Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers at the age of 18 after the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, and first appeared on their album Mother's Milk (1989). His second album with the band, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), was their breakthrough success. Overwhelmed by the band's newfound popularity, he quit in 1992. He became a recluse and entered a period of heroin addiction, during which he released his first solo recordings: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and Smile from the Streets You Hold (1997). In 1998, he completed drug rehabilitation and rejoined the Chili Peppers, taking them to major success with their albums Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006). He left the Red Hot Chili Peppers again in 2009 to focus on solo work, and rejoined in 2019.
Frusciante's solo work encompasses genres including experimental rock, ambient music and electronica. He released six albums in 2004, each exploring different genres and recording techniques. In 2009, Frusciante released The Empyrean, which features Chili Peppers bassist Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Frusciante also releases acid house under the alias Trickfinger. With Klinghoffer and Joe Lally, he has released two albums as Ataxia.
Frusciante was named one of the greatest guitarists by Rolling Stone and Gibson, and in a BBC poll. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012.
Frusciante's musical style has evolved over the course of his career. Although he received moderate recognition for his early guitar work, it was not until later in his career that music critics and guitarists alike began to fully recognize it: in October 2003, he was ranked eighteenth in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Frusciante attributes this recent recognition to his shift in focus, stating that he chose an approach based on rhythmic patterns inspired by the complexity of material Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen produced. On earlier records, however, much of his output was influenced by various underground punk and new wave musicians.
In general, his sound is also defined by an affinity for vintage guitars. All the guitars that he owns, records, and tours with were made before 1970. Frusciante uses the specific guitar that he finds appropriate for a certain song. All of the guitars he owned before quitting the band were destroyed when his house burned down in 1996. The first guitar he bought after rejoining the Chili Peppers was a 1962 red Fender Jaguar. His most-often used guitar, however, is a 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster that was given to him as a gift from Anthony Kiedis after Frusciante rejoined the Chili Peppers in 1998. He has played this guitar on every album since rejoining the Chili Peppers, and their ensuing tours. He also owns a 1955 Fender Stratocaster, his only Strat with a maple fretboard. Frusciante's most highly appraised instrument is a 1955 Gretsch White Falcon, which he used twice per show for the songs Californication and Otherside. Since 2006, he only uses it for the latter song, saying there was "no room for it", preferring multiple Stratocasters for the Stadium Arcadium tour. Virtually all of Frusciante's acoustic work is played with a 1950s Martin 0–15.
After leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he switched to using a Yamaha SG as his primary guitar for his solo work. "With the Yamaha SG, I could play along with guitar players who were playing, say, Les Pauls, and feel like the sound matched what I was hearing on the record. ... People like Robert Fripp, Mick Ronson, Tony Iommi, and particularly John McGeoch from Siouxsie and the Banshees, who played a Yamaha SG, which is why I bought one in the first place". Frusciante has also noted his increased use of the Roland MC-202 for his electronic music, saying that he was at the point "where I thought as much like a 202ist as I did a guitarist ..." The MC-202 has been his primary melodic instrument in his electronic music.
With the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Frusciante provided backing vocals in a falsetto tenor, a style he started on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. He thoroughly enjoyed his role in the Chili Peppers as backing vocalist, and said that backing vocals are a "real art form". Despite his commitment to the Chili Peppers, he felt that his work with the band should remain separate from his solo projects. When he returned to the Chili Peppers in 1998, Kiedis wanted the band to record "Living in Hell", a song Frusciante had written several years before. Frusciante refused, feeling that the creative freedom he needed for his solo projects would have conflicted with his role in the band.
Murmur
John Frusciante Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Baler right frum heighpt
I can't resp these ah-hi-hipes
Vahh la la sleep tight, yeah
Sha la la la la na dey caus eyn I hear my house
Mroy
Vlee is clyght
The lyrics of John Frusciante's "Murmur" are highly obscure and complex, as the words used in the song blend into each other seamlessly, blurring the lines between the actual meaning and the emotions they evoke. The title "Murmur" by itself signifies a low, indistinct sound that's barely audible to the human ear, which is the exact mood the song conveys. The opening line, "Mwoop side mewter meip meipy the thesky," makes little sense when taken at face value, but stands for Frusciante's attempt to communicate and integrate music into the world around him, treating it as a source of inspiration and not just an art form.
The songwriter is also introspective in his lyrics, displaying vulnerability and self-doubt when he sings, "I can't resp these ah-hi-hipes," indicating his inability to decipher certain concerns given to him. The phrase "Vahh la la sleep tight" could be interpreted as an amalgam of babbling sounds, indicative of the feelings that are evoked during sleep, where our minds are at ease and freer. In the second verse, Frusciante sings, "Sha la la la la na dey caus eyn I hear my house Mroy," further highlighting his deep-rooted insecurities and questioning if he's entirely alone, as he hears the sounds of his own dwelling. The song ends with the line, "La la de cau say dee anything yay hey Vlee is clyght," where it continues to uphold the same cryptic and distorted pattern, repeating itself, while emphasizing the pursuit to communicate and comprehend the world around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Mwoop side mewter meip meipy the thesky
My mind is racing with thoughts and ideas, soaring high up in the sky like a rocket ship.
Baler right frum heighpt
But suddenly, reality hits me like a ballerina falling off her pointe shoes, crashing down from a great height.
I can't resp these ah-hi-hipes
I can't seem to make sense of all these abstract concepts and ideas that are swirling around in my head, causing me confusion and frustration.
Vahh la la sleep tight, yeah
So I try to relax and let go, singing a lullaby to myself to ease my troubled mind and find some restful sleep.
Sha la la la la na dey caus eyn I hear my house
In the silence of the night, I can hear the faint sound of my own heartbeat and the whispers of my thoughts, echoing within the walls of my house.
Mroy
It's a reminder that I am alive and constantly evolving, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, transformed and reborn.
La la de cau say dee anything yay hey
I may not always have the answers or be able to articulate my thoughts perfectly, but I'll keep on trying anyways, embracing the uncertainty and the unknown.
Vlee is clyght
For in the darkness, there is still light, hope and endless possibilities waiting to be discovered and explored.
Contributed by Benjamin E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Claudio Moriones
uno de mis discos preferidos de john junto ah smile from the streets you hold y maya
fmurto
The lyrics here seem to be sloppily transcribed. I slowed down and cleaned up the track to try and figure out what the lyrics actually say and got this:
Leaps at him
But it might not be the sky
Better lie for height
I can't rest besides
High will I sleep tight
Slide along the land
It becomes heavy
When my host rides
Loving the course and then the failure of
proving time
Joost van Kruijsdijk
john rules!
Carson Peterson
It’s great