The RHCP air guitar controversy isn’t exactly a Milli Vanilli Situation. But it certainly seems out of character for the risk-taking, no-holds-barred Red Hot Chili Peppers
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Ten years after the infamous Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake Wardrobe Malfunction, the NFL is leaving zero room for Super Bowl Halftime malfunctions, wardrobe or otherwise.
During yesterday’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined Bruno Mars on stage and powered through their alternative rock hit “Give It Away.” But today, BleacherReport.com reported on a mini-controversy: the Chili Peppers weren’t playing their instruments, and instead they were singing live over a pre-recorded track.
This isn’t exactly a Milli Vanilli Situation. But it certainly seems out of character for the risk-taking, no-holds-barred Red Hot Chili Peppers.
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The story broke on Twitter, when someone pointed out that the Chili Peppers’ guitars weren’t plugged in:
ICYMI: Flea was playing air bass the whole time. I feel so lied to. #pic #SB48 #HalfTime #RHCP pic.twitter.com/q445jla4vF
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— 1310 Ticket Radio (@TicketRadio) February 3, 2014
Next came this exchange between one fan and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist, Flea:
@flea333 Please tell me there is no cable bc you wanted us to know the music was tracked! You’re not really faking if everyone is in on it.
— Craig Helmreich (@cjhelmreich) February 4, 2014
No trickery. No choice, but no trickery
— Flea (@flea333) February 4, 2014
@flea333 Thanks for the clarification. Totally guessed right. It is the RHCP way (play honestly). Proud to share two tattoos with you.
— Craig Helmreich (@cjhelmreich) February 4, 2014
Flea immediately posted a more complete explanation on The Red Hot Chili Peppers website:
When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded. I understand the NFL’s stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it . . . . We mimed on one or two weird MTV shows before that and it always was a drag. We take our music playing seriously, it is a sacred thing for us, and anyone who has ever seen us in concert (like the night before the Super Bowl at the Barclays Center), knows that we play from our heart, we improvise spontaneously, take musical risks, and sweat blood at every show. We have been on the road for 31 years doing it.
So, when this Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as whether or not we should do it, but we eventually decided, it was a surreal-like, once in a life time crazy thing to do and we would just have fun and do it. We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell.
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That is a straight and honest explanation of a band weighing the purity of their craft against the commercial and practical realities and the opportunity to play The Super Bowl. Flea is a thoughtful man, serious about his craft, and a musician of great integrity. They made a decision. And practicalities aside, we can question that decision.
Unfortunately, these days, we often get stuck with sanitized but lesser versions of things. Instead of pictures of people the way they are, we get photo-shopped versions. Instead of live music, we get live-ish music.
Perhaps the bigger questions that all this raises are: why does the mainstream media and the NFL and its band of sponsors believe that everything needs to be perfect? And do we prefer it that way? Those lyrics to Give It Away somehow seem apt: “Greedy little people in a sea of distress/Keep your more to receive your less.”
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Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/rick
A manufactured controversy for the sake of controversy. And, I’m not sure how singing over a track prevents wardrobe issues. The RCHP have been known to come out on stage wearing only socks on their genitalia…. One of the best-ever renditions of “The Star Spangled Banner” was by Whitney Houston for one of the Super Bowls in the 1990’s. Incredible sound, rich vocal resonance, never heard anything like it before, that’s the way you’re supposed to sing it. People talked about it for years as the gold standard for how you sing it. I still remember it, and it still… Read more »