Flea Reflects On Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Petty' Views Of Guns N' Roses

When the Red Hot Chili Peppers were coming up in Los Angeles, so was the hair metal scene. And the two did not get along. During a recent interview, Flea opened up about their "petty" views on bands like Guns N' Roses.

“We were definitely against the hair-metal scene,” the bassist said. “We were like, 'F**k them. We're the underground, art-rock, get-weird east side guys; those guys are just rehashing Aerosmith and Kiss.’”

“In retrospect it was all petty bulls**t," he admitted. "A lot of those bands were f**king great. Guns N’ Roses was a great band.”

“There was a certain arrogance. A 'F**k the world, f**k the system, f**k the authority, f**k the powers that be, we're us and we're doing our thing our way, we're street kids’ thing," Flea added. "We were going hard and being wild.”

That "wild" spirit could be a factor in RHCP's longevity. “It didn't dawn on us that there was something other than selling out clubs and making people happy and being original,” vocalist Anthony Kiedis said. “We were a party band, but you have to bring something to the party. Flea was instrumental in saying, ‘We have to be good; we have to write some new shit, we have to have something to move these people.’ We always came fully loaded.”

RHCP are gearing up to release their 12th studio album Unlimited Love on April 1. On Friday (March 4), they shared its second single "Poster Child," which you can listen to here.