You Won't Believe What I've SEEN

Today's edition of Retro Friday features the band Red Hot Chili Peppers ... a band that was near and dear to my heart during my college years!!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American alternative rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1983.

I first discovered the band in 1989 when their album Mother's Milk came out. This album gave them their first series of top modern rock hits—a tribute ballad "Knock Me Down", their cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground", and the song "Taste the Pain", which formed part of the film Say Anything's soundtrack.

But I didn't really get into the band until their album Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released in 1991. One of our best guy friends made my friend K and I a copy of the "cassette tape" (yes, I said cassette tape) and we instantly fell in love with the songs. It also helped that the boy that I had a crush on, also loved the album, and was constantly singing it ... in class ... on the way to class ... while studying ... and quoting the lyrics any chance he got! Which was really quite amusing when some of the lyrics included "Suck my kiss" and "Hit me you can't hurt me." Then, to top it all off, there are quite a few New Orleans references in the songs on this album,

Yes my favorite place to be ... Is not a land called Honah Lee ... Mentally or physically ... I wanna be in New Orleans.

and that was the year that Notre Dame played Florida in the Sugar Bowl and we road tripped down there for New Year's Eve and for the game. Ahhh ... sweet memories of being told we could not beat Florida and Jerome Bettis high-stepping it (repeatedly) into the end zone.

What amuses me the most about our love (my friend K and I) for the Red Hot Chili Peppers is that, even to this day, when we are together ... we seem to, at one point or another, bursting into a Red Hot Chili Peppers song. They just always seem to manifest into what ever trouble, I mean fun, that we are into!

So here are a few Red Hot Chili Pepper songs for your listening pleasure ...

Under the Bridge

Give it Away

Higher Ground

Knock Me Down

And of course ... Suck My Kiss

Oh, and one more thing ... the title of this post, "You won't believe what I've SEEN," is from the song Apache Rose Peacock ... another song making reference to New Orleans, with ... um ... interesting lyrics!

Cheers!