The Good Place

My wife & I just recently started watching this program on Netflix. For those unfamiliar with it, The Good Place basically is a sitcom about heaven, and the people who go there.

I won't get into much more detail, but one episode includes a person taking a quiz, to gauge their worthiness to get into heaven. The questions go (more or less) as follows:

During your time on Earth ...
(1) Did you murder anyone?
(2) Did you commit a crime?
(3) Did you steal anything?
(4) Did you ever pay money to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Whoa! Guess I've been on the road to perdition.

Ha, yeah, I did. but it was because they were on the same bill as the Butthole Surfers. I don't even remember the Chili Peppers. Did we even stay? Pretty impossible to follow the Surfers in all their '80s glory.



Post Edited (01-04-19 18:11)

This IS funny. I totally understand it and relate....but when did the peppers become such a cultural signifier for 'yuckiness'?

Seriously...exactly what did they do and when did they get on our collective bad side? Hard to pinpoint. Somewhere in the tube sock/ripped party boy/under the bridge overplay nineties?

Maybe some things just defy explanation...!

I suppose they come across as bros who got famous with an audience mostly consisting of white fratboys lifting most of their act from African-American music, and they paved for the way for nü-metal. But there are bands whom one could say the same thing about, like Faith No More, who are pretty respected now. A big difference is that FNM never wore socks on their dicks or did a song called "Catholic School Girls Rule"; maybe a better one is that they had one mainstream hit and released a lot music mixing prog, funk and metal in eccentric combos while the RHCPs hits still play in heavy rotation on alternative radio. John Frusciante's solo work is really good.

> Seriously...exactly what did they do and when did they get on our collective bad side? Hard to
> pinpoint. Somewhere in the tube sock/ripped party boy/under the bridge overplay nineties?

Nope, not at that time. At least, you couldn't prove it by me. I've paid to see them four times (with four different guitarists). I saw them in their tube sock days, with Hillel Slovak (and with Fishbone opening -- holy Lord, what an unforgettable show!), and at the height of their "Under the Bridge" fame, with touring guitarist Arik Marshall covering for John Frusciante after he melted down and left the band. I saw them with Dave Navarro -- an allegiance that seemed like a shotgun marriage, but which actually was pretty shit-hot onstage. And I saw them as they regained much of their early Nineties momentum and fame, with Frusciante back in the fold.

All four of those shows were unquestionably worth what I paid for the ticket. Say what you like about their music/records, but I wouldn't turn aside a chance to see them again onstage. It beats the hell outta me when or why the culture turned on the Peppers so harshly. I'll concede that their records in this century haven't been among their best, but I certainly don't think that merits being treated as if paying money to see them constitutes grounds to be handed a one-way ticket on the ferryboat to Hell. (Certainly not while another band, that bears the name of the river that said ferryboat crosses regularly, still delivers its damnable sounds on the summer touring circuit year after fucking year.)

I've never seen them... not by choice, just circumstance. But I do remember buying their debut (with 'true men don't kill coyotes') after seeing the video on MTV. There wasn't much like them at the time.

They certainly gradually became more popular and famous. But when did the backlash start? "The good place"'s reference is not the first time I've heard disparaging words about them. It's not like they're SO popular that they're annoyingly ubiquitous.

Did we miss a terrible news story about them? Or is all this just the result of some rampant internet meme?

We stayed to see them momentarily after some multi-bill - maybe the Butts or summat. It was extreme-mugging-trumps-musicianship and fratboy puke flowing down the aisles. I do recall a crazy Fishbone show or two. Barely.


That said, Frusciante drips talent and Flea is fine in other contexts.

Yes, I paid to see them, twice. The first time my friend dragged me, and I didn't know a single one of their songs except the cover of "Crosstown Traffic"...of was it "Fire"..or both?. It was entertaining, but the most significant thing in hindsight is that it was in that period between Slovak's death and Frusciante joining the band. I THINK Blackbyrd McKnight played guitar. I've tried to research this on the web and I'm pretty sure I'm right, but I can't find info that explicitly states he played guitar at the Miami Beach show at Cameo Theater on (insert date). Perhaps I'll try digging again.

I saw them again a year a two later on the Mother's Milk tour, this time with Frusicante, and in a large club. I must admit, it was an amazing show. They got really popular after that with their next album, which I didn't enjoy as much. It was too serious and heavy. It simply wasn't fun, and that's how I defined that band, right or wrong. I pretty much lost interest after that.

But I believe what caused me to lose interest more than anything else is that I simply grew up and became an adult.