Red Hot Chili Peppers
Nick Cave has responded to the viral comments he once made about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, clarifying his current stance on the band in the process.
Cave’s comments about the Los Angeles funk-rockers have circulated as something of a punchline for roughly 25 years now. Though their exact origins appear to have been lost to time, the quote is often attributed to Cave as, “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always ‘The Red Hot Chili Peppers.’”
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Chili Peppers bassist Flea (who, like Cave, was born in the Australian state of Victoria) responded to Cave’s scathing remark in 2006, noting that it initially hurt his feelings since he’s a huge fan of the Bad Seeds frontman.
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“I don’t care if Nick Cave hates my band because his music means everything to me,” Flea said. “He is one of my favorite songwriters and singers and musicians of all time. I love all the incarnations of the Bad Seeds. But it only hurt my feelings for a second because my love for his music is bigger than all that shit and if he thinks my band is lame then that’s OK.”
Now, Cave has taken to his Red Hand Files website to respond to a fan asking about the truthfulness of the quote, referring to his comments as an “offhand and somewhat uncharitable remark” about the band.
“There was no malice intended, it was just the sort of obnoxious thing I would say back then to piss people off,” Cave explained. “I was a troublemaker, a shit-stirrer, feeling most at ease in the role of a societal irritant. Perhaps it’s an Australian trait among people of my generation, I don’t know, but that comment has followed me around for the last quarter-century.”
Cave also recalled how Flea’s own response had made its way to him, moving him and bringing forth the realization that “Flea was a human being of an entirely different calibre, indeed, of a higher order.” He also added that the pair have since apparently patched things up, with “pleasant” interactions following both on and off the stage in different iterations over the years.
The response closed with the revelation that Flea is apparently in the process of crafting a new album, with Cave noting he recently added his vocals to the new record which sees Flea’s trumpet-playing skills on full display.
“Last week, Flea sent me a song and asked if I’d like to add some vocals. It was for a ‘trumpet record’ that he is making,” Cave explained. “It is not for me to divulge what the song was, only that it is a song I cherish more than most, with arguably the greatest lyric ever written, a song of such esteem that I would never have dared to sing it had Flea not asked me to. I went into the studio on Wednesday and recorded my vocals.
“The track emerged as a beautiful conversation between Flea’s trumpet and my voice, filled with yearning and love, the song transcending its individual parts and becoming a slowly evolving cosmic dance, in the form of a reconciliation and an apology.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Return of the Dream Canteen debuts atop multiple Billboard album charts (dated Oct. 29). The set, which is the band’s second studio effort of 2022, bows at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums, Top Current Album Sales, Tastemaker Albums and Vinyl Albums. The set sold 56,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 20, according to Luminate.
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Notably, on the Top Album Sales chart, the Peppers have scored a pair of No. 1s in 2022 (Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen) – making it the first group with two No. 1 rock albums on the chart in less than 12 months since 2005. That year, System of a Down doubled-up at No. 1 with Mezmerize and Hypnotize. (The Peppers have logged their two 2022 No. 1s six months and two weeks apart; System of a Down notched theirs in 2005 six months and a week apart.)
In total, the Peppers have logged four No. 1s on Top Album Sales: Canteen, Unlimited Love, The Getaway (2016) and Stadium Arcadium (2006).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums rank the week’s most popular rock and alternative albums, rock albums and alternative albums, respectively, by equivalent album units. Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales. Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s best-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week.
Of Return of the Dream Canteen’s 56,000 copies sold, vinyl sales comprise 26,500 – 48% of its first-week. CD sales comprise 21,500 – 38% of its debut frame. The album’s robust vinyl sum was driven by over 10 available variants, including exclusive versions for Target, independent record stores and the Peppers’ webstore.
The album was led by the single “Tippa My Tongue,” which hit No. 1 on both the Rock & Alternative Airplay and Alternative Airplay charts. On the latter, it’s the 15th No. 1 for the group, extending its record for the most No. 1s in the chart’s history.
Stray Kids’ MAXIDENT falls to No. 2 in its second week on Top Album Sales, with 25,000 sold (down 78%). The 1975 collect its fourth top 10-charting effort on the list with Being Funny in a Foreign Language, as the band’s new studio set bows at No. 3 with 20,000 sold.
Backstreet Boys’ first holiday album, A Very Backstreet Christmas, launches at No. 4 on Top Album Sales with nearly 20,000 sold. It’s the 11th consecutive top 10 for the group – the entirety of their charting releases. It also opens at No. 1 the Top Holiday Albums chart, which ranks the week’s most popular holiday albums by equivalent album units.
Alter Bridge debuts at No. 5 with Pawns & Kings (14,000 sold) – giving the rock act its fourth top 10. NCT 127’s 2 Baddies falls 4-6 with 7,000 (down 40%), Beyoncé’s former leader Renaissance tumbles 2-7 with nearly 7,000 (down 86%) and Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House rises 13-8 with 6,500 (down 2%).
Rounding out the top 10 is the debut of Lil Baby’s It’s Only Me (No. 9; a little over 6,000) and TWICE’s former No. 1 Between 1&2: 11th Mini Album (11-10, 6,000; down 16%).
In the week ending Oct. 20, there were 1.680 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 11.4% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.32 million (down 13.7%) and digital albums comprised 360,000 (down 1.8%).
There were 644,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Oct. 13 (down 9.9% week-over-week) and 666,000 vinyl albums sold (down 17.1%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 27.402 million (down 7.8% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 30.698 million (up 2%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 74.832 million (down 7.6% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 58.523 million (down 2.8%) and digital album sales total 16.309 million (down 21.6%).
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