Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Anthony Kiedis, the singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers, is functionally tone deaf in the medical sense, according to producer Michael Beinhorn, as per theprp. Beinhorn claims that the multi-platinum funk rock icon’s apparent difficulties with pitch perception existed at least in the late 1980s.
Beinhorn made this revelation at a recent Reddit AMA. During the Q&A, a fan mentioned how much they loved “Knock Me Down,” the second single from Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ 1989 album “Mother’s Milk,” which was produced by Beinhorn.
The fan also questioned why guitarist John Frusciante contributed to the song’s vocals and other details, such as whether it was an homage to the band’s late guitarist Hillel Slovak, who passed away in 1988 from an unintentional heroin overdose.
Don’t sweat it, your questions are valid. I’m glad you love ‘Knock Me Down‘ so much- it was a major departure from the RHCP sound up till that point. 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). At any rate, John essentially wrote the song, including the melody, so it wasn’t entirely inappropriate for him to song it (plus he somewhat idolized Hillel).
I might be missing something but I don’t think there’s a longer version of ‘Knock Me Down‘ than what’s on the record (of course, this is stuff that happened almost 40 years ago, so I may be forgetting something). As for how the band reacted to the final product…well…I never found out what they thought of the final mix. However, when I finally played Anthony the tracks with the finished guitars on them for the first time (he hadn‘t been to any of the sessions up till then), he freaked out- not in a good way. I think the band kind of disowned the record because of this.
After managing “Mother’s Milk” and “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beinhorn went on to create records for Ozzy Osbourne, Soundgarden, Korn, Marilyn Manson, and other artists.
