Category:Drug culture Advocates Category:Activists by issue Psychedelic drugs

Name	Timothy Leary
Birth name	Timothy Francis Leary
Birth date	October 22, 1920
Birth place	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death date	May 31, 1996
Death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Psychologist Author
Employer	UC Berkeley Kaiser Family Foundation Harvard
Known	Psychedelic therapy
Spouse

Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an influential American psychologist and writer known in later life for advocating research into psychedelic drugs. A hugely controversial figure during the 1960s and 1970s, he encouraged the use of the drug LSD for its therapeutic, emotional and spiritual benefits, and popularized the phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out", both of which proved to be hugely influential on the 1960s counterculture. Largely due to his influence in this field, he was attacked by conservative figures in the United States, and described as "the most dangerous man in America" by President Richard Nixon.

Early life

Leary was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the only child when he was a sergeant in the Medical Corps. He received his master's degree at Washington State University in 1946, and his Ph.D. in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. though he claimed that he had fulfilled all of his teaching obligations. The decision to dismiss him was allegedly influenced by his role in the popularity of then-legal psychedelic substances among Harvard students and faculty members. When Leary was 35 years old he described himself as "an anonymous institutional employee who drove to work each morning in a long line of commuter cars and drove home each night and drank martinis ... like several million middle-class, liberal, intellectual robots."

Upon his return from Mexico to Harvard in 1960, Leary and his associates, notably Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass), began a research program known as the Harvard Psilocybin Project. The goal was to analyze the effects of psilocybin on human subjects (in this case, prisoners, and later, students of the Andover Newton Theological Seminary) using a synthesized version of the then-legal drug—one of two active compounds found in a wide variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms including Psilocybe mexicana. The compound was produced according to a process developed by Albert Hofmann of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, famous for synthesizing LSD.

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg asked Leary to participate in the experiments after hearing about the Harvard research project. Leary was inspired by Ginsberg's enthusiasm and the two shared an optimism in the benefit of psychedelic substances to help people ‘turn on’ (discover a higher level of consciousness). Together they began a campaign of introducing other intellectuals and artists to psychedelics.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Leary (in collaboration with the writer Brian Barritt) formulated his circuit model of consciousness, in which he claimed that the human mind/nervous system consisted of seven circuits which, when activated, produce seven levels of consciousness (this model was first published as the short essay, "The Seven Tongues of God"). The system soon expanded to include an eighth circuit; this version was first unveiled to the world in the rare 1973 pamphlet "Neurologic" (written with Joanna Leary while he was in prison), but was not exhaustively formulated until the publication of Exo-Psychology (by Leary) and in Robert Anton Wilson's Cosmic Trigger in 1977. Wilson contributed significantly to the model after befriending Leary in the early 1970s, and has used it as a framework for further exposition in his book Prometheus Rising, among other works.

Leary believed that the first four of these circuits ("the Larval Circuits" or "Terrestrial Circuits") are naturally accessed by most people in their lifetimes, triggered at natural transition points in life, such as puberty. The second four circuits ("the Stellar Circuits" or "Extra-Terrestrial Circuits"), Leary claimed, were evolutionary off-shoots of the first four that would be triggered at transition points that we will have when we evolve further, and would equip us to encompass life in space, as well as the expansion of consciousness that would be necessary to make further scientific and social progress. Leary suggested that some people may "shift to the latter four gears" (i.e. trigger these circuits artificially) by utilizing consciousness-altering techniques such as meditation and spiritual endeavors such as yoga, or by taking psychedelic drugs specific to each circuit. An example of the information Leary cited as evidence for the purpose of the "higher" four circuits was the feeling of floating and uninhibited motion experienced by users of marijuana. In the eight circuit model of consciousness, a primary theoretical function of the fifth circuit (the first of the four developed for life in outer space) is to allow humans to become accustomed to life in a zero or low gravity environment.

Legal troubles

agents Don Strange (right) and Howard Safir (left) arrest Leary in 1972]]

Leary's first run-in with the law came on December 20, 1965. Leary decided to take his children and Rosemary to Mexico for an extended stay to write a book. During a border crossing with his girlfriend Rosemary Woodruff and two children Jack and Susan from Mexico into the United States, marijuana was found in his daughter Susan's underwear. They had crossed into Laredo, Mexico in the late afternoon and discovered they would have to wait until morning for the appropriate visa for an extended stay. They decided to cross back into Texas to spend the night and were on the bridge when Rosemary remembered she had a very small amount of marijuana in her possession. It was impossible to throw it out on the bridge so Susan put it in her underwear. In 1972, President Richard Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell, persuaded the Swiss government to imprison Leary, which it did for a month, but the Swiss refused to extradite him back to the U.S. In that same year, Leary and Rosemary separated. Leary became involved with Swiss-born British socialite Joanna Harcourt-Smith, a stepdaughter of financier Árpád Plesch. Leary "married" Harcourt-Smith at a hotel two weeks after they were first introduced; she used his surname until their breakup in early 1977. They traveled to Vienna, then Beirut and finally went to Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1973. "Afghanistan had no extradition treaty with the United States, but this stricture did not apply to American airliners," Luc Sante wrote in a review of a biography of Leary. That interpretation of the law was used by U.S. authorities to capture the fugitive. "Before Leary could deplane, he was arrested by an agent of the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs."

At a layover in the United Kingdom, as Leary was being flown back to the United States, he requested political asylum from Her Majesty's Government, but to no avail. He was then held on five million dollars bail ($21.5 mil. in 2006). President Richard Nixon had earlier labeled him "the most dangerous man in America." The judge at his remand hearing remarked, "If he is allowed to travel freely, he will speak publicly and spread his ideas." He did not believe that he would be resurrected in the future, but he believed that cryonics had important possibilities and stated the chance was "one chance in 1,000". He called it his "duty as a futurist," and helped publicize the process and hoped it would work for his children and grandchildren if not for him, although he said he was "light-hearted" about it. Leary had relationships with two cryonic organizations, originally Alcor and then CryoCare, which delivered a cryonic tank to Leary's house in the months before his death. However, Leary subsequently requested that his body be cremated, which it was, and distributed among his friends and family.

Leary's death was videotaped for posterity at his request, capturing his final words. During his final moments, he said, "Why not?" to his son Zachary. He uttered the phrase repeatedly, in different intonations, and died soon after. His last word, according to Zachary Leary, was "beautiful."

The film Timothy Leary's Dead (1996) contains a simulated sequence in which Leary allows his bodily functions to be suspended for the purposes of cryonic preservation, and his head is removed and placed on ice. At the end of the film is a sequence showing the creation of the artificial head used in the film.

Seven grams of Leary's ashes were arranged by his friend at Celestis to be buried in space aboard a rocket carrying the remains of 24 other people including Gene Roddenberry (creator of Star Trek), Gerard O'Neill (space physicist), Krafft Ehricke (rocket scientist), and others. A Pegasus rocket containing their remains was launched on April 21, 1997, and remained in orbit for six years until it burnt up in the atmosphere.

Influence

Leary is often considered one of the most prominent figures during the counterculture of the 1960s, and since those times has remained incredibly influential on pop culture, literature, television, film; and especially music.

Timothy Leary's ideas heavily influenced the work of Robert Anton Wilson. This influence went both ways and Leary admittedly took just as much from Wilson. Wilson's book Prometheus Rising was an in depth, highly detailed and inclusive work documenting Leary’s eight circuit model of consciousness. Although the theory originated in discussions between Leary and a Hindu holy man at Millbrook, Wilson was one of the most ardent proponents of it and introduced the theory to a mainstream audience in 1977's bestselling Cosmic Trigger. In 1989, they appeared together on stage in a dialog entitled The Inner Frontier Leary once recruited John Lennon to write a theme song for his California gubernatorial campaign (which was interrupted by his prison sentence), inspiring Lennon to come up with "Come Together", based on Leary's theme and catchphrase for the campaign. Leary was also present when Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono recorded Give Peace a Chance during one of their bed-ins in Montreal and is mentioned in the lyrics of the song. He appears in the world television broadcast of "All You Need is Love" as well.

While in exile in Switzerland, Leary and British writer Brian Barrett collaborated with the German band Ash Ra Tempel, and recorded the album Seven Up. He is credited as a songwriter, and his lyrics and vocals can be heard throughout the album. For some reason he left this experience out of his autobiography.

Leary was the explicit subject of the Ray Thomas-written The Moody Blues song "Legend of a Mind", which memorialized him with the words, "Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, no he's outside looking in" (a lyric later incorporated into the Bongwater's cover version of the Moody Blues song "Ride My See-Saw"). At first, Leary detested the line, but later found the sense of humor to adopt "Legend of a Mind" as his theme song when he hit the lecture circuit. Another Moody Blues song "When You're a Free Man" was written by Mike Pinder, and it detailed Leary's imprisonment, while also showing concern for his family ("How are the children, and Rosemary?). ".]]

Timothy Leary also worked with new wave band Devo, appearing as Dr. Byrthfood in a segment of their 1985 home video We're All Devo!. This segment would appear on The Complete Truth About De-Evolution as "Kindred Spirit". Leary and Devo also worked together on a planned video game adaptation of Neuromancer, though plans fell through.

A number of other musical groups have admired and been influenced by Leary, including:

The song "Voyage 34" by Porcupine Tree which periodically has a snippet of a monologue by Timothy Leary.

The song "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me," by the alternative rock band Cracker, paraphrases one of Leary's catchphrases in a song about physically escaping mainstream culture (from the album "Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey" (2009)).

The song "Timothy Leary" by the alternative rock band Guster was on their 2007 release of Satellite EP as well as on the "Rock the Net" multi-artist compilation (2008).

The progressive rock band Tool sampled one of his monologues during the opening of their live performances of the track "Third Eye" from the album Ænima, as heard in the live album Salival, released in 2000. More recently, a sample of one of Leary's monologues has been used right before the band takes the stage on their 2010 summer tour.

The metal band Nevermore mentions Leary in their lyrics, and titled one of their albums "The Politics of Ecstasy" (1996) (after Leary's book of the same name). Also, on Nevermore's self-titled album (1995), there is a song named "Timothy Leary".

The song "Texan Book of the Dead" by Clutch, released in 1995 on their self-titled album, mentions Leary in a round-about way. "Be leery of Timothy, Clear light and all that. If you want light go stare at the sun. Hell, that boy don't know crap."

The Psychedelic Trance band Infected Mushroom uses a sound clip of Leary saying "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" in the song "Drop Out".

Leary made a cameo appearance in "Stuff" (1993), a short film directed by Johnny Depp and Gibby Haynes about the Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitar player John Frusciante.

Leary is also mentioned in the song "The Seeker" by The Who (1970): "I asked Bobby Dylan/ I asked the Beatles/ I asked Timothy Leary/ But he couldn't help me either", placing him among several other leading figures of '60s pop culture.

References to Leary appear in the iconic counter-culture piece "Hair" in the lyrics to "Let the sunshine in" ("Singing our space songs on a spider web sitar / Life is around you and in you / Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie"), and in the song "Manchester England, England" [Now that I've dropped out/Why is life dreary, dreary?/Answer my weary query/Timothy Leary, dearie]. Also the song "Hare Krishna" has a small reference to Leary's catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out": ("...Love / Love / Love / Love / Drop out / Drop out / Drop out / Drop out / Be in/ Be in/ Be in/ Be in").

Leary waxed poetic about helicopters on "Gila Copter," the first track of the 1993 album "Linger Ficken' Good" by The Revolting Cocks, and also appeared in the music video for "Crackin' Up" from the same album.

Tim played the father of Mike Muir in the music video "Possessed to Skate" from the album Join the Army by Suicidal Tendencies.

UK electronic dance group, The Grid, sampled Leary in their 1990 track "Origins of Dance".

Leary appeared in the 1995 video for the Blind Melon song "Galaxie".

Leary is mentioned in the Dog Fashion Disco song "The Acid Memoirs"

The song "Flash Delirium" by MGMT paraphrases Leary's catchphrase with the lyrics "So turn it on/ Tune it in/ and stay inert."

Leary is mentioned in the Dungen song "Satt Att Se"

Leary is mentioned in the Butthole Surfers song "Weird Revolution"

Leary is mentioned in the Marcy Playground song "It's Saturday"

Television and film

Leary was the inspiration for the character "Brother William" in a 1968 episode of Dragnet. In the episode entitled "The Big Prophet," Jack Webb's character, Joe Friday, along with his partner Bill Gannon visit Brother William's home and spend the entire episode debating the consequences of using LSD and other drugs. Friday famously tells Brother William, "Marijuana is the flame, heroin is the fuse, LSD is the bomb." At the end of the episode Brother William is found guilty of selling narcotics to minors.

In the movie The Ruling Class, the character Jack Gurney (played by Peter O'Toole), who thinks he is Jesus, claims that the voice of "Timothy O'Leary" told him he was God. Leary also appeared in Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams (1981) as a benevolent psychiatrist administering LSD to mental patients.

Leary had a brief voice-over appearance on the American sitcom Frasier in the episode "The Show where Lilith Comes Back" as Hank, a man with an overeating disorder who called into The Dr. Frasier Crane Show.

In Across the Universe (film), Bono (playing the character of "Dr. Robert") refers to Dr. Frank Geary, who is apparently an allusion to Dr. Timothy Leary.

In Warehouse 13 Timothy Leary's glasses are an artifact in the Warehouse which cause hallucinogenic visions when worn; the longer they are worn, the less the user wants to take them off. While wearing them, Agent Pete Lattimer sees his superior with a walrus head surrounded by bubbles. A knock-off pair were made by rogue agent James MacPherson to reveal the entrance to his underground hideout.

Had a cameo appearance in Abbe Wool's Roadside Prophets (1992), where he played the character "Salvadore," helping the two main characters fix a motorcycle and offering some insight into self-enlightenment.

Was interviewed on Cartoon Network's Space Ghost Coast to Coast in 1994 (episode 3, "Elevator").

Leary made a cameo in the 1989 film Rude Awakening.

In the 2009 film The Men Who Stare at Goats (film) Bill (Jeff Bridges) awakes from a dream, or possible telepathic vision, and claims that he saw Timothy Leary, to which Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) replies "Timothy Leary's dead."

Leary is mentioned in the book "Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach in reference to his ashes in space.

Appeared as 'Dr. Milo' a former (probably not coincidentally) Harvard Biology professor on 'Stagecoach', episode 22 of "The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr.", where he delivers (remember this series occurs in the 1890's) the following eulogy - Dr. Milo: "When I find myself in times of trouble, I say, boy you gotta carry that weight. I am he - you are he - you are me - we are all together, speaking words of wisdom come together right now. Amen..."

Works

Leary authored and co-authored over twenty books and was featured on more than a dozen audio recordings. He had an acting career that included over a dozen appearances in movies and television shows, over thirty appearances as himself in the same, and produced and/or collaborated in both multi-media presentations and computer games.

References

External links

TimothyLeary.us – biography, archives, links and more

Category:1920 births Category:1996 deaths Category:People from Springfield, Massachusetts Category:American neopagans Category:American occultists Category:American psychologists Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Chicago Seven Category:College of the Holy Cross alumni Category:Consciousness researchers and theorists Category:Converts to Hinduism Category:Deaths from prostate cancer Category:Drug policy reform activists Category:Harvard University faculty Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:LSD Category:People associated with the Human Potential Movement Category:Philosophers of mind Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Psychedelic researchers Category:Space burials Category:University of Alabama alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Washington State University alumni

References in Richard Alperts book, "Be Here Now!" which is his transformation into Baba Ram Dass and his life in India with Baba's Guru and LSD experience.

Name	John Frusciante
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	John Anthony Frusciante
Born	March 05, 1970New York City, United States
Instrument	Guitar, vocals
Genre	Alternative rock, experimental rock, avant-garde, electronica
Years active	1988–present
Label	Warner Bros., , Birdman, American Recordings
Associated acts	Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ataxia, The Mars Volta, Venetian Snares, Swahili Blonde, Warpaint, Omar Rodríguez-López Quartet
Url	www.johnfrusciante.com
Notable instruments	Fender StratocasterFender TelecasterGretsch White FalconFender Jaguar Gibson Les Paul}}

John Anthony Frusciante (pronounced ) (born March 5, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the former guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he recorded five studio albums. Frusciante has an active solo career, having released ten albums under his own name, as well as two with now-Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and Joe Lally, as Ataxia. His solo recordings include elements ranging from experimental rock and ambient music to New Wave and electronica. Influenced by guitarists of various genres, Frusciante emphasizes melody and emotion in his guitar playing, and favors vintage guitars and analog recording techniques.

Frusciante joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers at eighteen, first appearing on the band's 1989 album Mother's Milk. The group's follow-up album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), was a breakthrough success. However, he was overwhelmed by the band's new popularity and quit in 1992. He became a recluse and entered a long period of drug addiction, during which he released his first recordings: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and then Smile from the Streets You Hold (1997). In 1998, he successfully completed drug rehabilitation and rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers with the album Californication (1999). His album To Record Only Water for Ten Days was compiled in 2001. On a creative spree, Frusciante released six solo albums in 2004; each album exploring different recording techniques and genres. In 2009, Frusciante released The Empyrean and again parted ways with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Frusciante has produced and/or recorded with the Wu-Tang Clan, The Mars Volta, George Clinton, and others.

Frusciante has received critical recognition for his guitar playing, ranking eighteenth on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2003,

A year later, Frusciante and his mother moved to Mar Vista, Los Angeles with his new stepfather who, he says, "really supported me and made me feel good about being an artist." Like many young people in the area, he became intimately involved in the L.A. punk rock scene. At nine he was infatuated with The Germs, wearing out several copies of their record (GI). By ten, he had taught himself how to play most of (GI)'s songs in a tuning that allowed him to play every chord with a single-finger barre. Soon after, Frusciante began taking guitar lessons from an instructor who introduced him to the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He dropped out of high school at sixteen with the permission of his parents and completion of a proficiency test. With their support, he moved to Los Angeles in order to develop his musical proficiency.

1988–1992: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Frusciante first attended a Red Hot Chili Peppers performance at eighteen and he rapidly became a devoted fan. He idolized guitarist Hillel Slovak—familiarizing himself with virtually all the guitar and bass parts from the Chili Peppers' first three records. He became acquainted with Slovak; the two spoke months before Slovak's death and Frusciante's subsequent joining:

Slovak died of a heroin overdose in 1988, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, incapable of coping with Slovak's death, left the group. Remaining members Flea and vocalist Anthony Kiedis regrouped, determined to persevere. The pair added Peligro on drums and DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, formerly of P-Funk, on guitar. Kiedis recalls that "[Beinhorn] wanted John to have a big, crunching, almost metal-sounding guitar tone whereas before we always had some interesting acid-rock guitar tones as well as a lot of slinky, sexy, funky guitar tones."

Blood Sugar Sex Magik was hugely successful upon its release on September 24, 1991. It peaked at number three on the Billboard charts, and went on to sell thirteen million copies worldwide. according to the guitarist, "it was just impossible for me to stay in the band any longer. It had come to the point where even though they wanted me in the band, it felt like I was forced out of the band. Not by any members in particular or management in particular, but just the direction it was going." For a long time, he focused on painting, producing 4-track recordings he had made while recording Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and writing short stories and screenplays that dealt with a variety of motifs. To cope with his worsening depression, Frusciante increased his heroin use and spiraled into a life-threatening dependency. His use of heroin to medicate his depression was a clear decision: "I was very sad, and I was always happy when I was on drugs; therefore, I should be on drugs all the time. I was never guilty—I was always really proud to be an addict." "Running Away Into You" is the only track recorded after he left the Chili Peppers. The album is a heavily experimental avant-garde composition whose initial purpose was spiritual and emotional expression: "I wrote [the record] because I was in a really big place in my head—it was a huge, spiritual place telling me what to do. As long as I'm obeying those forces, it's always going to be meaningful. I could be playing guitar and I could say 'Play something that sucks,' and if I'm in that place, it's gonna be great. And it has nothing to do with me, except in ways that can't be understood." Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt was released on Rick Rubin's label American Recordings. Warner Bros., the Chili Peppers' label, owned rights to the album because of the leaving-artist clause in Frusciante's Chili Peppers contract. However, because he was reclusive, the label gladly handed the rights over to Rubin, who released the album at the urging of Frusciante's friends. His arms became fiercely scarred from improperly shooting heroin and cocaine, leaving permanent abscesses. He spent the next three years holed up in his Hollywood Hills home, the walls of which were badly damaged and covered in graffiti. The house was eventually destroyed by a fire that claimed his vintage guitar collection along with several recorded tapes of music and left him with serious burns after he narrowly escaped. In January 1998, urged by longtime friend Bob Forrest, Frusciante checked into Las Encinas, a drug rehabilitation clinic in Pasadena, to begin a full recovery. Upon arrival, he was diagnosed with a potentially lethal oral infection, which could only be alleviated by removing all of his teeth and replacing them with dentures. He also received skin grafts to help repair the abscesses on his ravaged arms. About a month later, Frusciante checked out of Las Encinas and reentered society. Through regular practice of vipassana and yoga, he discovered the effect self-discipline has on the body. To maintain his increased spiritual awareness and reduce distraction from his music, Frusciante decided to abstain from sexual activity stating: "I'm very well without it." All of these changes in his life have led him to a complete change in his attitude toward drugs:

In early 1998, the Red Hot Chili Peppers fired guitarist Dave Navarro and were on the verge of breaking up. Flea told Kiedis, "the only way I could imagine carrying on [with the Red Hot Chili Peppers] is if we got John back in the band." With Frusciante back on guitar, the Chili Peppers began recording their next album, Californication, released in 1999. Frusciante's return restored a key component of the Chili Peppers' sound, as well as a healthy morale. He brought with him his deep devotion to music, which had an impact on the band's recording style during the album. Frusciante has frequently stated that his work on Californication was his favorite.

During the Californication world tour, Frusciante continued to compose his own songs, many of which would be released in 2001 on his third solo album To Record Only Water for Ten Days. The album was stylistically unlike his previous records, less markedly stream-of-consciousness or avant-garde. However, the lyrics were still very cryptic and its sound was notably stripped down. The album strayed from the alternative rock he had just written with the Chili Peppers on Californication, focusing more on electronic and New Wave elements.

In 2001, Frusciante began recording his fourth album with Red Hot Chili Peppers, By the Way (2002); he considered the time to be among the happiest in his life. He relished the chance the album gave him to "keep writing better songs". While working on By the Way, he also composed most of what would become Shadows Collide with People, as well as the songs created for the movie The Brown Bunny. The album marked Frusciante's shift to a more group-minded mentality within the Chili Peppers, viewing the band as a cohesive unit rather than as four separate entities.

2002–2007: 2004 recordings and Stadium Arcadium

Frusciante wrote and recorded a plethora of songs during and after the By the Way tour. In February 2004, he started a side project with Joe Lally of Fugazi and Josh Klinghoffer, called Ataxia. The group was together for about two weeks, during which they recorded about ninety minutes of material. Later that year, five songs provided by Frusciante appeared on The Brown Bunny soundtrack.

Frusciante began a series of collaborations with friend Omar Rodríguez-López and his band The Mars Volta, by contributing guitar and electronic instrumentation to song "Cicatriz ESP" off their album De-Loused in the Comatorium. Frusciante quit the group during this period, but did not publicly announce his departure until December 2009. The Empyrean features an array of musicians including Frusciante's ex-Chili Peppers bandmate Flea, friends Josh Klinghoffer and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, as well as guest musicians including Sonus Quartet and New Dimension Singers. Frusciante stated: "I'm really happy with [the record] and I've listened to it a lot for the psychedelic experience it provides," suggesting the album is "to be played as loud as possible and is suited to dark living rooms late at night."

After the release of The Empyrean, Frusciante continued to collaborate with other artists. Along with continuing to provide guitar work to The Mars Volta's studio albums, The Bedlam In Goliath, and Octahedron, Frusciante also began an electronic duo with Aaron Funk under the name Speed Dealer Moms. Frusciante attributes this recent recognition to his shift in focus, stating that he chose an approach based on rhythmic patterns inspired by the complexity of material Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen produced. In general, his sound is also defined by an affinity for vintage guitars. All the guitars that he owns, records, and tours with were made before 1970. His most-often used guitar, however, is a 1962 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster which he has played on every album since joining the Chili Peppers, and their ensuing tours. Virtually all of Frusciante's acoustic work is played with a 1950s Martin 0-15.

Technique

Frusciante's guitar playing employs melody and emotion rather than virtuosity. Although virtuoso influences can be heard throughout his career, he has said that he often minimizes this. When he was growing up in the 1980s, many mainstream guitarists focused on speed. Because of this, he thinks that the skills of many defiant New Wave and punk guitarists were largely overlooked. Therefore he accentuates the melodically-driven technique of players such as Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division as much as possible because he thinks that their style has been overlooked and consequently underexplored. Despite this, he considers himself a fan of technique-driven guitarists like Randy Rhoads and Steve Vai, but represses an urge to emulate their style: "People believe that by playing faster and creating new playing techniques you can progress forward, but then they realize that emotionally they don't progress at all. They transmit nothing to the people listening and they stay at where Hendrix was three decades ago. Something like that happened to Vai in the 80s." Believing that focusing only on "clean tones" is negative, Frusciante developed an interest in playing with what he calls a "grimy" sound. As a result, he considers it beneficial to "mistreat" his guitar and employ various forms of distortion when soloing. He also tries to break as many "stylistic boundaries" as he can, in order to expand his musical horizons. He thinks that much of the output from today's guitarists is unoriginal, and that many of his contemporaries "follow the rules with no risk".

Frusciante's approach to album composition has changed. On his early recordings, he welcomed sonic imperfections, noting that "even on [To Record Only Water for Ten Days] there are off-pitch vocals and out-of-tune guitars." However, on later albums such as Shadows Collide With People, he pursued the opposite: "I just wanted everything to be perfect—I didn't want anything off pitch, or off time, or any unintentional this or that." Much of his solo material is first written on an acoustic or unamplified electric guitar. Frusciante tries to streamline the recording process as much as possible, because he thinks "music comes alive when [you] are creating it fast". He also enjoys the challenge of having to record something in very few takes, and believes that when musicians are unable to handle the pressure of having to record something quickly they often get frustrated or bogged down by perfectionism.

Influences

Although Hendrix was arguably Frusciante's most profound influence, he was also inspired by glam rock artists David Bowie and T.Rex as well as avant-garde acts like Captain Beefheart, The Residents, The Velvet Underground, Neu!, Frank Zappa and Kraftwerk. He credits his inspiration for learning guitar to Greg Ginn, Pat Smear and Joe Strummer, among others. As an adolescent, he began focusing on Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, as well as other bands like Public Image Ltd., Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Smiths. During the recording of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Captain Beefheart and the acoustic, one-man blues of Leadbelly and Robert Johnson, were among the most noteworthy influences. He originally intended By the Way to be made up of "these punky, rough songs", drawing inspiration from early punk artists such as The Germs and The Damned. However, this was discouraged by producer Rick Rubin, and he instead built upon Californication's melodically-driven style. With his recent solo work, he has cited electronic music—in which the guitar is often completely absent—as an influence. His electronic music influences include Depeche Mode, New Order, The Human League, Ekkehard Ehlers, Peter Rehberg and Christian Fennesz. His interests are constantly changing, as he believes that without change he will no longer have any interest in playing: "I'm always drawing inspiration from different kinds of music and playing guitar along with records, and I go into each new album project with a preconceived idea of what styles I want to combine."

Discography

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Date of release ! Title ! Record label |- | March 8, 1994 | Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt | American Recordings |- | August 26, 1997 | Smile from the Streets You Hold | Birdman Records |- | February 13, 2001 | To Record Only Water for Ten Days | Warner Music Group |- | 2001 | From the Sounds Inside | Internet self-release |- | February 24, 2004 | Shadows Collide with People | Warner Bros. Records |- | June 22, 2004 | The Will to Death | Record Collection |- | October 26, 2004 | Inside of Emptiness | Record Collection |- | February 1, 2005 | Curtains | Record Collection |- | January 20, 2009 | The Empyrean | Record Collection |}

References

;Footnotes

;Bibliography

External links

Official Red Hot Chili Peppers website

Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Backing vocalists Category:Slide guitarists Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:People from Astoria, Queens Category:Red Hot Chili Peppers members Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Lead guitarists Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers