funk metal Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Taste the Pain”

sfilzen — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 16:37:34 +0000

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Taste the Pain” 1989. Late 80’s funk metal, “Taste the Pain” was the third and final single from RHCP’s ’89 LP Mother’s Millk. It didn’t chart in the US but made it to #29 in the UK. Fishbone’s Philip “Fish” Fisher performs drums on the track (though Chad Smith appears in the video) and it was the first song guitarist John Frusciante recorded with the Peppers. Flea plays trumpet! (and bass, of course). The Peppers are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me: some of my friends like to give a lot of shit about the band (“everything sucked after The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” “total punk sellouts, man” etc etc) but, with some exceptions (oh god the funk ballads, please no), they always get my ass shaking. Mother’s Milk in particular holds loads of fuzzy, funky warm feelings as I listened to it on repeat while in Madison for college (I’m pretty sure I found the used CD – which I still have – in early ’90 at a Madison records store for cheap). “Taste the Pain” was always a highlight of the album: a slinky, sexy hip wiggler with a dark edge. The b-side has two non-album singles: “Show Me Your Soul,” a smoother, rap-funk track (released as a single in 1990 when it was featured on the soundtrack for the film Pretty Woman) and “Millionaires Against Hunger” (recorded during sessions for 1985’s Freaky Styley) which is heavy funk and reminiscent of the late 70’s NYC rap sound.

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Bad Brains “I Against I”

sfilzen — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 22:51:00 +0000

Bad Brains “I Against I” 1986. SST Records. Released just about 36 years ago (Nov. 21st, ’86), the third record from the pioneering hardcore 80’s punks is one of my favorite punk records of all-time and definitely one of my most listened to of 1987. This past week we caught Bad Brains’ singer H.R. perform at Shank Hall in Milwaukee and while he didn’t play any Bad Brains songs – it was all super-chill reggae – it was amazing to finally see the legend in-person. He looks great and sounded even better.

H.R. at Shank Hall

I Against I was Bad Brains most successful LP and is included in many underground/alternative “best-of” lists, including Alternative Press and Blender. I know this record backwards and forwards and back again so picking out top tracks is next to impossible. From the shredding, thunderous “Intro” to the funky “Secret 77” to the closer “Return to Heaven” that has H.R. growling, rapping and yelping, it’s just incredible. I guess if I have to choose, tops would include the burning title track “I Against I” (its video directed by American Hardcore‘s Paul Rachman), the slinky-punked and funked “Re-Ignition” and “She’s Calling You,” the hardcore-meets-metal-guitar “Let Me Help,” and “Sacred Love” which H.R. recorded over the phone from prison where he was serving time for selling pot. I’ve just listed pretty close to every track. It’s that good.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers “Fight Like a Brave”

sfilzen — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 18:19:34 +0000

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Fight Like a Brave” 1987. Today, April 13th, would have been original RHCP guitarist Hillel Slovak’s 60th birthday (b. 1962, d. 1988). “Fight Like a Brave” was the only single from RHCP’s 1987 LP The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and is about Anthony Kiedis’ heroin addiction and struggles to get clean. Like most Red Hot tracks, it is funky as hell with a ton of killer metal guitar swagger and riffs. The track wasn’t a hit but the album did squeak onto the charts, making it to #148. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan was Slovak’s last record; he died shortly after the album tour after trying and failing to kick his own addiction heroin. According to wiki, Slovak said about the LP, “This is the most beautiful thing we’ve ever done…I’m so extremely proud of everybody’s work—it is at times genius.”

Our copy of “Fight Like a Brave” is the 12″ single promo version so it has the same track on both sides. The commercial 12″ has a few remixes including “Not Our Mix,” “Boner Beats Mix” and “Mofo Mix” as well as a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire.” Here’s a pretty hilarious video of them sort-of lip-synching “Fight Like a Brave” on Belgian TV: they don’t even bother to pretend to play, they just cause chaos and trash the stage.

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Bad Brains “Quickness”

sfilzen — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 18:35:14 +0000

Bad Brains “Quickness” 1989/2022. Bad Brains Records. Originally released on Caroline Records, Quickness was the iconic punk/reggae/alternative funk metal band’s fourth studio LP. Re-released on their own label, the thrash-metal heavy album has been remastered and came out just days ago. Since their third album I Against I (1986) is one of my most-listened to records of the 80’s, I’m absolutely loving Quickness (we didn’t have it until just now). What is particular notable about the reissue is that it does not include the controversial track “Don’t Blow Bubbles,” a song that was homophobic and suggested that AIDS was a punishment sent by god. The band admitted to it years later. From Wiki, “When asked about the song, guitarist Dr. Know said that ‘We wrote that song as kind of an angry warning to homosexuals. We didn’t really mean to insult them, but a lot of people we knew seemed to be living with their eyes closed.’ In a 2007 interview where bassist Darryl Jenifer called their previous views ‘ignorant,’ he was asked about the song and the furor over the lyrics and replied ‘They don’t understand that we’ve grown. Just like anyone, I’m not ashamed to say, ‘Maybe I could have been…’ Damn right, I was a homophobe! I shouldn’t have to explain that to the world because everyone will do that. That’s wisdom. You have to grow to be wise.” “Don’t Blow Bubbles” is replaced on Quickness with “Instrumental” which seems to be the same track minus the lyrics. Favorite song: “Voyage of Infinity” – its main melodic guitar line is the exact same as “Intro” from I Against I which had me at first confused and then delighted that the thrilling and thundering riff is expanded to full realization. I also love the opener “Soul Craft,” the quick-change of brutality and impossible to mellow on “The Messengers” and the reggae groove of “The Prophet’s Eye.”

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan”

sfilzen — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 18:27:58 +0000

The Red Hot Chili Peppers “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” released on this date, September 29th, 1987. RHCP’s third album went to #148 on the US chart and is the only record upon which all four original band members play on all the record’s tracks (and the last: guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose nine months later). It’s funky, of course, with a lot of metal guitar and swagger. They released “Fight Like a Brave” as a single (also on Sept. 29th ‘87; it did not chart) and then a few years later, in ‘92, released the mellow rocking, sitar-tinged (played by Slovak) “Behind the Sun” to help promote the What Hits!? comp; that single went to #7 on the US Modern Rock chart. My favorite track on The Uplift Mofo Party Plan is “Skinny Sweaty Man” – I’m pretty sure someone put this on a mixtape for me at some point back in the late 80′s (I didn’t have this LP in our collection until recently) – because it’s funny as hell. The singles are good, and I also like “Me and My Friends” and “Walkin’ On Down the Road” is OK, too. I’m not a fan of their cover of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” – it’s pretty much unrecognizable from the original (that’s one of the few Dylan songs I actually like) nor do I care for “Party on Your Pussy” (for obvious reasons that track is listed on the album cover as “Special Secret Song Inside”).

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Jane’s Addiction “Ritual de lo Habitual”

sfilzen — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 18:20:35 +0000

Jane’s Addiction “Ritual de lo Habitual” released 30 years ago today, August 21st. 1990. Definitely my most listened-to release during the fall of ‘90, played at 11 at all times at every college party that semester. The album hit #19 in the US despite the controversial cover art (a “clean” cover exists as well: white with the text to the First Amendment on the front and this still relevant text on the back “Hitler’s syphilis-ridden dreams almost came true. How could it happen? By taking control of the media. An entire country was led by a lunatic… We must protect our First Amendment, before sick dreams become law. Nobody made fun of Hitler??!”). This whole album is so damn good! The singles, of course: “Stop!” which opens the LP (#1 US Modern Rock Tracks chart), the epic-length drug-hazed “Three Days” (Dave Navarro’s guitar solo ranked in the 100 best guitar solos ever by Guitar World), the insanely addictive ass-shaking “Been Caught Stealing” (#1 US Modern Rock Tracks and its hilarious video won Best Alternative Video at the ‘91 MTV VMA’s) and the surprisingly lovely “Classic Girl” (#15 US Modern Rock Tracks). But I also love the funked-up “No One’s Leaving” and “Obvious” as well as the liltingly funhouse-weird string-heavy “Of Course.”

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers “Get Up and Jump”

sfilzen — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 22:33:56 +0000

The Red Hot Chili Peppers “Get Up and Jump” 1984. 12″ single (dance mix, produced by post punk/funk Gang of Four’s Andy Gill and remixed by Rob Stevens, who also has worked with Yoko Ono, Herbie Hancock and others) b/w “Baby Appeal (Club Mix).” “Get Up and Jump” was RHCP’s first (and only) single from their debut self-titled album (that album credited as being the first funk metal record and, for better or worse, “the little spark that ignited the rap rock revolution) and it was also the second song the band ever wrote, back when they were going by the name Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. It’s extra-super funky with simple rap/sing lyrics (consisting mostly of the lines “Get up and jump, jump on down, jump around” etc.) with a fairly out-front bright horn section. The B-side “Baby Appeal” is a slower groove, heavy on the funky bass (Flea!) with a metal (almost tinny) guitar sound backing Anthony Kiedis’ whiteboy rap.

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers “The Red Hot Chili Peppers”

sfilzen — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:54:28 +0000

The Red Hot Chili Peppers “The Red Hot Chili Peppers” released on this date, August 10th, 1984. Funky punky with rap poetry, a bit of jazz for good measure (“Mommy Where’s Daddy” – with saxophone – and while this clip doesn’t include sax in the live performance, we do get the infamous socks on cocks instead) and psychedelic 70′s ascetic meets 80′s dance production. According to interview quotes, the band preferred the demo versions of most of the album’s tracks to Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, whose production of the Chili Peppers LP made it sound as if it had “gone through a sterilizing Goody Two-shoes machine.“) Still the groove is tight, ass-shakingly so (my favorites “Out in L.A.” ), and Flea’s bass is highlighted to perfection throughout the entire album.

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