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.
Wind Up Space
John Frusciante Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't wait for the time to break
Use it for a motorbike
You'll spin right out of sight
You'll never have been where you'll be
You go back to the faceless ride
Wind up space
Wind up space to go place to place
It takes you out of your mind
The black walls of space take me all the way
The lyrics to John Frusciante's song Wind Up Space speaks about yearning for a moment to come, a time to break free from routine and experience something new. The artist talks about using this opportunity to explore and live life to the fullest. He compares this experience to riding a motorbike, which can give you an adrenaline rush, taking you for a ride unlike any you've ever taken before. John Frusciante believes that this experience will broaden your horizons and take you to new places, places you have never been to before.
The artist further emphasizes the impact of such an experience, mentioning that it will take you out of your mind, as though you are living in a dream world. The last phrase, "The black walls of space take me all the way" describes the feeling of being overwhelmed, taken to a place of infinite possibilities.
Overall, the lyrics of "Wind Up Space" talk about the desire to escape the mundane, do something new, and experience life differently.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't wait
I am anxious and eager for what is to come
I can't wait for the time to break
I am excitedly anticipating a change or breakthrough in the future
Use it for a motorbike
Take advantage of this situation as a means to move forward, just like a motorbike
You'll spin right out of sight
You will move so quickly and efficiently that you'll disappear from view
You'll never have been where you'll be
The place you're headed is completely new and unexplored by you
You go back to the faceless ride
You are returning to a mundane and predictable routine
Wind up space
Harness the endless possibilities and potential of space
Wind up space to go place to place
Utilize space to travel from one place to another
Dream that you died
Imagine a scenario where you have passed away
It takes you out of your mind
This thought or vision is so powerful that it distracts you completely
The black walls of space take me all the way
The vastness and mystery of space transport me completely
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOHN FRUSCIANTE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Beck Saint
Lirycs:
I can't wait
I can't wait for the time to break
Use it for a motorbike
You'll spin right out of sight
You'll never have been where you'll be
You go back to the faceless ride
Wind up space
Wind up space to go place to place
Dream that you died
It takes you out of your mind
The black walls of space take me all the way
Edwin Jose Morais
his drum programming is awwesome in this track. So trippy
Tim Miller
Oh John, how your music moves me in every way.
Hug The Sky
I'm in love with this tune so much ♥️
Beck Saint
Lirycs:
I can't wait
I can't wait for the time to break
Use it for a motorbike
You'll spin right out of sight
You'll never have been where you'll be
You go back to the faceless ride
Wind up space
Wind up space to go place to place
Dream that you died
It takes you out of your mind
The black walls of space take me all the way
Mason Maxey
Love this!!!
Julio Herrera
Can’t believe this song is only 2 mins long. Seems longer
LittleDaddi3
Swear to god it is
Four score and
Magnificent
a a
John is God!
dddan
I love the feedback on 1:43 'cause it sounds like a sword being drawn