Red Hot Chili Peppers: The Hillel Slovak Years
On what would have been guitarist Hillel Slovak‘s birthday, we revisit the music he made with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. How many of these do you remember?
The Red Hot Chili Peppers debut album dropped on August 10, 1984. At the time Hillel Slovak wasn't in the band, but he was on the album.
Slovak co-wrote the band's debut single "Get Up And Jump," along with the songs "Baby Appeal," "Green Heaven," Out In L.A." and "Police Helicopter" from their first album.
By the time RHCP released sophomore album 'Freaky Styley' in August of 1985, Hillel had rejoined the band.
This was the band's first proper single to be released with Slovak as a full-time member.
Follow-up single "Hollywood (Africa)," a cover of The Meters, did what the debut single failed to: it charted in October of 1985.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers third album would prove to be their last with Slovak on guitar.
The only proper single from the third album features Slovak's guitar work and, ironically, is about the struggles he and singer Anthony Kedis had with herion.
"Behind The Sun" wouldn't see a single release until after Slovak's death, in 1992.
Released in May of 1988, the E.P. was used to promote RHCP overseas. Sadly, Slovak would die of a heroin overdose in the following month, on June 25, 1988.
The Abbey Road E.P. boasted only one new song: a cover of "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix that featured Hillel Slovak's blazing guitar work.
