John Frusciante joined The Red Hot Chilli Peppers when he was 17 years old. He's one of my many favorite guitarist's. I put some pictures together showing how he's changed over the years and some info on The Chilli's as I feel a mention of these freaky guy's is due

Guitarist John Frusciante has experienced both colossal highs and death-defying lows in both his musical career and personal life. Born in 1971 and raised in California, Frusciante dropped out of high school when guitar playing and rock music took hold of the up-and-coming musician/songwriter. Embracing both the unpredictable side of rock (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, King Crimson, Funkadelic) and punk (the Germs, Black Flag), Frusciante created his own guitar style -- combining both technical skill with a knack for penning funky, psychedelic riffs.

Few rock groups of the '80s broke down as many musical barriers and were as original as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Creating an intoxicating new musical style by combining funk and punk rock together (with an explosive stage show, to boot), the Chili Peppers spawned a slew of imitators in their wake, but still managed to be the leaders of the pack by the dawn of the 21st century.

Influenced heavily by the burgeoning L.A. punk scene (the Germs, Black Flag, Fear, Minutemen, X, etc.) as well as funk (Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone, etc.) In 1985 The Chilli's released the George Clinton-produced Freaky Styley. While the album was an improvement over its predecessor, it still lacked the fire of the band's in-concert experience, a problem that would finally be solved with their next album, 1987's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. The album was the group's first to make an impression on the charts, and they followed it up a year later with stopgap five-track release, The Abbey Road EP, in 1988. But just as the world was warming up to the Peppers, tragedy struck when Slovak died from a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers became an automatic fav. when the young guitarist ( John Frusciante) discovered them early in their career, and his dream to join the band came true in 1988, after striking up a friendship with the Chili Peppers' bassist Flea (in the wake of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak's death from a drug overdose). Frusciante's first recording with the Peppers, 1989's Mother's Milk, helped break the popular college rock band through to the mainstream -- resulting in their first gold record, with John's amazing guitar playing serving as a catalyst for many of the songs. The quartet released an even rawer record next, 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik, produced by Rick Rubin. The album catapulted the band into the rock stratosphere, as it became a multi-platinum hit and made the Peppers one of the premier bands of the '90s. But all was not well in Pepperland. Frusciante found it increasingly difficult to handle his newly found fame, and retreated into a haze of hard drugs and unpredictable behavior. At the height of Blood Sugar's success, John abruptly left the band while on tour in Japan.


Besides releasing two obscure solo albums (1995's Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt and 1997's Smile From the Streets You Hold), little was heard from Frusciante since splitting from the Peppers in 1992. Then, a disturbing article about John appeared in the L.A. Weekly, which painted Frusciante as a heroin abuser with a death wish (the interviewer was also shocked at his ghastly appearance). Thankfully, from the advice of friends, Frusciante checked himself into a rehab center and got off drugs and stopped his path to certain destruction. Just a few months after getting his life back on track and facing the world again, he got back in contact with the rest of his ex-Pepper mates (he regularly kept in contact with Flea), who's then-current guitarist, Dave Navarro, had just split from the band. After a loose jam session was deemed a success (as well as a psychological evaluation!), Frusciante was asked to rejoin the band. The newly kindled relationship was a rousing success, as the reunited Peppers issued the great Californication in 1999 to rave reviews and big sales. Two years later, and drugs a thing of the past, Frusciante emerged a tough singer/songwriter by releasing a solo effort entitled To Record Only Water for Ten Days. Merely a creative outlet from his band's original material, Frusciante appeared motivated and relaxed as an individual and free from the deception of drugs that haunted him before.

Tours with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam brought them into the next year without problems, but they stepped off the road after a planned stop in Israel was haulted due to security worries. They returned to the studio in November of 2001 and by the summer of 2002 they had a new album ready to drop, By the Way.

Excerpts from ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide .

Sorry about the lengthy spiel, but I find it amazing to see the physical changes Frusciante went through over this 16 year period,( He was basically a kid who was still growing! ); and how his amazing talent at 17 years of age kicked the Chilli Peppers into the beginnings of a hugely sucessful career; along with the other band member's of course.
I don't like all their stuff, but what I do like is pure magic !
The road to sucess aint easy...

Pretty cool, I love the Chili Peppers. Great tribute to John a great guitarist.

Biscuit said:

Hey thanks Biscuit & Dewrede.
Yeh, I thought his life an interesting tale of your classic " I'm gonna die for my Art" type Rock Musician.( Nice that He lived on...) Plus I love his sound.
The Chilli Pepper's Story is long and complex, but I just thought I'd give some prop's to John.

I like his playing , sometimes he sounds like Jimi (in "Under The Bridge" , fe)
apart from the solos
I must say sometimes he sounds a little bit off key tho'(on their last 2 albums)
(but it's not really disturbing) , maybe that's due to his drug abuse because
he never did before
[Edited 2/13/05 9:56am]

Dewrede said:

He's been to Hell and back. There's a heap of info around documenting his plight, and hey, most public figures don't talk about such stuff.I think I like his sound when he plays like Jimi on "Little Wing", or "Castles made of sand."
Plus he's not the greatest guitarist around, just an interesting guy.
"JOHN FRUSCIANTE - "WATER MUSIC" "
From: Rock Sound' Magazine
Issue: #21, February 2001
With the release of his third solo album, Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante bares his soul to Rock Sound on the subjects of life, love... and yoga.

John Frusciante is speaking from his home, a hotel apartment in Hollywood. Lying on his bed, he's talking softly about the problems that saw him leave the Chili Peppers after 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik'. There seems to be some interference, but there's nothing wrong with the phone line. It takes a few minutes to work out that it's just the beating of the guitarists soul...

"I didn't quit playing music because of drugs," he explains honestly, "I quit playing music because I wanted to quit playing music, and drugs were something I took to self-medicate myself, to deal with the things that had made it ugly to me. It worked y'know, it worked, I mean during the course of time there were some really rough times, but in the back of my head I think I felt how it was going to come out and I was never scared. Even when times got really bad I just had a feeling that there was a higher reason for them being that way. I always felt good about myself, I always loved myself, and as long as I had a certain spiritual energy around me I was happy. It didn't matter if I was starving, it didn't matter if I had to be sick, what mattered was that I knew who I was and I was always proud of that, being who I am."

http://www.johnfrusciante...ameset.php