Project 1001: Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I realize, I don't want to be a miser / Confide with sly, you'll be the wiser / Young blood is the lovin' upriser / How come everybody wanna keep it like the Kaiser?
It’s fair to say that this album helped explode alternative rock into the mainstream of American popular music. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released on the same day as Nirvana’s Nevermind. Let that sink in for a moment. It’s also fair to say that BSSM is one of the pillars of alternative rock that carried the genre throughout the decade of the nineties. It also made Red Hot Chili Peppers one of the most popular bands in the world. A designation they never really gave up.
Produced by Rick Rubin, another one of his long list of legendary albums, this record is full of really strong material, enough to overcome some of the weak stuff (like “Mellowship Slinky in B Major”) that holds it back, for me at least, from being a desert island type of record. And it fulfills the promise of their previous release Mother’s Milk, a really good album but flawed. I like that album, but I don’t find it essential like this one.
The opening riff of “Give it Away” never fails to get people on their feet. A defining song of the early nineties and a formative moment for a generation. “Under the Bridge” is a powerful anthem about loneliness and drug addiction. Anthony Kiedis originally wrote it as a poem to help him work through some personal issues.1 It is remarkable that a song Kiedis thought was not a Peppers kind of song became their biggest hit and a lasting part of their legacy. This song will be listened to for many generations because it touches on universal human emotions and feelings. One does not need to be a drug addict to understand what’s going on or be able to relate to the lyrics. One of the top songs of all time. And one of the more influential albums of the era inspiring later work by everyone from Limp Bizkit to Dr. Dre.2
My rating:
AllMusic mused that Blood Sugar Sex Magik is “probably the best album the Chili Peppers will ever make.”3
The Los Angeles Times praised the album:
Most impressive is Kiedis, who has grown enough both as a multidimensional frontman (he raps, growls and now croons with the best of them) and lyricist that he can chastenedly sing, “Shoulda been, coulda been, woulda been dead / If I didn’t get the message going to my head”--and still live up to the song’s typically taunting title, “Suck My Kiss.” It’s that sugar of humility and maturity combined with the expected blood and sex that makes some magik.4
Pitchfork summed it up thusly:
All of it set the stage for the whole mystical California thing that would define their later years, and allow them to grow into a legacy rock band. It unlocked their ability to write any type of song within the Chili Peppers framework, and enabled them to write their biggest album, Californication, upon Frusciante’s reunion with the band due to a brief, exhausting separation. Frusciante would eventually leave again, and the band would struggle to reach the same creative heights, but it didn’t matter. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, Super Bowl halftime performance, the bass solo at Kobe’s last game—they slowly became iconic, known by their mononyms and their socks and the pleasure of trying to imitate Kiedis’ inimitable flow off the top of your head. Not bad for some Cali yucks.5
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Bruno MacDonald wrote:
Bob Marley, Black Sabbath, and Bart Simpson? Mix them up and you might get Red Hot Chili Peppers. They namecheck Marley on the anthem “Give It Away”, which ends with the riff from Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” that they wound up playing on The Simpsons.
This cocktail is typical of the Chilis.6
Enjoy and listen without prejudice.
“And just remember, different people have peculiar tastes”
~ Lou Reed
Cheers!
Prime Playlist:
If you’re new here, welcome! Please consider subscribing and sharing with friends.
For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #37
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Under the Bridge”, #2; “Give it Away”, #738
• RIAA certification:
Released on September 24, 1991. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “I Adore Mi Amor” by Color Me Badd9
• Number one album: Metallica by Metallica10
• Number one movie: The Fisher King by Terry Gilliam11
• Most watched TV programs: Monday Night Football, Miss America Pageant, 60 Minutes, Roseanne, Murder, She Wrote12
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy13
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Embraced by the Light by Betty J. Eadie with Curtis Taylor14
Some other albums released that week
• Decade of Decadence by Mötley Crüe
• Ceremony by The Cult
• Shake Me Up by Little Feat
• Trompe le Monde by Pixies
• Nevermind by Nirvana
• Waking Up the Neighbours by Bryan Adams
• Face the Nation by Kid 'n Play
• Hymns to the Silence by Van Morrison
• The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest
• Prove You Wrong by Prong
• Queer by Thompson Twins
• Rock 'til You Drop by Status Quo15
Sport
• Sep 22 Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula records his 300th career NFL victory.
• Sep 24 Deion Sanders, left Braves July 31 to report to NFL Falcons, returns.
• Sep 25 3rd World Championships in Athletics: Carl Lewis wins gold in 100m.16
Notable Births
• Sep 9 Lauren Daigle, American Christian singer-songwriter (How Can it Be), born in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
• Sep 21 Ingrid Andress, American country music singer ("More Hearts Than Mine"), born in Southfield, Michigan.
• Sep 25 Shin Lim, Canadian-American magician (America's Got Talent), born in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Historical Events
• Sep 20 Armenia Declares Independence from Soviet Union: Armenia officially declared its independence from the Soviet Union, marking a significant moment in the country's political history and the dissolution of the USSR.
• Sep 21 IAEA Discovers Iraq's Hidden Nuclear Weapons Program: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors uncovered critical documents revealing Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons program. Iraqi officials attempted to obstruct the investigation by confiscating documents and preventing UN weapons inspectors from leaving the site with evidence, highlighting the tensions surrounding nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
• Sep 25 Trial of Klaus Barbie, Nazi War Criminal: Klaus Barbie, infamously known as the "Butcher of Lyon", was tried for his heinous crimes during World War II. As head of the Gestapo in Lyon from 1942-1944, he was responsible for the execution of approximately 4,000 people, including Jewish citizens and French Resistance members. His trial represented a critical moment of post-war justice.
• Sep 27 Nuclear Arms Reduction Announcement: President Bush announces unilateral reductions in short-range nuclear weapons and calls off 24-hour alerts for long-range bombers. The Soviet Union reciprocates with similar unilateral reductions on October 5, signaling a new era of diplomatic de-escalation.
• Sep 30 Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide Overthrown: In a significant political upheaval, Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forcibly removed from power by a military coup. This event marked a critical moment in Haiti's fragile democratic transition and sparked international concern about political stability in the Caribbean nation.17
Notable Deaths
• Sep 24 Dr. Suess, American children's author (The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham), dies of cancer at 87.
• Sep 24 Peter Bellamy, English folk singer, commits suicide at 47.
• Sep 28 Miles Davis, American jazz musician, trumpeter and composer (Kinda Blue; Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet; Sketches of Spain), dies of pneumonia at 65.18
MacDonald, Bruno, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 662.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Fantastic stuff right there! Yours and the Chili Pepper's. Do you remember when I told you the ERJ played Mellowship Slinky? Do you know why we picked that song off one of the most consequential albums of the 90's? It's because no one listened to it. You're right. It's probably the weakest song on BSSM, but it's also one of the funkiest and definitely one of the weirdest songs the Chili's have ever written. I love it! Do you also know that BSSM was dedicated to Mike Watt of Minutemen, one of my all-time favorite punk bands? Not so much because of Watt but because of D Boon. He was one of the first guitarist that I listened to intently. I mean, Alex Lifeson was my favorite guitarist at the time, but his playing was totally out of reach for me. Boon's was simple to duplicate, let alone understand. If you listen to the first ERJ album, you can hear D Boon in a couple of the more punk-sounding songs. Anyway, BSSM remains one of my all-time favorite albums. Great review! Thanks for sharing!