Underrated Funk: Review of One Hot Minute (1995)

In 1991, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released the pivotal album that catapulted them to rock n’ roll stardom with “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”. The Peppers become frequent visitors on MTV with the music videos from the album and evolved into the band that most modern listeners are familiar with. But the band had challenges ahead, with not only following up to the wildly successful album but dealing with the departure of John Frusciante who became uncomfortable with the newfound stardom. The band shuffled a few guitarists during 1992/1993 until they landed with Dave Navarro, who’s only studio album was the follow up to “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, “One Hot Minute”.

The album was recorded in Hollywood at the Sound Factory during June 1994 to February 1995, released that year in September. The Peppers got legendary hip-hop producer Rick Rubin to produce the album. But Rubin wasn’t unfamiliar with rock; he produced music from Dazing and The Cult. With the Peppers genre-bending of rock, hip-hop, and funk, Rubin was an obvious choice. I never listened to “One Hot Minute” before, probably because it’s that “forgotten” album between the stellar “Blood Sugar” and “Californiacation” albums. But I was blown away at how much I liked the album and kicking myself for not listening to it earlier (it is the Peppers; how bad could it be?).

            The opener, “Warped”, is a punk-funk song from its heavy bass line to the fast-moving chaos of the band. The song appropriately sets the tone of the next two songs; “Aeroplane” and “Deep Kick” both try to keep the pace of the opener. The album then goes into “Coffee Shop”, one of my personal favorites from the distorted, underwater like effect that compliments Kiedis’s vocals to create a funky tune that sounds like it was made in the underwater city of Atlantis. However, “Pea” and “One Big Mob” are the low points of the record; “Pea” is an unnecessary interlude and “One Big Mob’s” baby crying effect began to annoy the crap out of me. But when the song ends and “Walkabout” begins, I fell back into the solid remainder of the album. You can feel Rubin’s influence with this record; the catchy beats and inclusion of some sampling makes the funky, hip-hop layers of the band pop. Is this the band’s best record? Probably not. It’s hard following up to the masterpiece that is “Blood Sugar”. But it’s defiantly underrated and overlooked. I would but this in my top three, right under “Blood Sugar” and “Californiacation”.

Rating: 4.2 out of 5