Featured
10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been around since ’83, back when I was a kid that didn’t know they existed. I was on a steady diet of New York Top 40 radio at the time. It would be six years before I bought Mother’s Milk based on their cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.” Singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist John Frusciante had a musical rapport that, while tapping Parliament Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone, and Jimmy Hendrix, forged a sound that became positively Chili Peppers.
There’s much to be said of the early records and lineups, and you’d gain hardcore points for adding tracks like “True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes” and “Get Up and Jump” to your best of list, but this isn’t your list, is it? And while I totally dig their latest record and the work of current guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, none of those songs wound up in the top ten (though “Look Around” came close). Perhaps their next record, recorded outside the Rick Rubin comfort zone, with Danger Mouse producing, will change that. As of this writing, here are the Top 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs.
10. Breaking the Girl / Blood Sugar Sex Magik, 1991
“I am a man cut from the know.”
9. Venice Queen / By the Way, 2002
“Where you come from? Where you going?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPTBq18shxo
8. Get On Top / Californication, 1999
“You’re ill but I’m iller.”
7. Turn It Again / Stadium Arcadium, 2006
“Whatever light we bend.”
6. Minor Thing / By the Way, 2002
“Redefine the line to make your circle sing.”
5. Taste the Pain / Mother’s Milk, 1989
“Lovesick from you”
4. Dosed / By the Way, 2002
“You cut a perfect form.”
3. Give It Away / Blood Sugar Sex Magik, 1991
“Reeling with the feeling don’t stop continue.”
2. Scar Tissue / Californication, 1999
“With the birds I’ll share this lonely view.”
1. Suck My Kiss / Blood Sugar Sex Magik, 1991
“Most motherfuckers don’t give a damn.”
Almost every year for the past 6 years and on the same day, I’ve posted the same pic of me in the hospital during my temporary and untimely demise in 2015. A few weeks after I was back to “normal”, I asked Eric “Why’d you take the pics?” And he said, “I knew you would want to write about it if you lived.” Eric was right. Eric was often right and Eric always had my best interest at heart. I am going to miss my friend.
You ever meet someone and become friends immediately?! Well this was not the case with Eric. Before he was my manager at Morgan Stanley, I would often see this 6’4″, giant white guy walk up to the only black woman at work, say something then walk away without any hint of human emotion. Naturally I thought he was a jerk until I asked her “Yo, is that dude bothering you?” She laughed and proceeded to tell me he was a great person, which I ultimately got to experience first hand. Little did I know this Italian from Staten Island was more Brooklyn than most Brooklynites.
Eric was not with the shits!! If there were ever someone who lived their life in direct, honest and no uncertain terms, that would be Eric. He would ask me questions at work like “Why are the other consultants making more money than you?” I knew the answer to that question and so did he. Eric then proceeded to increase my salary by 15K. After arguing with all our managers that “You need to hire Alfred!”, they eventually did 1 year prior to the 2015 incident. In the hospital, one of my friends asked me, “What if you didn’t have health insurance when this happened?” I would be in debt for the rest of my life is the obvious answer. I still am in debt for the rest of my life but at least, it is to those who made sure I had a more enjoyable life and for that, I will gladly repay.
My mom loved to tell me the story of how she met Eric. After they told her I was going to be in the ICU for some time, she told the doctor “Well I’m not going anywhere.” She then hears a voice from that back of the room that says “Well I’m not going anywhere either!” That was Eric and in true form, he was at that hospital every single day until I was discharged.
Eric passed away in December 2021 of stage 4 cancer. After feeling faint on his way to my bbq, he went to get checked out and was diagnosed. During the past 5 years, Eric lost his mom, twin brother and dad. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like but I’m glad that pain he was feeling is no more.
From being my manager to my business partner, writer, book editor, artistic director, and most importantly, my friend, I am going to miss you MC Krispy E a.k.a “Enrique Pollazo!” And although you told me Enrique means Henry in Spanish and not Eric, it was too late!
Sidebar. The day I was discharged, while everyone was deciding what was best for me, no one had remembered that I would need clothes in order to leave the hospital. Eric shows up (unasked) with all the clothes I had on the day I coded, laundered and ready to go. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve friends like this but i need to keep doing it! Sidebar complete.
Rest in Peace Eric. “Be Good.”
I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on writing your first book, presented by the Harlem chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Alongside Jim St. Germain, Author – A Stone of Hope: A Memoir and Dr. Keneshia Nicole Grant, Author – The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century. We opined on pain points, benefits and strategies regarding our inaugural voyages into authorship. Feel free to watch for your self and I hope this provides some insight to all those looking to make the same voyage. Enjoy!
