Stadium Arcadium

David Mitzman | May 11, 2006
So anyone listen to the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album yet? I got my hands on it and took a listen at work yesterday. I love it. Way better than their last studio album "By The Way". This is much better.

Scott Hardie | May 16, 2006
I found it so-so on first listen, but I look forward to hearing it lots more. All of their albums have grown on me the more I listened to them.

It wasn't until I read reviews for Arcadium that I realized how widely disliked By the Way was, and I wonder why. To me it's easily the best work they've done. The old punk-funk sound is mildly entertaining from a bunch of kids, while By the Way was beauty and sophistication from mature musicians. I'd rather have the latter just about any time.

Jackie Mason | May 23, 2006
[hidden by request]

David Mitzman | May 24, 2006
Well By The Way had a few good songs, namely "By The Way", "Can't Stop", and "Zephyr Song". The rest were so-so and didn't ring true to the style that is RHCP. This new album has a very good mix of punk-funk and some lighter stuff but doesn't deviate much from what they do best.
I think the reason that By The Way was so light is because John Fruisciante was the major contributor to it (lead guitarist). I read about this a while back and he definitely has a softer side the other guys don't have.

Scott Hardie | June 9, 2006
Frusciante strikes me as your typical egomaniacal control-freak jerk of a rock star in interviews, but I gotta say, he's a good influence on the other fellas musically. Under his guidance, they're not as interested in goofiness or shock as they are in actual musicianship.

Anyway, Arcadium sounded worlds better when I played it in the background with some friends over (some of whom read this and might remember it), than when I was listening to it intently with headphones on. It's low-key party music.

Scott Hardie | June 9, 2006
Can I interrupt this discussion for a minute to complain about deletionists on Wikipedia? I went to that site to look up the spelling of Frusciante and discovered what was once a long, informative, comprehensive, and thoroughly enjoyable article about the band had been hacked into tiny slivers of its former self. Hillel Slovak's death was reduced to a sentence. What the fuck, people? There's a movement of editors who like to delete what they consider trivial content, trimming articles down to their essence, but what they don't get is that we know the cold facts already and we want the context, we want the fuller understanding when we look something up. Deletionism is a destructive, annoying trend that needs to stop. </rant>

Scott Hardie | August 3, 2006
I've discovered the joys of Stadium Arcadium at last. It took a half-dozen real listens to get into the vibe of the album, but once I did, nearly every track was beautiful. I know of a number of fans of their old stuff who don't like it at all (Aaron Shurtleff for one), but I much prefer their 2000s material... and Arcadium, when you realize its full brilliance, makes the last two albums, once revelations coming from these guys, seem so minor in contrast. I do kind of admire rockers like AC/DC who refuse ever to change, but there's nothing like a band that keeps raising the bar for themselves. The Peppers refuse to be satisfied and they keep reaching levels of excellence I didn't know they were capable of.

Aaron Shurtleff | August 3, 2006
Man! Make one comment in a blog... ;)

I will take a step back (as is my perogative!). I don't dislike Stadium Arcadium. I am not excited about it either, and maybe if I hear it a half-dozen times, my opinion will change. (And, if I'm not mistaken, that was the cd you were playing that day, correct?) I think my problem is that I came into contact with RHCP from a guy who was a HUGE fan of the older stuff, and that's about all I heard. To me, the vibe is different now, you know? It's more that I haven't moved along in the same way that the band did, so their new music seems off-kilter to me. I suppose what I need is to take the album for what it is, and not bring in my baggage and opinions of the older material, but I can't achieve that level of detachment. I have the same problem with Smashing Pumpkins!

Scott Hardie | August 3, 2006
Correct, that's the CD I was playing in the background that night. With the exception of Dave Mitzman, I noticed a trend: The people who like the album didn't like it until they had listened numerous times through and discovered it, while the people who don't like it have only heard it once or twice. A half-dozen anecdotal accounts from my acquaintances does not a scientific theory make, but I couldn't help but notice.

I understand about the Pumpkins; they changed a lot. I came to prefer their older stuff, especially Adore, but it didn't happen quickly. Corgan's solo album is pretty good if you're on his wavelength.

Metallica is another frequent victim of the syndrome you describe, but they've said that their upcoming album, produced by Rick Rubin (praise the rock gods for that one), is a return to mid-eighties song structure with plenty of long riffs. I look forward to seeing the irony of the same former fans who rejected them for "selling out" by going commercial now reject them for "selling out" to exactly those former fans by going back to their roots.

Aaron Shurtleff | August 4, 2006
Metallica is, to me, an ENTIRELY different affair! I remember seeing Metallica interviews, where they said "We'll never sell out! We're not going to be like all those other a$$holes! " There's a big difference between changing and evolving with time, and proving yourself to be a bunch of big fat liars!! That's a minor difference to me, but I don't appreciate bands that sell out after saying they won't sell out.

Plus, St. Anger is a total piece of poop. Totally. No redeeming qualities to this album. Yuck! Gross!!

Scott Hardie | August 7, 2006
I hear you. It didn't bug me that Metallica made commercial music or filmed music videos, because a) that's the natural arc for a good band and b) that's not mutually exclusive with artistic integrity. On the other hand, they lost a lot of my respect when, after years of complaining about misogynistic objectification of women in rock music and saying they'd never stoop to that level, they put out the Whiskey in the Jar video with sorority girls in skimpy underwear, making out and having pillow fights. What the fuck–? If Metallica was trying to make an ironic point, it was lost on me.

I'm one of the few who enjoyed Anger. To me, S&M is their absolutely irredeemable, unlistenable album. I have made many attempts and never stomached more than twenty minutes of it no matter what point I started from.

Aaron Shurtleff | August 7, 2006
Aw! I haven't seen that video! That might change my mind! :P

Like I said, if they didn't say they weren't going to go commercial, I wouldn't have cared that much if they did. It nearly killed me when I went to a concert and they did Motorbreath acoustic. MOTORBREATH IS NOT MADE TO BE DONE ACOUSTICALLY!!!! EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

S&M is the one with the orchestra, right? Yeah, that one was no good either! :(