Friday, April 5, 2019

#88 - Californication: Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)


Not my favorite band, but they do have some cool covers (we've also got 'em at #100).

This one was designed by former Warner Records art director Lawrence Azerrad, and was based on a dream by guitarist John Frusciante where the “the water was in the sky and the sky was in the water.” Complete story right here

Azerrad now heads LADdesign where he creates “comprehensive visual identity systems for clients such as Sting, The Silversun Pickups, Esperanza Spalding, and Wilco.” 


He won a Grammy this year for the packaging of a 40-year anniversary re-issue of the Voyager Golden Record. Remember that? It was an LP made of gold that was sent with the Voyager space ship and contains representative Earth sounds (wind, waves, bird song) and a wide-ranging sampling of music, from Bach to Chuck Berry.


He’s got almost 100 credits on discogs. He’s done some cool stuff for Wilco and some other bands:




As for that Peppers album? Sounds like it was quite a departure from previous efforts, with a “softer, melodic side” and deeper lyrics too (and much more to my preference than their earlier stuff). A lot of that was credited to Frusciante, who was returning to the band after almost killing himself with a heroin and cocaine addiction. Full details right here.   


Hits include the title track, “Otherside,” and Grammy winner “Scar Tissue.” BTW, the video for the title track, based on video games, is one of my favorites if all time (the one for the “Otherside” is pretty cool too).

The band have plenty of other cool album covers. Honestly, I probably should have included a couple more. Here are a couple of my faves:




And here are the boys themselves (Mr. Frusciante, Mr. Flea, Mr Kiedis, Mr. Smith):


And, yes, they actually have 3 Grammys to their credit



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