Flea’s Rendition Of The US National Anthem At Kobe Bryant’s Farewell Is Dividing The Internet

It was an historic day for LA Lakers fans with Kobe Bryant playing the final match of his NBA career.

But interestingly, the part of the event that seems to have left the biggest mark on the internet was Red Hot Chili Pepper and diehard Lakers’ fan Flea‘s rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.

The Aussie-born slapper made a guest appearance to perform the US national anthem, translating it to the language of a bass solo in a performance that’s been called everything from “fucking awesome” to “absurd” and “awful”.

And look, it’s not exactly a slam dunk.

But what you’ve also gotta remember is: it’s Flea.

The Chili Pepper attacked The Star-Spangled Banner like a bass-slinging Hendrix, piling on the fuzz and wah while improvising around the melody with a bunch of randomly-placed blues licks and tremolos that occasionally came off as a bung-sounding mess.

“Listening to this reminded me of those Christina Aguilera wanna-be’s that butcher the National Anthem by over-singing it to where it’s uncomfortable to listen to. Flea just tried too hard,” one Reddit user reckoned.

“That was fucking awesome,” said another.

The results were also mixed on Twitter, with a substantial sway towards the “Flea sucks” camp.
https://twitter.com/doncandon/status/720518649858105344

In fact, a random Cosplayer who happens to share Flea’s name bore some of the brunt:

But this guy probably put it best:

Our opinion? Still better than Nick Jonas.

The most important thing was that The Black Mamba himself seemed to dig it, sending his boy Flea several nods of approval during the performance.

Update 18/04/16: Flea has hit back at the criticism, declaring he doesn’t care who liked and who didn’t like his version.

Watch it below and see what you reckon.