Following the death of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak in 1988 and the subsequent departure of founding drummer Jack Irons, the Red Hot Chili Peppers rebooted as an alternative-rock powerhouse that would dominate alternative radio and fill arenas the world over. Eighteen-year-old wunderkind guitarist John Frusciante, raised on the wild solos of Frank Zappa and the spiraling filigrees of Slovak himself, would give the band a sensibility that was equal parts melodic and virtuosic. The incredibly hard-hitting drummer Chad Smith, a six-foot-three AOR-and-funk pounder from the Midwest, would provide the muscle and finesse that would carry the band through the 1990s and beyond. And with producer Michael Beinhorn adding a crunchy, alt-metal sheen, the lineup’s first album together, Mother’s Milk, would ultimately turn a cult underground band into a mainstream force: It would be the band’s first gold record, and finally let the band break into the Billboard Top 100.
Much of the success of Mother’s Milk can be credited to the band’s giddy cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”, which reimagined the original’s silky organ melody as a deeply percussive machine-gun of slap-bass, and turned the chorus into a party sung by 25 of the Peppers’ closest friends. But not every moment on Mother’s Milk was as full of uplift. After spending much of the 1980s as an uncontainable punk-funk band, the Peppers began to turn introspective: The album’s second hit single, “Knock Me Down”, is a reflective look at drug addiction (Kiedis started it before Slovak’s death, and finished it as a love song for the departed guitarist). And “Taste the Pain”, recorded for the Say Anything soundtrack, describes a heartbreak in great detail: “Busted in two like a brittle stick,” Kiedis rap-sings, “I cannot drink because my throat constricts.”
Of course, much of the Peppers 2.0 was as hedonistic as ever (“Stone Cold Bush”, “Sexy Mexican Maid”) and as celebratory as ever (“Good Time Boys”, “Subway to Venus”). However, it would be the album’s tender outlier, the vulnerable, sparse instrumental “Pretty Little Ditty”—not even two minutes long on the original issue—that would keep Mother’s Milk playing well into the next millennium. Nu-metal band Crazy Town would sample it for the delicate rap-rock power ballad “Butterfly”, a No. 1 hit in 2001.
Tracklisting
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| A1 | Good Time Boys |
| A2 | Higher Ground |
| A3 | Subway To Venus |
| A4 | Magic Johnson |
| A5 | Nobody Weird Like Me |
| A6 | Knock Me Down |
| B1 | Taste The Pain |
| B2 | Stone Cold Bush |
| B3 | Fire |
| B4 | Pretty Little Ditty |
| B5 | Punk Rock Classic |
| B6 | Sexy Mexican Maid |
| B7 | Johnny Kick A Hole In The Sky |
Apple Music
Release Images
Release Information
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia URL | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Milk_(album) |
| Format | 1× Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Repress |
| Label | EMI |
| Catalog Number | 509996 98172 12 |
| Notes | Cat# 509996 98172 12 on back cover, spine and labels. [On back cover]: This album is dedicated to the memory of [a=Hillel Slovak] ℗ 1989. The copyright in this sound recording is owned by EMI America Records. © 1989 EMI America Records. Printed in the EU. [On labels]: Made in the EU (outer rim text). Publishers: Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc. (tracks: A1, A3 to B2, B4 to B7) Moebetoblame Music (BMI) (tracks: A1, A3 to B2, B4 to B7) Jobete Music Co., Inc. (track: A2) Black Bull Music / ASCAP (track: A2) Unichappell Music (track: B3) Yameta Music (track: B3) [On runouts]: Everything is hand etched on each side. Track durations on the sleeve are different compared to the ones given on the labels: Good Time Boys: Sleeve 5:02, Label 4:51 Higher Ground: Sleeve 3:21, Label 3:15 Subway To Venus: Sleeve 4:24, Label 4:17 Magic Johnson: Sleeve 2:57, Label 2:47 Nobody Weird Like Me: Sleeve 3:47, Label 3:45 Knock Me Down: Sleeve 3:43, Label 4:35 Taste The Pain: Sleeve 4:34, Label 4:20 Stone Cold Bush: Sleeve 3:04, Label 2:58 Fire: Sleeve 2:01, Label 2:20 Pretty Little Ditty: Sleeve 1:34, Label 1:30 Punk Rock Classic: Sleeve 1:46, Label 1:37 Sexy Mexican Maid: Sleeve 3:20, Label 3:40 Johnny Kick A Hole In The Sky: Sleeve 5:10, Label 5:08 “Pretty Little Ditty” lasts 03:08 even though the label says it’s 01:30 long 180 Gram (but weight does not appear anywhere) black vinyl housed in a glossy single jacket with premium heavyweight white paper inner sleeve (with holes and without cut corners). Not to be confused with the previous [url=https://www.discogs.com/release/3697928-Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-Mothers-Milk]2009 EU[/url] release (with slighty different center labels: different outer rim text and copyrights), nor with the [url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1828402-Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-Mothers-Milk]2009 US [/url] “[l298394]” release. |
| Discogs URL | Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother’s Milk |