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Red Hot Chili Peppers · S1 E1
Blackie's Boy
Grand Rapids, Michigan, a kid moves to Hollywood to live with his actor/drug dealer father
Hollywood, 1974. Twelve-year-old Anthony Kiedis moves into his father's apartment on the Sunset Strip, where the fridge is empty but the coffee table is covered in cocaine and the living room is full of actors, dealers, and rock stars.
"Otherside" (Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2000). An animated descent into addiction and alternate realities. Before this band made music about the dark side of Los Angeles, their singer lived it as a child. This is where that story starts.
Blackie Dammett's Hollywood
Anthony Kiedis was born on November 1, 1962 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His parents split when he was young, and at twelve he moved to Los Angeles to live with his father, John Michael Kiedis, who went by the name Blackie Dammett. Blackie was a small-time actor and a full-time hustler who dealt drugs to supplement his Hollywood ambitions. The apartment on the Sunset Strip was the kind of place where a kid could meet Sonny Bono, Keith Moon, or a heroin dealer before breakfast.
Sources
Kiedis, Anthony. "Scar Tissue." Hyperion Books, 2004.
Apter, Jeff. "Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story." Omnibus Press, 2004.
TAP TO REVEAL: What was Blackie Dammett's actual Hollywood career?
Otherside, Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)
"Otherside" is built on a clean, arpeggiated guitar figure from Frusciante that circles the same four chords without ever resolving. The bass sits unusually low in the mix, letting the guitar and vocal carry the emotional weight. Anthony's vocal is one of his most controlled performances: no rap, no scream, just a melody delivered with the weariness of someone who's seen too much. Listen for how the chorus lifts but never really escapes. That trapped feeling is the whole point.
Sources
Kiedis, Anthony. "Scar Tissue." Hyperion Books, 2004.
The Sunset Strip, Hollywood
The stretch of Sunset Boulevard between Hollywood and Beverly Hills where Anthony Kiedis grew up. In the 1970s, it was the center of LA's rock, comedy, and drug scenes, all tangled together. For a twelve-year-old, it was the most exciting and dangerous playground in America.
Hollywood Childhood
Road Trippin', Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)
"Road Trippin'" closes out Californication with acoustic guitars, Flea's trumpet, and a rare sense of peace. It's a song about driving down the California coast with your closest friends. For an episode about a kid arriving in LA with nothing but a father's bad habits and the Sunset Strip as his schoolyard, this track is a glimpse of what California would eventually become for Anthony: not just chaos, but home.
Road Trippin', Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)
"Road trippin' with my two favorite allies, fully loaded we got snacks and supplies." The opening line sounds like the start of a vacation, but the song is really about escape. The friends in the car are Flea and Frusciante. The ocean they're driving toward is freedom from everything LA represents: the industry, the drugs, the pressure. It's the most tender song the Chili Peppers ever recorded, and it only works because you know what they escaped from.
What was Anthony Kiedis's father's stage name in Hollywood?
Anthony has Hollywood in his veins, but the band needs a second ingredient. On the other side of the world, a kid from Melbourne, Australia is about to land in LA with a trumpet case and a personality bigger than the Pacific Ocean. Next: meet Flea.
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