Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Give It Away" синглының тарихы

1991 single by Red Hot Chili Peppers

"Give It Away" is a song by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from the group's fifth studio album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991). It was released as the lead single from their album in September 1991 by Warner Bros. Records. The music was written by guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea during a jam session months prior to the album recording sessions. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote the song's most prevalent lyrical refrain in response to an experience he shared with former girlfriend Nina Hagen regarding altruistic behavior and the value of selflessness. "Give It Away" went on to achieve international fame, reaching number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in late 1991, giving the band their first ever number one single. In 1992 the single charted inside the top 75 of the US Hot 100 in the wake of the huge success of the record's second single "Under the Bridge". "Give It Away" also became the band's first top ten hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart; this did not occur until February 1994, nearly two and a half years after it was first released in the US. The accompanying music video, which was directed by French film maker Stéphane Sednaoui, was put into heavy rotation on music television stations such as MTV and added to the band's success. Since its release, "Give It Away" has gone on to receive numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award for the Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocals in 1992. Steve Huey of AllMusic noted that while the single "didn't achieve the massive pop success of its follow up, 'Under the Bridge' [ ] it did become one of the band's most instantly recognizable songs."

Guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea wrote much of "Give It Away" during jam sessions in the early 1990s. Following the Chili Peppers' tour in support of Mother's Milk (1989), the duo spent time in a side project called H. A. T. E. with members of Fishbone. During their tenure in the group, the guitarist and bassist created the main riff and accompanying bassline for "Give It Away". The rhythm was played at several H. A. T. E. performances shortly thereafter, but when the side project disbanded Frusciante and Flea believed the track would be appropriate for the Chili Peppers' upcoming record. The song was recorded between April and June 1991 at The Mansion in Los Angeles, California. Through the recording of "Give It Away" came a practice of crafting songs that the band would continue to use on every album following Blood Sugar Sex Magik. When the group encountered difficulty in composing a bridge for the song, it developed a tool the members colloquially termed "face offs". Flea and Frusciante were unable to come to an agreement on guitar or bass progressions, but separately crafted part of the song. The band then reconvened at a later time and chose the most appropriate inclusion. With "Give It Away", a chorus and verse had already been written but a bridge was lacking, so thus they partook in a "face off".

"Give It Away" is performed in the time signature of 4/4 time. The track begins with a distinctively "dry" guitar tone that is similar in style to the rest of the record. Producer Rick Rubin had a considerable influence on the sound of Blood Sugar Sex Magik by removing much of the reverb and guitar layering that epitomized the band's previous album Mother's Milk. This caused the record to contain simpler and dryer guitar and bass chords that were not filtered through guitar effects—those that did, however, were made with vintage electronics from the 1960s and 70s. For "Give It Away", along with the rest of the album, Rubin sought to achieve a sense of atmosphere that was similar to 60s records that were made without commercialism or viability in mind and to downplay on "big" sounds: "What you hear is what you get—there's not a lot of trickery. A lot of people want the biggest sound, with walls of guitar and huge drums. But I don't think those things matter." The band then embarked on a short press tour through Europe in order to promote the record; it was during this time that KROQ FM, a Los Angeles based modern rock station, began to place "Give It Away" on heavy rotation. According to Kiedis, "That was the beginning of the infusion of those songs into mass consciousness." Critical reception to the song, much like the album, was highly positive. Jeff Vice of Deseret News noted "[this] dynamic first single that pays homage to Bob Marley, may start a new musical trend with its brilliant Rasta funk." Patrick MacDonald of The Seattle Times commented that "[Blood Sugar Sex Magik] includes one of the best songs the Peppers have done—'Give It Away', the first single. The hook is irresistible and the message, about 'material excess,' is delivered simply and straightforwardly." Steve Huey of AllMusic felt the song was enhanced by Kiedis's lyrics, which were "a free associative mixture of positive vibes, tributes to musical heroes, and free love, and their literal meaning was often as difficult to understand as Kiedis's nasal, staccato enunciation. But that distinctive vocal style helped make the most comprehensible lines even catchier and more memorable, greatly enhancing the song's appeal." Another editor, Terry Staunton, opined, "A tad sluggish compared to usual Chili Peppers fare, this has been a big hit in America but will not be here. Anthony Kiedis sounds horribly like Aerosmith's Steve Tyler". Jay Clarke of the Richmond Times Dispatch felt "Give It Away" was "a journey into the funky world of Kiedis and Flea. This song invigorates better than the heaviest metal or the most hard core rap." Tom Moon of Rolling Stone noted, "The pummeling 'Give It Away' [ ] established a template for rock punctuated by the beatcentric relentlessness of hip hop that would be appropriated by everyone." Mark Sutherland from UK magazine Smash Hits gave it four out of five, declaring it as "an almighty funky beast of a rock stomper that will have entire nations dancing like constipated chickens and might just make them as hay uge here as they are in the States." Since the song's release, it has become a notable factor in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' success and has won a variety of accolades. "Give It Away" won a Grammy award at the 35th Ceremony in 1993 for the "Best Hard Rock Performance". In 1994 "Give It Away" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's unordered list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock"; in 2002 Kerrang! placed the song at number 67 in their list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time"; in 2004 Q included it in their unordered list of the "1001 Songs You Must Own! "; and VH1 awarded the song the 50th spot in its 2009 compilation of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs". Kerrang! and Rolling Stone both named "Give It Away" as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' fourth best song.

The music video for "Give It Away" was made by French fashion photographer and director Stéphane Sednaoui. Kiedis wanted the video to be visually distinct and readily identifiable but disliked much of the material Warner Bros. sent for him to choose from: "I started viewing reels and reels and reels of video directors but nothing looked good to me. Everything was the same, boring, homogenized, contrived shit." Upon finding Sednaoui's reel, however, the singer said it was "like nothing else. It was slower and poetic, shot in black and white. It seemed like authentic art, not something shot for MTV." It was decided that the video would be filmed in black and white while Sednaoui took the idea of painting the band members with silver acrylic from previous photo shoots he had done. The photographer recalls that he was "amazed by what [the band] gave me because they went far far far beyond what I was expecting and I think that's one of my best experiences in that regard". When the vocalist first saw it, he was "more hysterically ecstatic about that piece of visual footage than anything [the band had] ever done." without being edited by the record label; since then it has been widely credited as being a considerable factor in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' success and greatly increased their international popularity. Journalist Jeff Apter noted the video's "funky brew of goofy looks, a subtle invasive hook, Flea's spindly fingered baseline and Kiedis's crotch hugging shorts made the clip essential viewing across MTV throughout the last few months of 1991." The band has performed the song on various talk shows and other events, including Saturday Night Live on March 6, 2006; as well as during the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show on February 2, 2014. The Los Angeles Rams (of which the band members are fans) play the song prior to the start of the fourth quarter during home games at SoFi Stadium.

+Release dates and formats for "Give It Away"RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref. (Reference)United StatesSeptember 1991Warner Bros. JapanMarch 10, 1992CDUnited KingdomJanuary 24, 199412 inch vinyl, CD, cassette

A double parody of "Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge" titled "Bedrock Anthem" was recorded by "Weird Al" Yankovic in his 1993 album Alapalooza. Mr. Bungle performed a mock version of the song in 1999, as part of a halloween concert parodying Red Hot Chili Peppers. Busta Rhymes used the "Give it away, give it away, give it away now" lyrics in his 2001 song Break Ya Neck. The members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are listed in the songwriting credits. Idina Menzel performed a few bars of the song as part of her exit music on her 2015 World Tour.