The Best Of My Loco

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Poster Child”

I like to imagine Anthony Kiedis alone in a room memorizing his own lyrics, particularly for a song with a dense rhyme scheme like “Poster Child.” It’s a funny image, but I’d genuinely like to get a sene of how seriously he takes the craft of doing something so goofy yet carefully balanced against the fluid, casual funk of the rest of his band. Kiedis’ vocal is actually the tightest element in the song, everything else feels exceptionally breezy and light in a way that’s unusual for Chili Peppers singles. John Frusciante’s presence after many years away is very apparent – he was always the guy bringing a bit of elegance and grace to the band’s hypermasculine physicality, and in this case you find everyone else just trying to flow with his mellow energy. Kiedis’ words are mostly silly doggerel but I appreciate the musical and cultural canon he’s sketching out here, and his apparent pledge to do his best to get on the level of what he loves.

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