John Anthony Frusciante (born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and so… Read Full Bio ↴John Anthony Frusciante (born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and songwriter, and the guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has released 11 solo albums and seven EPs, including several albums of electronic music.

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.

Second Walk
John Frusciante Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I take a second walk
Down the street of fame
I've paid it off and pid for it again
All these miserable feelings never end
But to fall and be downs something i transcend
I've been a meal of mine
And slid down my throat
And all I'm facing is one more way to go

Died so many times and then reappeared
All death looks like to me is a word that causes fear
I'm taking my place
In a world with different space
No time at all except how you move
Be who you are

Do what you do
Not win or lose

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to John Frusciante's Second Walk explore themes of success, perseverance, and the fear of death. The lines "I take a second walk, Down the street of fame, I've paid it off and paid for it again" suggest that the singer is familiar with success, but that it comes at a price - one that he has paid for repeatedly. The reference to the "street of fame" highlights the idea that success is a form of currency in our society, one that can be bought and sold.

The line "All these miserable feelings never end, But to fall and be down is something I transcend" speaks to the idea that even successful people experience negative emotions - feelings of sadness, anxiety, or loneliness. But the singer suggests that he is able to rise above these feelings, to transcend them. This is a powerful statement about the human condition, and the idea that we have the ability to control our emotional state, even in difficult times.

The final lines of the song suggest that success is not about winning or losing, but about being true to oneself. The lyric "Not win or lose, Be who you are, Do what you do" highlights the idea that true success comes from being authentic and finding joy in the things you love to do, rather than focusing solely on external markers of success.

Line by Line Meaning

I take a second walk
Embarking on yet another journey

Down the street of fame
Navigating the road to success

I've paid it off and pid for it again
Overcoming challenges and obstacles to achieve again

All these miserable feelings never end
Emotions of dejection remain persistent

But to fall and be downs something i transcend
Rising above failure and shortcomings

I've been a meal of mine
Consumed and overwhelmed by my own thoughts

And slid down my throat
Dwelling in one's own sorrow

And all I'm facing is one more way to go
Another path ahead in life to take on

Died so many times and then reappeared
Having undergone several transformations and rebirths

All death looks like to me is a word that causes fear
Realizing that the fear of death is often unfounded

I'm taking my place
Stepping into position