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.
Saturation
John Frusciante Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Replay
We made you what you were
We brought them up that hill
We brought them up to roll them down
In the morning, light must clean you out
I'm sad that time escapes me
It pushes ahead of me all day
I feel the faster I'm going
The more I am slowing down
I'm the focus of the bring down
I'm the one who captures what he lost
And turns it around
In John Frusciante's song Saturation, the lyrics suggest a sense of regret and disillusionment with the passage of time. The first line, "I feel that wheels are turning 'round," could be a metaphor for the continuous cycle of life and how things seem to repeat themselves. The line "we made you what you were" could refer to the pressure that society puts on individuals to conform to certain standards and expectations. The next line, "we brought them up that hill, we brought them up to roll them down," could also be interpreted as a commentary on the constant struggle to climb up the metaphorical hill of success, only to ultimately be let down or "rolled back down" by society's expectations.
The chorus, "I'm sad that time escapes me, it pushes ahead of me all day, remind me what I could've been," speaks to the regret and longing to go back in time and do things differently. The next lines, "I feel the faster I'm going, the more I am slowing down, I'm the focus of the bring down," could refer to the feeling of being stuck in a rut or feeling like your efforts aren't yielding results. The final line, "I'm the one who captures what he lost and turns it around," could be a message of hope, suggesting that despite setbacks and regrets, it's possible to turn things around if you keep trying.
Overall, Frusciante's lyrics in Saturation express a range of emotions and ideas around the passing of time, regret, and perseverance.
Line by Line Meaning
I feel that wheels are turning 'round
I sense that events are unfolding and things are in motion
We made you what you were
We played a role in shaping your identity and character
We brought them up that hill
We helped others to reach a high point
We brought them up to roll them down
We unintentionally led others into a downward spiral
In the morning, light must clean you out
There is a need to start a new day with a clear mind
I'm sad that time escapes me
I regret that time isn't on my side
It pushes ahead of me all day
Time advances beyond my control throughout the day
Remind me what I could've been
Bring to my attention the dreams and goals that I could have pursued
I feel the faster I'm going
I sense that the more I rush my actions, the slower I ultimately become
The more I am slowing down
The more I try to speed up or avoid difficult situations, the slower things seem to progress
I'm the focus of the bring down
I am being singled out and blamed for negative consequences
I'm the one who captures what he lost
I am reflecting on what I have lost and trying to retrieve it
And turns it around
And attempting to transform it into something positive
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOHN FRUSCIANTE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Spooks
Favorite track off the album... so surreal and psychedelic
Althea.8
es increible como john puede hacer sentir literalmente lo que dice con su musica en alguien que la escucha como si fuera él mismo...puedo escucharla 300 mil veces y siempre es el mismo sentimiento
Jennifer Rider
Absolutely astounding album on its own. I myself get this amazing nostalgic feeling. This whole album along with Niandra Lades does not come up in the YouTube search engine for John Frusciante…why idk, but these are the albums that need more recognition.
Strutting Bird
This song makes me think of all the small windows of opportunity that briefly opened up in the past and makes me wonder what would have been if I had taken them? And if there exists parallel realities where I did go for them.
Jamal Hamilton
I’m sad that time escapes me; it pushes ahead of me all day.
Marissa Fernández-Valdivia
Cada vez que escucho esta canción siento que me desgarra el alma.
Jae Beez
Awesome song
Mateo Betancourt
Soo deep
Marlon Silva
Remind me what I could've been...
Learsi Tanker
keyboards like song of nacional geography journey about planets, universe.