Carolinacation

Caught the still-limber Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert Monday night for purposes of review in my local daily (I'm not linking to the review cuz I wrote it too long and subsequently it got hacked up into barely-recognizable pieces). It was my first time seeing the Chili Peppers, and by far the biggest surprise was finding out just how fucking insane people are over John Frusciante. I guess if you read Guitar World or whatever you're probably already aware of his exalted stature, but I'm like the majority of my fellow critics in being completely cut off from that demographic of "real rock" holdouts.

Standing in front of a dude who spent the entire show repeatedly screaming "fuck 'em up Johnny!" I started thinking that it's strangely dissociative how guitar-hero rock is virtually moribund as a commercially viable genre (hardly any emo bands flash technical prowess, and even butt-rock outliers like Nickelback aren't known for their shredding) while at the same time there are clearly A LOT of people who are hungry for larger-than-life axe masters, to the point where people unabashedly worship a (now) unassuming dude like Frusciante, who's plenty talented but never struck me as some kind of Claptonesque deity.

Looking at the way thousands of people utterly lost their shit over Frusicante, it's hard to understand how guitar-driven rock isn't still a commercial force. Over the long haul I'm sure MTV's played a significant role in the phasing-out of the unkempt, self-indulgent shredder (who has the time for solos anymore?), and it's equally clear that the mainstream rise of hip-hop and country means fewer kids are being weaned on hoary rock epics.

Still, if there are things left to be done with a guitar, it would seem like the time is ripe for another six-string icon. Guys my age are just now having kids they can brainwash into liking grunge, and judging from the number of 50-ish dudes at the Chili Peppers show I'd say even boomers are amenable to crossing the generation gap in fealty to the almighty axe.