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.
Remain
John Frusciante Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I live here to sleep through this song
Hey la
I can't go on
I'm lost
I'll be there turning on & off
Hey la
And when you reach that point
And when you bleed sight
You receive a call
Oh please take us
We're wrong
We live now to relive on & on
Place my paces
Pave my way
We only remain
The same way as the sounds on a tape
And when you draw a line
It goes where you want
And when shadows step ahead of you
They start & stop
With these riches we walk & walk
We give to this time all that we've got
We play it this way 'cause this is how we feel
It means so much to me
When the pretend becomes real
The lyrics to John Frusciante's song "Remain" carry a multitude of meanings that can be interpreted in different ways. The opening lines "I'm crowded when I'm gone, I live here to sleep through this song," could suggest a sense of feeling overwhelmed even in isolation or the need to escape reality. "Hey la, I can't go on, I'm lost," possibly alludes to a state of being in a constant search for direction or meaning. As the song continues, the line "And when you reach that point, you're a wall" may refer to reaching a necessary point of self-preservation before one can continue.
The chorus of the song may convey the idea of being stuck or stagnant in life. "We only remain the same way as the sounds on a tape" suggests a feeling of being trapped or unable to move forward. The following line, "And when you draw a line, it goes where you want," may offer a glimmer of hope that we can control our situation and move beyond our current circumstances. The final lines of the song, "When the pretend becomes real," could point to finding comfort in imagination, or the struggle of distinguishing between reality and fantasy.
Overall, "Remain" could be interpreted as a plea to persevere despite feeling lost or stuck. The lyrics capture the frustration of being unable to move forward, the fear of staying the same, and the need to find comfort or meaning in one's experiences.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm crowded when I'm gone
Even when I'm not physically present, I can still feel overwhelmed.
I live here to sleep through this song
Existence feels like a dream and sometimes all I want to do is sleep.
Hey la / I can't go on / I'm lost / I'll be there turning on & off
Expressing internal turmoil and feeling unable to continue.
And when you reach that point / You're a wall / And when you bleed sight / You receive a call
When you hit rock bottom, it can feel like you're stuck and receiving no help, but sometimes that help comes from unexpected places.
Oh please take us / We're wrong / We live now to relive on & on
Feeling trapped in cyclical patterns of behaviour and yearning for an escape.
Place my paces / Pave my way / We only remain / The same way as the sounds on a tape
As we move forward, we're creating a path for ourselves, but we're still limited by the past.
And when you draw a line / It goes where you want / And when shadows step ahead of you / They start & stop
You have the power to control where you go, but obstacles can still arise.
With these riches we walk & walk / We give to this time all that we've got
We keep moving forward, pouring everything we have into each moment.
We play it this way 'cause this is how we feel / It means so much to me / When the pretend becomes real
Living in authenticity and valuing when our experiences align with our true selves.
Lyrics © MELSONGS PUBLISHING
Written by: JOHN FRUSCIANTE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind