk genre: "I wasn't really a funk player before I joined the band. I learned everything I needed to know about how to sound good with Flea by studying Hillel playing and I just took it sideways from there."

With Frusciante in place and Peligro still on drums, the band embarked on a small tour and began writing music for the next album. It wasn't long though before the band felt they needed to part ways with Peligro as well, who had his own personal drug problems. Peligro, who helped co-write "Stone Cold Bush", "Taste the Pain" and "Sexy Mexican Maid" for the Mother's Milk album, was fired in late November 1988. Kiedis said it was one of the hardest things he had to do because they considered Peligro a good friend.

The band was now once again without a drummer and were forced to hold open auditions. The last to audition, Chad Smith, was a six-foot three-inch tall drummer who, according to Flea, "lit a fire under our asses". Kiedis later said the audition with Smith left " in a state of frenzied laughter that we couldn't shake out of for a half an hour". Smith came from such a different background than his other three bandmates. Kiedis, Flea and Frusciante were more into the punk rock scene while Chad was into classic rock and heavy metal. Smith was officially hired in December 1988 and played a handful of shows with the band to finish out the year.