Red Hot Chili Peppers- Blood Sugar Sex Magik

The Red Hot Chili Peppers formed in 1983, however it was 1991 when all the stars lined up and Blood Sugar Sex Magik shot them to international mainstream success.

Funk isn't normally my cup of tea, but I ended up buying it anyway as a pop album. So please excuse me if I miss the point entirely! In that vain, the thin sound of the vocals isn't to my taste.

Even without really being into it, I can appreciate that songs such as The Power Of Equality, If You Have To Ask and Mellowship have absolutely slammin' funk grooves. Unfortunately it's a bit over-the-top for my taste.

Also completely over-the-top is Suck My Kiss, Give It Away and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but this time it's a good thing. The rampant sexuality suits the music well and, as usual, the heavy funk grooves are wonderful. It's also amusing how the lyric "suck my kiss" was used to sneak the song past censorship; no prizes for guessing what "kiss" is meant to mean!

There's a couple of funk songs here that I dig, without being able to put my finger on why. In other words, I quite enjoy Funky Monks, The Righteous & The Wicked and The Greeting Song, but I don't know how they're different to The Power Of Equality etc. My Lonely Man is a nice blend of funk and rock.

Under The Bridge was absolutely everywhere back in 1991. On its own merits, I'm not really into the song itself. But I've so many memories wrapped up in that song, so it has a lot of nostalgic value.

I always dig unusual time signatures in pop music! So Breaking The Girl is a walk-up winner. And it has a flute! So it's an oddball favourite  of mine.

Favourite songs

Breaking The Girl, Funky Monks, Suck My Kiss, Give It Away, The Greeting Song

Worthwhile?

Before writing this post, I would have said that it wasn't worth it for me. But listening to the album for this review, I actually enjoyed a lot more of it than I was anticipating. So the verdict is yes, this iconic pop-funk album deserves a place in the collection.