Biography
One of the first alternative acts
Posten on: 2006-06-26 05:22:57
Without a hint of hairy, macho, breast- beating or leather trousered, theatrical pomp, REM rose through the 80s to become a major stadium rock act while sounding nothing like one. They were the standard bearers for alternative US rock and with the exception of U2, were the most popular rock band of the '80s and early nineties with fans and critics alike. REM marked the point where underground rock became palatable to truck drivers, farmers and the ordinary working man.The original lineup of Bill Berry (drums), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass) and Michael Stipe (vocals) formed at college in their hometown of Athens, Georgia just to play a few parties. However frat parties and 'wedgies' soon gave way to professionalism when they were signed to the small Hib-Tone label for the release of their first single, Radio Free Europe in 1981. The single perfectly captures the early REM style - Stipe's murmured vocals, beguiling lyrics, soaring melody and jangly guitar gave the band the air of mystery that was vital to their credibility. The band soon caught the eye of IRS label boss Miles Copeland (brother of Stuart 'Police' Copeland) and he signed them for the release of 1982 mini-album Chronic Town and then their first album proper, Murmur in 1983. The album was released to critical raves and was a distillation of the REM sound, from the lilting We Walk to the sinister Moral Kiosk. With Stipe's impenetrable lyrics and melodic melancholy, the album immediately gave the group a compelling air of mystique.1984's Reckoning album was slightly more accessible with a more polished sound to the production of songs like So Central Rain and Don't Go Back To Rockville. The band took a left turn for their next project, deciding to record Fables Of The Reconstruction in London with veteran folk producer Joe Boyd. With songs like Old Man Kensey the album, which examined the legend of the deep South, was strange, haunting, slightly oblique and one REM fans would leave off their all-time favourite lists. The three albums that followed, Life's Rich Pageant (1986), Document (1987) and Green (1989) marked a defining era in REM's development. With each album the band became brasher and louder. Life's Rich Pageant's environmental eulogy with tracks like Cuyahoga showed an assured poise while Document, which spawned the band's first US Top 10 hit with One I Love, was the band's most political album to date. The song Exhuming McCarthy was an attack on the Regan era while It's The End Of The World as We Know it was a party song with a message.By the time of Green's release the band had become a major act and were signed to Warners for a small fortune. The Stand single gave them their biggest hit to date while World Leader Pretend was a perfect example of the band's ability to create subtle, intelligent songs that were still hummable. Green's success meant the band would spend the next two years touring - with Stipe playing the anti-hero on stage, dressed in a white suit, inch-thick eyeliner, wailing into megaphones and dancing manically. Stipe also raised his profile by initiating a series of public service TV info-mercials on Aids, abortion and racism.1991's Out Of Time album would become a multi-million seller, representing the band both at their most bankable and personal on the singles Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People. 1992's follow up Automatic For The People was a moodier masterpiece. Stipe had been dogged by rumours that he was suffering from Aids and the downbeat nature of the songs comes from Stipe's plaintive voice tapping into the listener%u2019s angst. There was a lucid beauty to tracks like Night Swimming and Man On The Moon (written about tragi-comic actor Andy Kaufman) that wormed their way into your subconscious.Follow up Monster in 1994 was a grunge-inflected, rock album - the best songs, the singles What's The Frequency Kenneth and Crush With Eyeliner, struck the right balance between noise and melody but otherwise it was a mixed album, with Stipe seemingly having ditched his obsession with death for a healthy interest in sex and brighter images. The subsequent tour (the band's first since the late 80s) came to a premature halt when drummer Bill Berry suffered a brain haemmhorage.After a successful recovery, the band regrouped and re-signed to Warners for the largest recording contract advance in history: $80m for a five-album deal. The first fruits of the deal was 1996's New Adventures In Hi-Fi album. The LP would be the band's last with Berry who would later leave to spend his time looking after his farm.Written mainly on the road the album was a return to more familiar REM territory ranging from the cool, understated calm of How The West Was Won and the moody single, E-Bow The Letter, featuring Patti Smith. 1998's Up album was the band's most pensive and melancholy set for years. Introduced by the single, Daysleeper, a UK Top 10 hit, and the brooding Lotus and At My Most Beautiful the band also utilised Leonard Cohen lyrics for the track, Hope.In 1999 the band recorded the soundtrack for the Andy Kaufman biopic Man On The Moon starring Jim Carrey before going back into the studio to prepare for the release of 2001's Reveal album. The album attempted to marry their classic songcraft with more experimentalism. Summery abandon mixes with mid-life crisis moments on Summer Turns To High, I'll Take The Rain and the album's melancholy but beautiful single, All The Way To Reno.In 2001 the normally shy and retiring guitarist Peter Buck was arrested after allegedly harassing and abusing staff on a BA flight. He was subsequently acquitted but he later described the attendant press coverage and media circus as "the worst year of my life."The band's new album, Around The Sun, is out in October 2004 with with Stipe describing it as "very experimental and schizophrenic." A new single, Leaving New York, is also released in October. The band will be undertaking a World tour in 2005, a chance for the band to reconnect with their audience. "We want to show people where we are now and how we're feeling," says Stipe.
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Poetic, gutsy art rock
Posten on: 2006-06-21 17:22:16
Detractors may view him as a world weary cynic or just a plain, miserable old sod but that would be to dismiss his incredible, creative bravery. Together with influential art rockers The Velvet Underground, Reed emerged from the 60's at a time when most bands were still singing about boy/girl love. However a pro-queer, anti-hippie Reed would pen tracks about drug addiction, paranoia, S&M and amphetamine psychosis, culminating eventually in his best known solo album, Transformer which featured a song about a smalltown transvestite looking for better things. (Walk On The Wild Side). He practically single-handedly invented art rock and without him everyone from Bowie to The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand would be unthinkable.Lou Reed was born Louis Firbank on 2 March 1942 in Freeport, Long Island New York. After graduating from Syracuse University he joined the Pickwick stable of songwriters in 1964. To promote one of his songs, the local minor hit, The Ostrich, Pickwick assembled a house band which would include future Velvet Underground member John Cale. Reed and Cale resolved to continue working together. Recruiting Sterling Morrisson on guitar and Angus Maclise on percussion the foursome began performing on the avant garde New York circuit before becoming The Velvet Underground in 1965 at which time Maureen Tucker replaced Maclise. The band accompanied artist Andy Warhol's travelling multimedia show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. On their travels they met German art house chanteuse Nico, recruiting her for three songs on their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. With a cool cover featuring a peelable banana, the album was an astonishing mix of Cale's avant garde temperament ("We hated everybody," he said. "Our aim was to upset people, make them vomit.") and Reed's harsh street poetry on tracks like the druggy celebration of Heroin and Waiting For The Man. Feedback, dissonance, hate, drugs, self-contempt, it was all there in a groundbreaking album. Released in 1967 in an America and Britain gripped by flower power and the summer of love, the album was largely overlooked although David Bowie, for one, was taking notes. Cale left the band soon afterwards. Without him, Reed's songwriting took centre stage and three more albums followed - 1968's White Light/White Heat, 1969's Velvet Underground, and 1970's Loaded which featured the pulsating Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. But by the release of Loaded, Reed had also left the group, retiring from music for almost two years.He returned in 1972 with his eponymous debut solo album. The album made little impact, spending just two weeks on the chart and consisting of several songs he'd written for the Velvet Underground that had gone unnoticed. The LP boasts a curious musical lineup including Yes members Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman.Later that year Reed returned with the seminal Transformer album, featuring stories from the New York gutter. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, the album gave Reid his first major triumph when it reached the Top 30 in the UK and US. The album spawned some of Reed's best loved tracks including the piano melancholy of Perfect Day, about a heroin addict and Walk On The Wild Side, his only hit single %u2013 about a transvestite trying to make his/her way in NYC. The album was the epitome of sleazy New York chic and took Reed close to the mainstream, setting him up as a streetwise, drug savvy icon for the impending punk explosion.In typically obtuse and morose fashion, Reed's follow up, 1973%- Berlin album, was a relentlessly bleak affair, with subject matter including suicide and child neglect on The Bed and The Kids.1974's live album, Rock 'n' Roll Animal probably came as a relief to Reed's paymasters at RCA. Reed's next studio album, Sally Can't Dance was produced with former Blood Sweat and Tears member Steve Katz and mixed soul music influences with Reed's typical biting cynicism.But laughing Lou played his ace card with his next release, 1975's Metal Machine Music. A double album of cacophonous, feed back noise interspersed with human screams and hums, the record managed to alienate both Reed's long suffering fans and the casual record buying public. There were rumours that Reed deliberately made it so impenetrable in a bid to be released from his contract with RCA Records. In true contrary style however, he sashayed back with the mellow, reflective Coney Island Baby although the lyrics remained as bitterly perverse as ever.1976's Rock 'n' Roll Heart album was Reed's first for his new label, Arista but was generally regarded as a slapdash affair. Follow up Street Hassle, released in 1978 was a return to form with Reed returning to the sleazier side of the New York sidewalk as the setting for another series of bleak narratives. Reed started to show uncharacteristic signs of maturity on his next projects, collaborating with various artists to expand his horizons on the hit and miss 1979 album The Bells, which featured songs he co-wrote with jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. Follow up Growing Up In Public was a stronger set. The eighties brought a new contract with his old label RCA and Reed hooked up with Richard Hell and the Voidoids member Robert Quine and various new wave musicians to record the accomplished Blue Mask album in 1982.The album showcased a newly married singer seemingly at peace with himself and capable of writing serene songs such as My House, a tribute to poet Delmore Schwartz but there were still several traces of the old Lou on the title track with the lyrics: "The pain was lean and it made him scream/He knew he was alive/He put a pin through the nipples on his chest. (Don't try that at home kids!)Reed's ensuing trio of mid eighties albums were largely hit and miss. Legendary Hearts (1983), New Sensations (1984), and Mistrial (1986) were satisfying, but still somehow seemed lacking. Reed's voice, one of the most imitated speak-song croaks in pop, began shifting toward a near-constant conversational style, and actual singing was becoming less frequent.So fans were completely unprepared for his renaissance with 1989's New York album. With skeletal musical accompaniment this was Lou in raw and sparse mode, back on familiar territory, on the seedy side of New York. The album included memorable songs about AIDS, crack, anti-Semitism, violence, and urban disintegration. "Manhattan's sinking like a rock," sang our cheerless hero.In 1990 Reed again teamed up with John Cale for the Andy Warhol tribute album, Songs For Drella. A sombre work, it set the tone for 1992's Magic and Loss album, a reflection on death and illness inspired by the loss of two of Reed's closes friends, one of whom was the songwriter Doc Pomus. Despite a probably ill-advised Velvet Underground reunion in 1993 for European dates and a live album, Reed retained critical favour with the release of 1996 album, Set The Twilight Reeling. And in 2000 Reed entered his fourth decade as a recording artist analysing the uncomfortable consequences of man's primal urges on 2000's Ecstasy album.In 2003 Lou showed no sign of becoming any less obtuse with the release of The Raven album, a musically ambitious attempt to set Edgar Allen Poe's poetry to music. Despite a stellar cast including David Bowie, Laurie Anderson and even actors Willem Dafoe and Steve Buscemi, the project baffled the critics and record buying public alike proving that even at 62, a cantankerous Lou still exudes more bile and perversity than many artists half his age.
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The Gods of Hard Rock
Posten on: 2006-06-15 16:07:06
This pivotal heavy rock quartet was formed in October 1968 by British guitarist Jimmy Page (b. James Patrick Page, 9 January 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England) following the demise of his former band, the Yardbirds. John Paul Jones (b. John Baldwin, 3 June 1946, Sidcup, Kent, England; bass, keyboards), a respected arranger and session musician, replaced original member Chris Dreja, but hopes to incorporate vocalist Terry Reid floundered on a contractual impasse. The singer unselfishly recommended Robert Plant (b. 20 August 1948, West Bromwich, West Midlands, England), then frontman of struggling Midlands act Hobbstweedle, who in turn introduced drummer John Bonham (b. 31 May 1948, Birmingham, England, d. 25 September 1980), when first choice B.J. Wilson opted to remain with Procol Harum. The quartet gelled immediately and having completed outstanding commitments under the name "New Yardbirds", became Led Zeppelin following a quip by the Who's Keith Moon, who, when assessing their prospects, remarked that they would probably "go down like a lead Zeppelin".They were guided and managed by Peter Grant (b. 5 April 1935, London, England, d. 21 November 1995). He was best known as the heavyweight manager of all UK rock groups, both in size and stature. Armed with a prestigious contract with Atlantic Records, the group toured the USA supporting Vanilla Fudge prior to the release of their explosive debut, Led Zeppelin, which included several exceptional original songs, including "Good Times, Bad Times", "Communication Breakdown", "Dazed And Confused' - a hangover from the Yardbirds" era - and skilled interpretations of R&B standards "How Many More Times?" and "You Shook Me". The set vied with Jeff Beck's Truth as the definitive statement of English heavy blues/rock, but Page's meticulous production showed a greater grasp of basic pop dynamics, resulting in a clarity redolent of 50s rock 'n' roll. His staggering dexterity was matched by Plant's expressive, beseeching voice, a combination that flourished on Led Zeppelin II.The group was already a headline act, drawing sell-out crowds across the USA, when this propulsive collection confirmed an almost peerless position. The introductory track, "Whole Lotta Love", a thinly veiled rewrite of Willie Dixon's "You Need Love", has since become a classic, while "Livin' Lovin' Maid (She's Just A Woman)" and "Moby Dick", Bonham's exhibition piece, were a staple part of the quartet's early repertoire. Elsewhere, "Thank You" and "What Is And What Should Never Be" revealed a greater subtlety, a factor emphasized more fully on Led Zeppelin III. Preparation for this set had been undertaken at Bron-Y-Aur cottage in Snowdonia (immortalized in "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp"), and a resultant pastoral atmosphere permeated the acoustic-based selections "That's The Way" and "Tangerine". "The Immigrant Song" and "Gallows Pole" reasserted the group's traditional fire and the album's release confirmed Led Zeppelin's position as one of the world's leading attractions. In concert, Plant's sexuality and Adonis-like persona provided the perfect foil to Page's more mercurial character, yet both individuals took full command of the stage, the guitarist's versatility matched by his singer's unfettered roar.Confirmation of the group's ever-burgeoning strengths appeared on Led Zeppelin IV, also known as "Four Symbols", the "Runes Album" or "Zoso", in deference to the fact that the set bore no official title. It included "Stairway To Heaven", a group tour de force. Arguably the definitive heavy-rock song, it continues to win polls, and the memorable introduction remains every guitar novice's first hurdle. The approbation granted this ambitious piece initially obscured other tracks, but the energetic "When The Levee Breaks" is now also lauded as a masterpiece, particularly for Bonham's drumming. "Black Dog" and "Rock 'N' Roll" saw Zeppelin at their immediate best, while "The Battle Of Evermore" was marked by a vocal contribution from Sandy Denny. IV was certified as having sold 16 million copies in the USA by March 1996. However, the effusive praise this album generated was notably more muted for Houses Of The Holy. Critics queried its musically diverse selection - the set embraced folk ballads, reggae and soul - yet when the accustomed power was unleashed, notably on "No Quarter", the effect was inspiring. A concurrent US tour broke all previous attendance records, the proceeds from which helped to finance an in-concert film, issued in 1976 as The Song Remains The Same, and the formation of the group's own record label, Swan Song.Bad Company, the Pretty Things and Maggie Bell were also signed to the company, which served to provide Led Zeppelin with total creative freedom. Physical Graffiti, a double set, gave full rein to the quartet's diverse interests, with material ranging from compulsive hard rock ("Custard Pie" and "Sick Again") to pseudo-mystical experimentation ("Kashmir"). The irrepressible "Trampled Under Foot" joined an ever-growing lexicon of peerless performances, while "In My Time Of Dying" showed an undiminished grasp of progressive blues. Sell-out appearances in the UK followed the release, but rehearsals for a projected world tour were abandoned in August 1975 when Plant sustained multiple injuries in a car crash. A new album was prepared during his period of convalescence, although problems over artwork delayed its release. Advance orders alone assured Presence platinum status, yet the set was regarded as a disappointment and UK sales were noticeably weaker. The 10-minute maelstrom "Achilles Last Stand" was indeed a remarkable performance, but the remaining tracks were competent rather than fiery and lacked the accustomed sense of grandeur. In 1977 Led Zeppelin began its rescheduled US tour, but on 26 July news reached Robert Plant that his six-year-old son, Karac, had died of a viral infection. The remaining dates were cancelled amid speculation that the group would break up.They remained largely inactive for over a year, but late in 1978 they flew to Abba's Polar recording complex in Stockholm. Although lacking the definition of earlier work, In Through The Out Door was a strong collection on which John Paul Jones emerged as the unifying factor. Two concerts at Britain's Knebworth Festival were the prelude to a short European tour on which the group unveiled a stripped-down act, inspired, in part, by the punk explosion. Rehearsals were then undertaken for another US tour, but in September 1980, Bonham was found dead following a lengthy drinking bout. On 4 December, Swan Song announced that the group had officially retired, although a collection of archive material, Coda, was subsequently issued.Jones went on to become a successful producer, notably with the Mission, while Plant embarked on a highly successful solo career, launched with Pictures At Eleven. Page scored the movie Death Wish 2 and, after a brief reunion with Plant and the Honeydrippers project in 1984, he inaugurated the short-lived Firm with Paul Rodgers. He then formed the Jimmy Page Band with John Bonham's son, Jason, who in turn drummed with Led Zeppelin on their appearance at Atlantic Records' 25th Anniversary Concert in 1988. Despite renewed interest in the group's career, particularly in the wake of the retrospective Remasters, entreaties to make this a permanent reunion were resisted. However, in 1994 Page and Plant went two-thirds of the way to a re-formation with their ironically titled Unledded project, though John Paul Jones was conspicuous by his absence (for want of an invitation). The duo cemented the relationship with an album of new Page And Plant material in 1998. Although their commercial success is unquestionable, Led Zeppelin are now rightly recognized as one of the most influential bands of the rock era and their catalogue continues to provide inspiration to successive generations of musicians.
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The King of Rock & Roll
Posten on: 2006-06-14 07:08:10
More than just "The King" and the founder of rock 'n' roll - Big is an American icon. While countless rock stars have become household names, and several have built followings that enshrined them after their deaths (John Lennon, Jim Morrison), only Elvis has passed beyond mortal rock star status to become a superhuman, almost godlike figure. Despite a sordid death over 20 years ago, Elvis lives on, not only through his music, but in velvet portraits, postage stamps, statuettes, vials of sweat, bad jokes, professional imitators, tabloid headlines, theme restaurants, pilgrimages to Graceland and tell-all novels -- a distorted piece of Americana which is more image than substance.All hype aside, Elvis the musician should be remembered for popularizing rock 'n' roll, perhaps even creating it, by fusing white country music with black R&B. Many of his countless hits remain classics, and his style both as a singer and performer influenced nearly all who followed him.Elvis Aron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in rural Tupelo, Miss., to Gladys and Vernon Presley, a very poor, very religious couple; Elvis was a twin, but his brother, Jesse Garon, died only six hours after birth. The Presley family frequently relocated in search of work, and by the time he was in high school Presley's family resided in Memphis, Tenn. For several months after graduation Presley was a truck driver, until on one fateful day in 1953 he passed a recording studio with the sign: "Make your own records -- $2 for 4 songs." Elvis returned to that studio, Sun Studios, and recorded "That's When Your Heartache Begins," supposedly as a gift for his mother. Sam Phillips, the owner of the studio, overheard Elvis and knew he was on to something -- he had been searching for a white performer who could sing "Negro" music (since at the time white audiences would not listen to black performers), and Elvis fit the bill.Phillips encouraged Presley to hang around and record with session musicians Bill Black (bass) and Scotty Moore (guitar), whose country influences gave Presley's material a unique "rockabilly" sound.His next single, "That's All Right Mama," was distributed to the public, and soon became a local hit. Unfortunately a color barrier prevented his song from being played in much of the country -- too many DJs thought he was African American and refused to play his material. Eager to seek a more traditional audience, Presley was booked into the Grand Ole Opry for a one-month stand, but was fired after only one performance because they insisted that he wasn't singing country "correctly."An illegal Dutch immigrant named "Colonel" Tom Parker took over Presley's management, just in time to see Presley's last Sun single, "Mystery Train," become a No. 1 country hit. The Colonel got Presley a deal with RCA Records for $35,000, an unprecedented advance at the time, and began hyping his star, going as far as to pay teenage girls to scream at his shows. In January of 1956 Elvis had his first hit for RCA, "Heartbreak Hotel," which reached No. 1 on the pop and country charts and No. 2 on the R&B charts. Elvis became a star. Colonel Tom convinced Paramount to sign Elvis to a three-picture deal, and his movies became regular box office draws. Later that year Elvis appeared on the Steve Allen, Milton Berle, and Ed Sullivan shows -- his famous Ed Sullivan appearance reached 56 million. (During this show, Presley was only shown from the waist up due to his trademark hip gyrations, which were considered too sexually suggestive at the time.) Presley was considered scandalous among adults, which naturally made him popular with teenagers.1957's hit singles "Love Me Tender" and "Jailhouse Rock" enhanced Elvis's already huge popularity, and the singer moved from a modest Memphis house into Graceland, a sprawling white mansion just outside the city. (Even today, more than 20 years after Elvis's death, more than one million people visit Graceland each year.) In 1958 Presley was mailed a draft notice, and though every branch of the service wanted him, Elvis enlisted in the U.S. Army. Fans and journalists declared that rock 'n' roll was dead. Elvis spent the next two years based in Germany, where his presence helped to popularize rock 'n' roll in Europe.When Elvis returned to the U.S. in 1960, the Colonel did everything he could to renew interest in the King. Though he continued to record during the 1960s, Elvis was almost a has-been in rock music, appealing to an older audience when hip teenagers were into the Beatles and psychedelia. Nonetheless his loyal fan base grew to incredible proportions. Each of his 21 movies made between 1961 and 1968 (such as Blue Hawaii and King Creole) packed theaters, and all of his albums sold extremely well. Though he never performed again until 1968, Elvis was so popular that he had to be permanently surrounded by an entourage known as the "Memphis Mafia," who kept him isolated from the real world. Elvis began overeating, typically his famous peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and soon lost his boyish figure. In 1967, the 32-year-old Elvis married his 21-year-old longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Beaulieu; they later had a daughter, Lisa-Marie.In 1968 the Colonel engineered a big Elvis comeback, beginning with a famed TV special in which the King appeared in a black leather suit and sang many of his old hits. Elvis became a regular at Las Vegas hotels, where the faithful would come to see the King in person. Elvis slowly went to seed, sleeping days, working nights, eating too much, abusing prescription drugs. He became increasingly unstable and paranoid. In 1973 Priscilla divorced him, and Elvis began to fall apart. On August 16, 1977, Elvis was found dead in a bathroom at Graceland. Elvis had died of an overdose of cocaine and barbituates, though it was officially claimed he suffered from an "irregular heartbeat." During his lifetime he sold over 300 million albums and made 33 movies. And of course there are those he claim he is still alive...
Posted in: Biography | Elvis Presley | 0 Comments
The Catalyzer For The Peppers
Posten on: 2006-06-09 17:49:27
Guitarist John Frusciante has experienced both colossal highs and death-defying lows in both his musical career and personal life. Born in 1970 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.The Red Hot Chili Peppers became an automatic fav when the young guitarist 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). Interestingly, Frusciante had just been hired by another L.A. band, Thelonious Monster, prior to joining the Peppers.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.
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