As the child of middle class boomer parents, most of my memories of music as a kid are solely restricted to classic rock radio stations, so I never really got exposed to anything released after about 1985 until I was a teenager. I could certainly complain about this stunting the development of my musical taste, but I can at least be happy that I was never burned out on any good, modern rock tracks that got too much exposure on the radio. As such, "Scar Tissue", easily the best song on the album, really blew me away the first time I heard it. The warm, mellow guitar lines and Kiedis' subdued singing create a wonderful, mature, introspective atmosphere (something I would never have guessed it was possible for RHCP). The lyrics, about loneliness and addiction, are almost touching for someone who's dealt with both. The following track, "Otherside", continues the lyrical focus on drug use but with much more energetic instrumentation (the guitar solo at the end is quickly becoming one of my favorite "minimalist" solos). This introspection, of course, couldn't last forever, because we're talking about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and thus they felt it necessary to add some really corny rap-funk-metal songs like the opener. This is definitely not an album that you should listen to through and through every time, but at least the highlights really are highlights.
By: Dzhakh