Few men can captivate me on such a native and grassroots level as Anthony Kiedis. He is raw and confronting in a totally sexy and charming way. He is sex symbol who pushes around the word ‘sex’ in his music, life and demeanour without explicitness. I look at his ruggedly striking features, and they tell a story of a man who is either impossibly simple or intricately complex.
He couldn’t have had a more rockstar upbringing, being under the care of his drug-dealing and using father since the age of 11. He quickly spiraled into a life of debauchery and drug abuse, despite being a straight-A student and getting accepted into university.
It’s in this disheveled world he met the original line up of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The rest (at least musically and in a multi Grammy-award winning sense) is history.
Through the ups and downs of his life, Anthony has found solace in his songwriting, and a medium through which to broadcast such issues as drug abuse, racism, poverty, globalization and loneliness. Confronting issues, which in a clever way, do not ‘scream’ for attention through their music, but tap deeply into your human conscience. Kiedis’ songwriting has a timeless transcendence, which strikes the heart of those who can grasp the metaphor behind the often incongruent and trivial lyrics.
Anthony Kiedis’ persona is one of cheeky, laid-back yet lovable arrogance. On one hand, his butt-baring, sock wearing (see Sox on Cox), high energy on stage performances are every bit the making of a psychedelic rockstar. But it seems his Mohican roots kick in when it comes to family and nature; being a devout vegan since the 1980’s and affectionately naming his son Everly Bear, because “it’s nice to have a little bit of earth in your name”. The past drug abuser does not abuse the critically-acclaimed fame he and the RHCP have garnered over three decades; he and the members are quick to rush in and trade their numerous accolades at once, in order to raise funds for tsunami-ravaged Japan. Kiedis still finds himself perfectly ensconced in the role of a rock star; it’s just as time goes on, him and his bandmates have found balance and happiness to be “radical and desirable acts”.
His inspiration, like his energy is boundless. With a new record and new guitarist in the works for mid 2011, fans await what the new RHCP lineup will unleash. Kiedis in 2006 was quoted as saying, “Somehow I find songs, in the bigness of what they’re doing”. Once again, we RHCP fans anticipate their songs to strike hard, dig deep and be Red Hot chart toppers. As for Anthony, ever-inspiring, in every aspect, he proves his own words; “It’s easy to be a junkie, but it’s not easy to be one of the best...songwriters of all time”.
