Jupiter; Song 4: Stadium Arcadium
‘ "Stadium Arcadium"?!! More like "Stadium ArGAYdium" haha ’
Nitchingham 23/11/05, courtesty of Gmail
“Stadium Arcadium” will no doubt go down in history as one of the few songs in the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalogue to be born of a drum part. It is a very organic song with a simple, somewhat hypnotic guitar riff, and to its credit has one of the best bridge sections (I’d stay shy of calling it a guitar solo, due to its lack of melody) of the album.
This song is about the live experience of connecting with an audience, but to me its more than that. There is no such thing as an “arcadium”, but the chorus line “The stadium arcadium, a mirror to the moon” to me evokes an image of being at a gathering with friends at a 21st, or a group of strangers watching a soccer game at 4.30am in the morning, and feeling so enlightened and powerful that bystanders from afar would look and see a light beam directed at the heavens. Even though I think this song is lyrically more powerful than most songs in the album, I still confer to Anthony Kiedis a yellow card for partial re-using of the metaphor “a mirror for the sun”, as in “Road Tripping”.
The title track to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ albums have had a special place over the past few years. “Californication”, widely considered to be Kiedis’ most accomplished lyric, is well loved for its intimate interplay between Flea and John Frusicante, and in my opinion having one of the all-time best guitar solos in modern music. “By The Way”, the song that I had anticipated the most since my musical awakening, offered a hint of the depths of harmony and pop sensibility that the album would succumb to, as well as infamously being the song that Bucky and I would literally be crushed under when the Chilis came to Adelaide. So it would not have been unreasonable to assume this song would be a cracker prior to the release of the record. Sadly, as of the time of writing, it isn’t, although it is by no means a bad song. The above quote reflects my initial reaction to the name, as well as that legendary Nitchingham wit, and while I have been convinced that it works as an album name and a song idea, it fails to rise to the ranks of the previous songs and as a result of that alone I can’t think so highly of the song as a whole as of this moment.
‘ "Stadium Arcadium"?!! More like "Stadium ArGAYdium" haha ’
Nitchingham 23/11/05, courtesty of Gmail
“Stadium Arcadium” will no doubt go down in history as one of the few songs in the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalogue to be born of a drum part. It is a very organic song with a simple, somewhat hypnotic guitar riff, and to its credit has one of the best bridge sections (I’d stay shy of calling it a guitar solo, due to its lack of melody) of the album.
This song is about the live experience of connecting with an audience, but to me its more than that. There is no such thing as an “arcadium”, but the chorus line “The stadium arcadium, a mirror to the moon” to me evokes an image of being at a gathering with friends at a 21st, or a group of strangers watching a soccer game at 4.30am in the morning, and feeling so enlightened and powerful that bystanders from afar would look and see a light beam directed at the heavens. Even though I think this song is lyrically more powerful than most songs in the album, I still confer to Anthony Kiedis a yellow card for partial re-using of the metaphor “a mirror for the sun”, as in “Road Tripping”.
The title track to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ albums have had a special place over the past few years. “Californication”, widely considered to be Kiedis’ most accomplished lyric, is well loved for its intimate interplay between Flea and John Frusicante, and in my opinion having one of the all-time best guitar solos in modern music. “By The Way”, the song that I had anticipated the most since my musical awakening, offered a hint of the depths of harmony and pop sensibility that the album would succumb to, as well as infamously being the song that Bucky and I would literally be crushed under when the Chilis came to Adelaide. So it would not have been unreasonable to assume this song would be a cracker prior to the release of the record. Sadly, as of the time of writing, it isn’t, although it is by no means a bad song. The above quote reflects my initial reaction to the name, as well as that legendary Nitchingham wit, and while I have been convinced that it works as an album name and a song idea, it fails to rise to the ranks of the previous songs and as a result of that alone I can’t think so highly of the song as a whole as of this moment.
posted by Anil at 4:47 PM
13 Comments:
'"Stadium Arcadium"?!! More like "Stadium ArGAYdium" haha ’
Haha, it's still funny!!
I love the legendary Nitchingham wit!!
I don't mind this song - I can quite happily listen to it - very mellow but still slightly distant and mysterious - probably the only song that actually has any aural connection to the overall 'galactic' theme of the album.
3/5
"I still confer to Anthony Kiedis a yellow card for partial re-using of the metaphor “a mirror for the sun”, as in “Road Tripping”."
Haha!! Harsh man, Nitch - he's done worse than that before though...
"and while I have been convinced that it works as an album name"
Mmmmmmmmmm........
"it fails to rise to the ranks of the previous songs"
???
You mean on SA or other title tracks??
Comments on the backwards guitar??
The other title tracks were outstanding songs within their own albums, whereas this one hardly registers a blip on this album. So to answer your question Tom, I'd say BOTH funnily enough. It's harsh means of assessment admittedly.
And yes, backwards guitar is always a good thing, it adds to the mystic vibe of the song as Tom mentioned. In case you can't tell from my previous reviews one of the great things about Stadium Arcadium is that John really experimented with his guitar overdubs in all the songs to make them stand alone, and more often than not it paid off.
Review Funky Monks (or should I say 'Feeble Monks'??) concert!!!!!
"The other title tracks were outstanding songs within their own albums"
He's right, but I found it strange that they never chose (in my opinion) the best song from the album for the title.......or did they just take the song name that would also sound good as an album name??
The title track is in Chili Pepper records is historically:
1) a title of a song in thealbum and
2) a title that in some way reflects the nature of the collection of songs in the album, or has some deeper meaning relevant to the band
For example: "By The Way" can obviously be taken as the phrase most people associate it with, but Chad Smith associated it with a Californian freeway he thought of when he listened to the album, and Flea connected it with "The Way", a philosophy in Taoism and Confucianism about abiding to a noble and proper lifestyle.
Besides, what other tracks of Stadium Arcadium would have made good album titles? The only one I can think of is "Warlocks", I would have liked its mystical connotations and it would have made for a good art design potentially.
I have to say i like this song. Sometimes i feel that since the "by the way" album John adds too much in the way off harmonies and layers etc. but this is a little more stripped by his standards and works well.
I agree it's not a defining song and therefore not such a great title track but then again if their title tracks are meaningful for them personally then i think this works. I know they are very much in touch with the idea of the cosmos and 'bigger things' spiritually. and thats what the words Stadium Arcadium evoke for me. They're commenting on their place in the grandest stadium, their place in the world, the universe.
"1) a title of a song in thealbum "
They only started doing that on BSSM. But that's just plain lazy!! I actually prefer it when the album title is not the name of a track - saves confusion and is more creative than simple re-using. The 1st 4 albums had mad names! (except Uplift.....)
"2) a title that in some way reflects the nature of the collection of songs in the album, or has some deeper meaning relevant to the band"
Yeah, that's true. I always thought that 'By The Way' was a good title for a final 'goodbye' album......guess not!
"Besides, what other tracks of Stadium Arcadium would have made good album titles?"
Yeah, he's right!!
But it's not that hard to come up with a title that's not a track name!!
Freakey Styley was also a song title/album name. But this raises the point of what constitutes a "Red Hot Chili Pepper" album, and in future when I refer to the Chili Peppers, I'm talking about Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith and John Frusciante. Not to denounce the historical and musical significance of any of the albums or involved musicians prior to Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but when I refer to Red Hot Chili Peppers being a major musical and spiritual influence on my life, I'm talking about the Rick Rubin slash song-writing era and not the early rap-jam era of the Chili Peppers, not that I don't enjoy that. Mother's Milk doesn't count for the same reason, John was emulating Hillel Slovak for most of that record.
while i havent got the album it is intereting reading this informative music discussion
you should write an article on that chillis docmentary we watched at your house (i mean forced to watch)
that was quite possible the most painful 1.5 hrs of my life
"Freakey Styley was also a song title/album name."
Oh yeah - he's right!
(But a mad name!!)
"major musical and spiritual influence on my life"
Spiritual?!?
"Rick Rubin slash song-writing era"
Hahaaaa!!! Errr, why don't you just use the '/' instead of actually writing 'slash'???
Hmmm, interesting theory.......
What about 'One Hot Goodness'??
One Hot Goodness?!!
mad album. extremely underrated. but that's an discussion for another day.
Oh fuck yeah, definitely a story for another day. I'm happy to vent about that one...later. In the mean time, I look forward to Rob Balestrin's review on Funky Monks, as well as Even Flow and Fear of Flying, at http://rebornrobbie.blogspot.com/
"Anil said...
There'll be two posts to make up for it this weekend, I promise."
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NAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Tom,
a) As of 8.15 pm on Monday 26th June 2006, I have succesfully done 2 outstanding blog posts in 3 days. I think I deserve a little more credit.
b) at least I'm not un-Australian. There. I said it. Are you happy now?! AAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! Man, I need to start smoking...
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