True to name and form, Freaky Styley picks up where the first album left off, which was also pretty much a similar statement by the band: Check out this unique style(y) of ours...and boy is it Freaky.
The 1985 model of Red Hot Chili Peppers thrusts with purpose into territory that gradually propelled the band into the mainstream and would remain a hallmark of their signature style(y). References to nature, Native Americans, the band themselves, and of course, the great state of California run rampant across Freaky Styley. This approach, at least when the Chili Peppers are doing it, usually reaches its stated target, which is to engage in pure, unadulterated fun. After all, this is the band that used to perform its encores in the nude, with each member's ding-dong sheathed in a tube sock.
On that note, the Chili Peppers revere the topic of sexuality above all else. If The Beatles want to hold your hand, the Chili Peppers want to slide theirs down the front of your pants, and Freaky Styley punctuates this angle with lusty fervor. Boiling the track list down to the simplest of terms, the album pays varying homages in the following order: 1) Banging girls, 2) California, 3) Native Americans, 4) Loving girls, 5) The Red Hot Chili Peppers, 6) Irreverence, 7) Dangerous girls, 8) Unity, 9) Banging girls, 10) Loving girls, 11) Banging catholic school girls, 12) Banging girls, 13) Random nursery rhyme, and 14) Dr. Suess rhyme. There's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on, indeed.
However, dimensions beyond those of a sexual nature exist within Freaky Styley, and therein lay most of the album's charm for me. Here, we have four white boys from Los Angeles, with a black music icon (George Clinton) at the production helm, playing a strain of music (funk) usually handled by black musicians, filtered through a broader strain of music (rock and roll) originated in part by black musicians. The album also features two songs originally written and performed by black artists (The Meters' Africa and Sly & The Family Stone's If You Want Me to Stay). While R.E.M., Kate Bush, and Tears for Fears were claiming their own respective pieces of 1985, Freaky Styley ambitiously cross-pollinated multiple racial and musical style(y)s with a confident swagger that could only come from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In the end, Freaky Styley's hybrid approach may work best for die hard fans and niche audiences. Even Flea (founding member and bassist) noted that the album was "too funky for white radio, too punk rockin' for black." But, there is nothing to lament in that observation. Freaky Styley straddles the fence, (cali)fornicates with it, and probably won't call it in the morning. Maybe not the classiest move, but at least it was a lot of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment