Came back to the bay today after a pretty relaxing weekend for some practice and drove back with my buddy Hugh Wells who actually planted the seed in my head about Alt Rock Autumn.
I threw on the Alt Rock Autumn playlist and just kind of let it play in the background. One of the songs that came on that I hadn’t listened to in a while just hit me right in the sweet spot and I loved it.
This song comes from a band that I have not yet mentioned on the countdown and it feels WAY over due to write about this Los Angeles band.
Scar Tissue by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of my all time favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers songs because of how mellow it is. While I like songs like Dani California and Can’t Stop, the vibe of Scar Tissue just makes me feel good.
The way that the Red Hot Chili Peppers use a mellow guitar riff at the beginning with slide guitar solos throughout create the perfect song to listen to when you want to relax or when you’re out by the fire late night with your friends.
Fun fact, for my first semester at Mass Maritime, I used Scar Tissue as my 5:00 a.m. alarm. I didn’t want anything to crazy waking me up so I went with Scar Tissue.
Scar Tissue was a massive hit for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is the third song off the bands hit 1999 album, Californication and leads up to the fourth track, Otherside, which is another smash hit.
The mellow banger reached number one in Iceland and Canada while also hitting second on the Polish charts. In America, Scar Tissue was number one on the U.S. Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock charts while also climbing to second on the U.S. Adult Alternative Song chart.
Scar Tissue even took home a Grammy for Best Rock Song in 2000.
In 2004, the bands lead vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote an autobiography that was named Scar Tissue. Kiedis talked in depth about how drug use, especially heroin, can destroy a persons life and if you look at the lyrics from the song, it makes sense.
The opening line of the song is “Scar tissue that I wish you saw”. Almost a cry for help, a person in distress.
Other lyrics from the song can only lead to speculation of the correlation between drug use and the band. For example, a line in the second verse, “Blood loss in a bathroom stall”. Maybe someone shooting up in the bathroom.
Another one being “Step outside but not to brawl”. Maybe a person stepping out from where they are to buy drugs. Once again, this is speculation, but when you learn that Kiedis’s autobiography was titled Scar Tissue, you begin to think more.