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June 2004, Guitar World (USA)
thanks to Caroline for typing it out
click the thumbnail for the scans

John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the eclectic innovator picks a peck of pickled platters.

"Albatros" Public Image Ltd.
Metal Box
VIRGIN. 1979
"The musical direction Johnny Lydon chose to follow after the Sex Pistols broke up was so admirable because it defied all simplistic notions of what he was supposed to stand for as a punk rock figurehead. Public Image had a disco element in their music that was totally confusing to critics trying to pigeonhole things. Also, I know for a fact that [PIL guitarist] Keith Levine is a huge Yes fan !"

"Orang-outang" Bow Wow Wow
See Jungle ! See Jungle ! Go Join Your Gang. Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!
RCA. 1981
"To me [Bow Wow Wow guitarist Mattew Ashman is one of the great guitar stylist of all time. At the time when we were making Californication, he and Bernard Sumner [Joy Division/New Order] were my main guitar inspirations. Ashman had such an interesting combination of musical elements: a Fifties influence, a punk spirit, a surf element, a spaghetti-western thing... His brain had a really unique approach to guitar."

"The Medley: Plague of Lightouse Keeper's" Van der Graaf Generator
Vital Live
CHARISMA. 1978
"A magnificient piece of music. It's so deep, lyrically and musically, and it takes up a whole side of the album. This is really interesting LSD-influenced music in that there's nothing Sixties-ish about it, and that's the era one often associates with acid music. [VDGG leader] Peter Hammill has a stunningly original songwriting style, which really excites me as a songwriter. I've been obsessed with this group for the past couple of years. I listen to the vinyl. I don't give a damn about CDs."

"Kokakino" Joy Division
Substance
FACTORY RECORDS. 1988
"What I love so much about this particular Joy Division song is that Bernard Sumner creates a feeling of insanity via a couple of guitar tracks. His playing has an all-over-the-place quality that makes my head feel really good. A lot of his playing in Joy Division was very haphazard, almost random sounding. I'm really into that kind of playing right now."

"Up Side Down" Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Africa 70
Up Side Down
CELLULOID. 1976
"My favorite Fela song. It's sung by an Amaerican named Sandra Akanke Isidore. She was the person who turned Fela on to the concept of black power. She lived in Nigeria for two or three months, getting her accent perfect in order to perform on this song. You just know it was all recorded in one take. The idea that she studied for three months to do a vocal that ended up taking maybe two or three minutes is so exciting."

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