Anthony Kiedis was a vocal
American rock band lead singer born on 1st November, 1962. His early
years were spent in Grand Rapids, Michigan before he moved to California
(Hollywood) where he started pursuing his musical career. His early life as a
youth out of high school was just like any other youngsters’ except that he
dropped out of ULCDA because of substance abuse. This marked his debut at Red
Hot Chili Peppers because he was invited to take assist as an opening act for
the band.
Anthony was a prominent band member
in the Red Hot Chili Pepper band because most of the band’s lyrics were written
by him. Other band members including John Frusciante and Flea have in the past
been writing the lyrics for the band, starting with the Mother Milk’s album which debuted in 1989 but never supplied the
melodies because Anthony did so. Anthony’s early role in Red Hot Chilli
Pepper’s included rapping but on the band’s first album, he was able to keep a
melodic rhythm in the band’s performance, a deviation from the contemporary
beat of funk.
During his early years in the
band, Anthony wrote a lot of songs that reflected on his life. Most of the
themes to his songs were sex, drugs and his life and times in Los Angeles.
However, the themes to his songs changed with the progression of his career
because he matured and started writing on a broad spectrum of subjects. Anthony’s
life was predominantly characterized by cocaine and heroine abuse which led to
his firing from the band in 1986 before he was admitted back. However, he only
lasted for 56 days before abusing the drugs again. Most of his experiences were
reflected in his lyrics. Drug abuse and other aspects of his life are
predominantly reflected in his band’s lyrics. This study focuses on co relation
of the poetic lyrics in his band and the events that characterizes his life
with an emphasis on the relation between poetic themes and factual themes.
Relationships
Most of Anthony’s lyrics gave an insight into his
relationships with the women in his life. Anthony had a long-term relationship
with his ex girlfriend and former model, Heather Christie whom they had a child,
Everly Bear. The naming of the child (Everely Bear) comes from the inspiration
of Anthony’s long time favorite band, The Everely Brothers. His girlfriend Heather came up with the name
Bear to symbolize Anthony’s part of the Bear clan. He goes on record to
identify himself as part of the bear clan and naming their child, Everely bear
made sense to him because he always wanted a part of his bear clan to be
reflected in the child. Moreover, his inspiration from the Everly Brother’s
band was also reflected in the child’s name because it symbolized his
inspiration to write his lyrics. He however split with his girlfriend, Heather
in 2008.
Apart from Heather, Anthony had a
number of short-term relationships with other women. According to his bio, Scar
tissue, Anthony is documented to have dated a number of women including Ione
Skye, Sofia Copolla, Jessica Stam, plus other women but most notably, he was
rumored to have dated Madonna and a member of Spice girl, Melanies Crisholm who
inspired the lyrics Melit Remmus. Other
women who inspired his lyrics included Nina Heagen, Heidi Klum, and Yohanna
Logan but the lyrics to the song, I could
have lied is attributed to his relationship with the singer Sinead O’
Connor. However, the singer goes on record to deny the relationship and even
went further to say that she didn’t care about the song either.
In the song, “Wet sand”, Anthony
elaborates on the feelings he felt win some of hi9s relationships. More so, he
speaks of the loss of some of his close friends and lovers. In the line “My
Shadow’s side so amplified” he talks of the loneliness he gets when he sleeps
alone. In essence, after the break up with his ex girlfriends, he speaks of the
effects of the break ups. The song also reflect on the memories he had in the
past relationships when he speaks of “the best person he ever knew” as part of
the song’s lyrics. He also speaks of the true feelings he felt in some of his
relationships and regrets the fact that he abused the relationships when they
came alive. He makes reference to Benzedrine in his lyrics as one of the
substances that the effects were abused while refereeing to his lost
relationships.
Still in the song Wet sands he regrets making the wrong
turn in his relationships by reflecting back on his behavior in the line "My what a good day for a, walk outside
I'd like to get to know you a little better baby God knows that I'll really try" (Anonymous, 2007). He goes further to say "I saw you there so unaware Those hummingbirds all in your hair Elementary, son, but it's (soul) The disrepair of Norma Jean Could not compare to your routine" (Anonymous, 2007) denoting that he was previously attracted to the woman in his life because of the level of purity she had but he took it away essentially making reference to Norma Jean as Marilyn Monroe that her tumbling from the grave is incomparable to the dynamics of the entire song and the character depicted in the narration.
I'd like to get to know you a little better baby God knows that I'll really try" (Anonymous, 2007). He goes further to say "I saw you there so unaware Those hummingbirds all in your hair Elementary, son, but it's (soul) The disrepair of Norma Jean Could not compare to your routine" (Anonymous, 2007) denoting that he was previously attracted to the woman in his life because of the level of purity she had but he took it away essentially making reference to Norma Jean as Marilyn Monroe that her tumbling from the grave is incomparable to the dynamics of the entire song and the character depicted in the narration.
The Break up with Sinead O'conner
The song I could have lied is a representation of
the Anthony’s state of mind after his break up with Sinead. He released the
song soon after Sinead moved out of Los Angeles and requested him not to follow
her or contact her. He narrates through his lyrics how the stares she wore cut
through him, symbolizing the moment they were breaking up. He goes on to
confess his love for her but notes that he got blown off even after professing
his love, denoting the events that followed after his break up with Sinead. She
never wanted anything to do with him.
The song
practically narrates the events that characterized his relationship with Sinead
because even in his biography, Scar tissue, he narrates how Sinead used to miss
her but all of a sudden he got a call from her saying that she was leaving
town. This came as a shocker to Anthony and he best describes his emotions in
the song. The song is emotional and sad, depicting the motions that go on
during a break up. It best conceptualizes the divergent state of thoughts both
of them had towards the relationship.
Drug
Addiction
Anthony’s life as a drug addict is reflected in the
song Under the Bridge. This song was
released in 1992 from the album Blood
Sugar Sex Magik. Anthony basically wrote the song as an expression of the
influence of heroine and cocaine in his life. Anthony goes on record to say
that he thought the song was largely emotional and couldn’t fit well to the
contemporary style of music that the band played. However, upon the
intervention of Rick Rubbin (the bands producer), Anthony developed the courage
to share the song with his fellow band mates. The song was largely emotional
and reflected a lot on the singer’s life because his life was filled with much
distraught and emotional drain when he wrote the song.
During this period, Anthony had been
sober for a record three years and believed that this was the cause of his deteriorating
relationship with fellow band members. When the band was composing the lyrics
to the album, Black Sugar Sex and Magik,
band members Frusciante and Flea openly smoked marijuana, disregarding Anthony
and so he often felt left out. It is documented that during one of Anthony’s
drives back home after a rehearsal in the eve of April 1991, he felt a profound
feeling of loss because he believed Frusciante and Flea who were his best
friends resented him because of his sobriety (Jeff, 2004).
This was a moment of depression for
Anthony and it triggered memories of his heroine and cocaine abuse when he was
with his long time girl friend Ione Skye. The compounding feelings of
dejection, loneliness and memories of his ex girlfriend drove him, further into
emotional distress. As a result, the feeling of alienation from his band mates
drove Anthony to believe that the city of Los Angeles and California hills were
his only companion. As a result, he felt an unspoken bond between the city and
him. This inspired some lines to the song Under
the Bridge where he speaks of the city as his only friend and that “they
cry together”. This symbolized Anthony’s vulnerability and the susceptibility
he was undergoing at the time.
Nonetheless Anthony still believed
that he led a better life free from drugs despite the overwhelming feeling of
loneliness he felt. He is quoted in Rolling
stone saying that the life he led free from drugs was a million times
better than the life he led as a drug abuser. This feeling later inspired the
chorus to the song because he says that he should be taken back to his family,
friends and band mates because he doesn’t want to go through his past
experiences again.
The song under the bridge still narrates the harsh effects the drugs had on
Anthony’s life and the role it had in destroying his past relationships with
his previous friends plus his deprivation of happiness in the same regard. The
verse under the bridge narrates how Anthony joined a gang of drug barons who
peddled drugs under a bridge. He even recalls how he had to pretend that he was
a fiancé to one of the Gang member’s sister so he could be allowed to join the
gang (Anthony & Larry, 2004). This granted
Anthony membership into the gang but he recalls that this was one of his lowest
moments in his life as a singer because he pitied himself because of the levels
he was willing to go to fuel his addiction. He also recalls losing his ex
girlfriend Ione Skye through his addiction because she was willing to love him
but instead of embracing her love, he spent most of the time with the gang. The
singer however fails to acknowledge the name of the bridge though he only
discloses the location to be part of Los Angeles’ downtown area.
In the lyrics to the song Yertle the Turtle, Anthony makes
reference to a cocaine dealer he was unable to pay. He instead chose to speak
of him in the song when he made reference to him in “Look at that Turtle Go
Bro” in one of the lines to the song (Lyrics Freak, 2010). Drug abuse was
however not unique to Anthony only be cause it was rampant among the lives of
the band members. Fellow guitarist Hillel Slovak lost his life from a drug
overdose in 1988 showing the extent of drug abuse among the band members.
Anthony considered his death surreal and didn’t even attend the funeral because
Slovak was one of his partners in drug abuse. Kack Irons, another member of the
band also quit, saying that he wasn’t going to play in a band whose members
were dying from drug abuse. Anthony fled the city in the same regard.
"Right on the
verge just one more dose I'm traveling from coast to coast My theory isn't
perfect but it's close I'm almost there why should I care" (Lyric
interpretations, 2007) is a line from the Wet Sands song denoting his drug
addiction. He was preoccupied with getting high at this time, putting more and
more pressure to himself from the line “one more dose”. Partially, this
pressure was brought about by the death of his band mate, Slovak because he
wanted to forget the pain he felt from it all.
Anthony’s biography,
the scar tissues gives a painful narration of his fight against drug abuse. Anthony
is quoted on pg 461 painfully coming to the realization that drugs are bad. He
manifests these sentiments in the lyrics to the song, otherside. The line "I
don't believe it's bad" (Knol, 2009) best conceptualizes this sentiment.
He however finds it difficult trying to balance out the harmful effects of drugs
and its potential “benefits” in the book because he painfully tries to diffuse
the strong antidrug sentiments depicted from the book. In the same context,
Anthony says "Destruction leads to a very rough road/ But it also breeds
creation" (Knol, 2009). In other words, he tries to imply that drugs had a
great role in the creation of his lyrics but at the same time had a big role to
play in his self destruction. He therefore tries to strike a middle ground to
the role drugs played in his life though he tries to condone substance abuse
but at the same time making the readers comprehend the effects drugs had on his
life (creativity). Conclusively, Anthony’s depiction of drugs cannot be
analyzed from one perspective because it is open to interpretation, though it
openly shows that his life as a singer was greatly complimented by drug use.
According to his biography he evaluates drugs as both “evil” and “cool” (Knol,
2009).
Slovak’s
Addiction and Death
The lyrics to the song otherside can be best comprehended from the bondage Slovak was
going through before his death. The protagonists to this point of view argue
that if Anthony or the band in general meant otherwise, they would have
separated the tow words “other” and “side”. In the song, Anthony sings the song
in place of his fellow band mate Slovak because the song is a narration of how
drugs bound their lives and drove Slovak to a state of despair. In fact, the
album which the song was produced from was meant to be a tribute to the fallen
band member.
Otherwords,
gives a narration of Slovak’s life and personal struggle with drugs and
ultimately his death. His drug addiction eventually became like a terminal
illness he couldn’t get out of. Anthony gives a painful narration of the
effects of drugs on the life of Slovak and explains the events that precede his
death in a painful way. He narrates how heroine can take control of someone’s
life and eventually tie someone down because one becomes helpless to it. His
poetic narration is a manifestation of the life of an addict because the song
makes the audience understand that before drugs eventually lead an addict to
drug overdose and suicide, the addict becomes a prisoner of sub lethal doses
and the question of overdose or suicide becomes a matter of time. Anthony gives
a narration of these events through the life of Slovak.
The song makes the audience
understand what went on in the mind of Slovak, portraying that drug addiction
had become a permanent fixture in his life, such that the only way he could get
out of the bondage was by committing suicide. Anthony further narrates through
the line “I can’t believe its sad” because he highlights Slovak’s contemplation
of suicide as a means to an end. Slovak had chose suicide as a way of taking
back control of his life because all other channels had failed (Anonymous, 2006a). Anthony best conceptualizes this
idea in index 3:59. The line “I’ll take it on the other side” is a
manifestation of how Slovak craved for the drug but he knew it was part of the
bondage he was living in and had to get out of (Anonymous,
2006a). However, he knew he was helpless to the drug and the only way he
could redeem himself was taking the drug in the after life. "Burn me out, leave me on the otherside"... is another line that explains the ordeal that
happened in the life of Slovak (Anonymous, 2006a). Anthony was trying to quote
Slovak’s mind because “burning out” meant overdosing on the drug and “leave me
on the other side” meant death after suicide. In other words, for Slovak to
satiate both his craving for the drug and put an end to the addiction, suicide
was the best option.
Slovak’s fight
with the drug is best analyzed in the line "I yell and tell it [drugs]
that it's not my friend; I tear it down, and then it's born again" (Anonymous,
2006a). This is a manifestation of the kind of struggles he went through before
he settled on suicide. Quite frankly, Slovak was experiencing replaces which he
had no idea of controlling. He therefore felt helpless and Anthony best brings
this concept out in the line "once you know, you can never go back"
(Anonymous, 2006a). This is Anthony’s way of making the audience understand the
effects drugs have. Once a person started using it, there was very little
chance of getting out of the addiction. The effect is virtually irreversible
(according to the song) and there was little one could do. It can therefore be
summarized in a nutshell that through the otherside,
Anthony was giving a narration of the real life events that preceded his band
mate’s death. The lyrics are not in any way cryptic because beyond any doubt, Anthony
was trying to make the general public understand what goes on the mind of an addict
and more specifically what was going on in the mind of Slovak before his death.
Career Choice
In the song can’t stop, Anthony makes reference to his early life before
debuting as a singer. He talks of his life before he came to California and
pursuing his career as a rock star. Previously, Anthony contemplated being an
actor while still staying with his dad but he instead chose to pursue a career
as a singer, in the same regard the line "choose not the life of
imitation" makes reference to the acting career he abandoned for singing.
However, Anthony recently took part in a number of television roles after his
career as a rock star climaxed.
As the song
progresses, Anthony talks of the independence he experiences as a rock star. He
further boasts of the privileges he gets as a rock star now because he is now
at liberty to buy anything he wishes, mingle with the best stars in the
business, do commercials and television shows, travel around the globe, live in
all the posh places and experience the party life. For these reasons he explains
that he doesn’t see the need to stop it if he worked so hard to get there. He
further goes on to explain that rock music is currently his life and he
wouldn’t be anything without it. It can therefore be conclusively said that Anthony
exemplified his career and in essence gave his audience an insight into celebrity
hood and the life of a rock star. He also expresses the appreciation he feels
for choosing the life of a rock star. This song therefore characterized his
professional career and celebrity hood in Hollywood.
Western Ideals
` For the correct
comprehension of Anthony’s poetic representation of the world as it is, it is
important to comprehend 5teh state of affairs at the time of writing the song.
The song Carlifornication is a good example of the representation of immorality
that goes on in the world today. However, Anthony expresses this in a
beautiful, poetic and metaphoric way such that the song best captures the level
of immorality that went on in his state California and indeed the world at large.
There is therefore a deep meaning in the song, symbolizing the level of
fornication that went on in the state. However, analysts have observed that
reference to the entire city may not be entirely true because Anthony meant the
lifestyle of Hollywood and celebrity hood. He didn’t make reference to the
entire city because there was no way the band could talk negatively of its own
state. Moreover, generally when reference is made to California, the first
thing that pops into the mind of the listeners would be the Hollywood culture.
The song
Californication can therefore be analyzed in Anthony’s words as a general
representation of the Hollywood’s lifestyle. In this context, Anthony makes
reference to the real culture of celebrities in Hollywood because they almost
assume a god-like status in the society giving them the liberty to do whatever
they want and whenever they want. Today,
we hear many stories of celebrities doing the dumbest things and even sex tapes
of celebrities being leaked out to media. Anthony tried to describe this
situation in Hollywood. Celebrities however do this like a means of throwing
their whole lives away.
Nonetheless, the
reason why Carlifonication be came such a big hit wasn’t because of the obvious
culture of celebrity hood in Hollywood but the similarity it drew to common
citizens. In essence it draws the comparison from celebrities to common people,
representing the fact that people could not do the same thongs as celebrities
did and neither could they sacrifice their entire lives for the mere fact of
having fun. Anthony was especially speaking to the young generation who were
easily attracted to such kind of lifestyles.
In one of the
lines to the song, "Psychic spies from China Try to steal your minds
elation", Anthony makes reference to the influence Television programs
have on little kids today. The situation from the time the song as written and
today is no different. Children actually watch TV so that they can have
something to talk with their friends especially if the program or the movies being
aired is a popular one. For instance, if a Chinese girl watched a program of
Chinese spies staling American secret service information from a US data base,
the girl doesn’t build her psychological understanding and neither is she being
educated on anything. Essentially, she watches the movie or program so that she
could have something to talk about or so that she could also contribute to the
following day’s discussion at school about the movie or program. Anthony
therefore tries represent what is going on in today’s society that many of the
young population are being brainwashed by the media and the thoughts of others
are slowly infiltrating into their brains, inhibiting their own creative
development. By the thoughts of other people, Anthony means the thoughts of
movie producers, writers, directors, editors and the likes; all those are
involved in the creation of this media. The line "Little girls from Sweden
Dream of silver screen quotations" also narrates the same situation.
Dream of silver screen quotations" also narrates the same situation.
Anthony best
brings out the ideals of Western civilization and dominance by making reference
to the state of California. Concisely, there is no place on earth that best conceptualizes
Western ideals than California. Living in a posh house and driving a flashy car
are just some of the ideals that best characterizes the Hollywood lifestyle. To
some extent, this is a culture that seeks attention. It craves attention in the
sense that celebrities are seeking recognition through the ownership of the
unnecessary accessories either to please their friends or for self
actualization. Indeed, celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are
just part of a whole mockery of the celebrity hood lifestyle because they crave
for attention through their stupid acts. Anthony represents this lifestyle in
Californication.
Anthony also
makes reference to the denial state of celebrities as they age because
celebrities in holly2wood are fond of going for plastic surgeries to hide their
aging features. Regrettably, this trend has picked even among the general
population where common housewives would spent their entire lifesavings on
plastic surgeries so that they could look younger. The line "Pay your
surgeon very well To break the spell of aging" shows the tendency of most rich
celebrities paying their surgeons
hefty amounts of money for artificial implantation on their bodies like nose and breast surgeries so
that they would look “better”. This behavior is poetically manifested in the
song also to represent the trail of thoughts for the ageing woman. Many women
nowadays mask their humanity in the sense that they don’t embrace their ages.
The trail of thought is that these women often feel unattractive as they age
and their willingness to undergo plastic surgery comes out of the fear that
their husbands may cheat on them, opting for younger attractive women and the
fact that their children would be embarrassed to be seen with them in public.
Anthony
represents California as a creation of fake features that is generally hyped up
in the world today. Moreover, in the video to the song, beautiful scenes are
placed to represent the overrated sense of California lifestyle but towards the
end off the song, the scenes are mitigated to represent the real life situations
and the band is also seen fleeing from the scene, probably as a representation
of running away from the overrated lifestyle.
The influence
celebrities have on the general society is therefore enormous and Anthony
metaphorically represents this fact. He adds that civilization starts in the
East and ends in the West, symbolizing the real origin of Western ideologies
from the ancient Greek. The West is represented by Hollywood, California. He
further goes on to say that the West is where civilization will finally end,
denoting that the celebrity lifestyle most people are attracted to will be the
end to humanity because of the overrated lifestyles that destroy most people.
Most people
create a glass wall, living in a “plastic” world characterized by glamour and
fame, oblivious of the fact that the glamour and fame can potentially mark the
end of one’s life. Anthony doesn’t directly make reference to the state of California
per se but tries to analyze the state of mind of most Americans. Predictably,
Americans are largely preoccupied by the lives of celebrities, sex and the
party life.
Conclusion
Anthony’s lyrics were
predominantly inspired by the happenings in his life. His career as a singer
and a rock star was predominantly characterized by drug abuse which was the
predominant theme in his lyrics. However, other events which he strongly
represented in his lyrics were the death of his band member, his relationships,
and the celebrity lifestyle in Hollywood. He represented this themes poetically
but largely through his life experiences. The analysis of Anthony’s lyrics can
therefore be largely determined as factual and a representation of the society
and his life.
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