Red Hot Chili Peppers have sold tens of millions of records, filled stadiums across the globe, and locked in their place in rock history. Which makes this latest revelation… pretty funny.
According to longtime producer Michael Beinhorn, who worked with the band on 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and 1989’s Mother’s Milk, frontman Anthony Kiedis is tone deaf. Yep. Can’t hear pitch.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Knock Me Down’
The comment surfaced during a recent Reddit AMA, where a fan asked why John Frusciante handled most of the lead vocals on ‘Knock Me Down’ – a track written as a tribute to the late Hillel Slovak, the band’s original guitarist.
“I’m glad you love ‘Knock Me Down’ so much,” Beinhorn replied, before casually detonating the internet. “John sang the song (or rather, his voice was louder in the mix) because the song was melodic and Anthony was/is tone-deaf (ie – he can’t hear pitch).”
Beinhorn went on to explain that Frusciante essentially wrote the song – melody and all – and idolised Slovak, making his vocal presence feel appropriate. But things reportedly got awkward fast once Kiedis finally heard the finished tracks.
“When I finally played Anthony the tracks with the finished guitars on them for the first time… he freaked out – not in a good way,” Beinhorn said, adding that the band more or less “disowned” the record after that.
Spicy.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Kiedis’ musical limitations have been mentioned publicly. Back in 2003, Frusciante himself noted that Kiedis “doesn’t know anything about music, or notes, or any of these things” – though not as a diss. Instead, he framed it as part of Kiedis’ strength, praising his raw emotional connection and instinctive approach to music.
Tone deaf or not, the Chili Peppers went on to release Blood Sugar Sex Magik, dominate the ’90s, headline festivals, and somehow still be doing victory laps decades later. If anything, this just proves that sometimes feel beats theory.
Further Reading
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