Rock ‘n Roll Idiocy doesn’t come much better than false outrage over a corporate event. Amazingly enough, the Red Hot Chili Peppers still had to deal with a fake scandal in the wake of their Super Bowl Halftime Show performance. Which was really just a cameo, but that doesn’t mean that real rock fans couldn’t be really outraged over doing some deep sleuthing and figuring out, “Hey, those guys haven’t even plugged in their instruments!”
Well, yeah. It was really obvious–and you didn’t have to be a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan to think, “That’s kind of cool. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing to a pre-recorded track, and they don’t want to look like they’re trying to fool anybody, so they purposely left their instruments unplugged so that the folks at home can be in on the joke.”
And then guitarist Josh Klinghoffer really went nuts onstage to make it absolutley clear that he wasn’t really playing his instrument.
But some people still had to take the Rock ‘n Roll High Ground and act like they’d actually figured out some kind of scandal. Which means RHCP bassist Flea had to go write a 750-word open letter via the band’s website to explain the obvious. Here’s a sample paragraph:
The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it. The last time we did it (or tried to) was in the late 80’s, we were thrown off of The Top Of the Pops television program in the U.K. during rehearsals because we refused to mime properly, I played bass with my shoe, John played guitar atop Anthony’s shoulders, and we basically had a wrestling match onstage, making a mockery of the idea that it was a real live performance.
Fortunately–for the real idiots out there–Flea then went into even more detail…
For the actual performance, Josh, Chad, and I were playing along with the pre-recorded track so there was no need to plug in our guitars, so we did not. Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre recorded? Of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend. It seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance. It was like making a music video in front of a gazillion people, except with live vocals, and only one chance to rock it. Our only thought was to bring the spirit of who we are to the people.
Yeah. Well done, Flea. We wouldn’t have been nearly as patient. And we sure would’ve added that Flea and Anthony Kiedis went out there without wearing any shirts, which shows some real dedication. It was cold out there. We certainly like that Super Bowl Halftime Show a lot better now. Let’s watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers have some fun again…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxNwrNLLyjM]
Red Hot Chili Peppers Super Bowl "Scandal" Handled Just Fine [VIDEO]
