Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs
Few bands feature bass players who overshadow their guitarist counterparts. But such is the case with Red Hot Chili Peppers. While I really like Frusciante’s guitar playing style a lot, Flea’s ambitious funk-fueled bass lines are awe inspiring and the star of the show on many RHCP songs. His bass lines are like guitar parts in and of themselves, worthy of the highest volume on your subwoofer. But, in stark contrast to RHCP’s plethora of bass-prominent tracks is “Parallel Universe”, an anomaly with freakishly atypical instrumentation for the band.
There’s a lot of shredding happening on this song. But not a lot of funk. Kiedis’ vocals, as usual, are muscular, gut-wrenching and plain rock & roll. However, Flea humbly takes a backseat on “Parallel Universe” while Frusciante’s guitar work thrashes, strums and picks its way to the foreground. There’s not one or two great guitar riffs. There are three of them. The frenetic opening riff, the hefty power chords in the chorus, and the instrumental bridge that kicks up the distortion levels to create something galactic. It may not be a typical Red Hot Chili Peppers anthem, but it still rocks hard, which is really all we ever wanted from the band.
“Deep inside of a parallel universe it's getting harder and harder to tell what came first.”