John Frusciante
American Musician
| Date of Birth | : | 05 Mar, 1970 |
| Place of Birth | : | Queens, New York, United States |
| Profession | : | Songwriter, Guitarist, Record Producer, Singer-songwriter, Keytarist |
| Nationality | : | American |
John Anthony Frusciante is an American musician. He has been the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for three periods (1988–1992, 1998–2009, 2019–present) and has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging from acoustic guitar to electronic music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012. Rolling Stone named Frusciante among the greatest guitarists of all time.
Frusciante joined the Chili Peppers at the age of 18 after the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, and first appeared on their album Mother's Milk (1989). His second album with the band, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), was his big hit. Overwhelmed by the band's newfound popularity, he left the band in 1992. He became a recluse and entered a period of heroin addiction, during which he released his first solo recordings: Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994). ) and Smile from the Streets. You Hold On (1997). In 1998, he completed his drug rehabilitation and rejoined the Chili Peppers, leading them to great success with their albums Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006).
Frusciante's solo work spans genres including experimental rock, ambient music, and electronica. He released six albums in 2004, each of which explores different genres and recording techniques. In 2009, Frusciante released The Empyrean, featuring Chili Peppers bassist Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, and again split from the Chili Peppers before reuniting with them in 2019. Frusciante also releases acid house under the alias Trickfinger. With Klinghoffer and Joe Lally, he has released two albums as Ataxia.
Early life
Frusciante was born in Queens, New York City, on March 5, 1970. His father, John Augustus Frusciante, is a Juilliard-trained pianist, who later became a lawyer and then circuit court judge in Florida. His mother, Gail Bruno, was a promising vocalist who gave up her career to be a stay-at-home mother. Frusciante is of Italian ancestry.
Frusciante's family moved to Tucson, Arizona, and then Florida, where his father served as a Broward County judge until October 2010. His parents separated when he was seven years old, and he and his mother moved to Santa Monica, California.
A year later, Frusciante and his mother moved to Mar Vista, Los Angeles, with his new stepfather, who, he says, "really supported me and made me feel good about being an artist". He became involved in the Los Angeles punk rock scene. At age nine, he became fixated on the Germs, repeatedly listening to their album (GI). He would later use a non-standard tuning of his own invention to play songs from the album single-finger barre.
Frusciante began studying guitarists such as Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Jimi Hendrix at 11. He discovered Frank Zappa, whose work he would study for hours. He dropped out of high school at age 16 with the permission of his parents and upon completion of a proficiency test. With their support, he moved to Los Angeles to develop his musicianship. He began taking classes at the Guitar Institute of Technology, but turned to punching in without actually attending and left shortly thereafter.
Career
1988–1992: First term with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Frusciante discovered the Red Hot Chili Peppers around 1984 when his guitar instructor was auditioning as a guitarist for them. Frusciante attended a Red Hot Chili Peppers performance at age 15 and rapidly became a devoted fan. He idolized their guitarist, Hillel Slovak, familiarizing himself with virtually all the guitar and bass parts from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' first few records. He became acquainted with Slovak, and the two spoke months before Slovak's death. Frusciante told him he would not like the band if they became popular enough to play the Forum, Inglewood, and preferred smaller audiences.
Frusciante became friends with the former Dead Kennedys drummer D. H. Peligro in early 1988. They jammed together, and Peligro invited his friend, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Frusciante and Flea had an immediate musical chemistry. Around the same time, Frusciante intended to audition for Frank Zappa, but changed his mind as Zappa strictly prohibited illegal drug use. Frusciante said, "I realized that I wanted to be a rock star, do drugs and get girls, and that I wouldn't be able to do that if I was in Zappa's band."
1992: First departure from the Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magik reached number three on the Billboard charts and went on to sell 13 million copies worldwide. The unexpected success turned the Red Hot Chili Peppers into rock stars. Frusciante was blindsided by his newfound fame and struggled to cope. Soon after the album's release, he began to develop a dislike for the band's popularity. He and Kiedis argued after concerts: "John would say, 'We're too popular. I don't need to be at this level of success. I would just be proud to be playing this music in clubs like you guys were doing two years ago.'" Frusciante later said that the band's rise to popularity was "too high, too far, too soon. Everything seemed to be happening at once and I just couldn't cope with it."
1992–1997: Addiction and first solo albums
Frusciante had developed serious drug habits while touring with the Chili Peppers; he said that when he "found out that Flea was stoned out of his mind at every show, that inspired me to be a pothead". He used heroin and was on the verge of full-scale addiction. Upon returning to California in 1992, Frusciante entered a deep depression, feeling that his life was over and that he could no longer write music or play the guitar. He spent the next three years in his Hollywood Hills home, the walls of which were badly damaged and covered in graffiti. During this time, his friends Johnny Depp and Gibby Haynes went to his house and filmed a documentary short, Stuff, depicting the squalor in which he was living. The house was eventually destroyed by a fire that also destroyed Frusciante's vintage guitar collection and several recordings.
2019–Present: Third tenure with the Chili Peppers
On December 15, 2019, the Red Hot Chili Peppers announced that Frusciante had rejoined, replacing Klinghoffer. They had been working a new album with Klinghoffer, but had made little progress. Frusciante said: "Flea had put the idea in my head and I was sitting there with the guitar thinking that I hadn't written any rock music in so long. Could I still do that?" His approach towards the Red Hot Chili Peppers and how he perceived himself within it had also changed from his last tenure with the band: "If I just try to let them be themselves, rather than making my own visions the center of everything. It felt like if somehow any of us died leaving it the way it was, it would be terrible." In an interview, Klinghoffer said there was no animosity around his exit: "It's absolutely John's place to be in that band. I'm happy that he's back with them." Flea said that "artistically, in terms of being able to speak the same language, it was easier working with John".
Musical style
Frusciante's musical style has evolved over his career. Although he received moderate recognition for his early guitar work, it was not until later in his career that music critics and guitarists alike began to fully recognize it. Frusciante attributes this recognition to his shift in focus, stating that he chose an approach based on rhythmic patterns inspired by the complexity of material Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen produced. On earlier records, he was influenced by various underground punk and new wave musicians. Rolling Stone named him the 18th-greatest guitarist of all time in 2003, the 25th-greatest guitarist of all time in 2023.
In general, his sound is also defined by an affinity for vintage guitars. All the guitars that he owns, records, and tours with were made before 1970. Frusciante uses the specific guitar that he finds appropriate for a certain song. All of the guitars he owned before quitting the band were destroyed when his house burned down in 1993. The first guitar he bought after rejoining the Chili Peppers was a 1962 red Fender Jaguar. His most-often used guitar, however, is a 1962 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster that was given to him as a gift from Anthony Kiedis after Frusciante rejoined the Chili Peppers in 1998. He has played this guitar on every album since rejoining the Chili Peppers, and their ensuing tours. He also owns a 1955 Fender Stratocaster, his only Strat with a maple fretboard. Frusciante's most highly appraised instrument is a 1955 Gretsch White Falcon, which he used twice per show for the songs "Californication" and "Otherside". In 2006 and 2007, he only used it for the latter song, saying there was "no room for it", preferring multiple Stratocasters for the Stadium Arcadium tour. Virtually all of Frusciante's acoustic work is played with a 1950s Martin 0–15.
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