Tony Flow and the Miraculous Masters of Mayhem

It's hard to imagine a viable alternative music culture without the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the helm. That is true. With that being said, you probably know how I feel about the commercialization of their music and the homogenization that occurred in their sound after the single "Under the Bridge" transformed them into corporate cash cows. They'd been Sugar Ray'ed. So, for me, the music hasn't *been* viable since 1991's _Blood Sugar Sex Magik_, which coincidentally was the very first compact disc I ever bought.....Anyway, there really isn't any point to this post (seemingly except for the slinging of some haterade for the socked ones). On the flipside, I've been listening to 1994's _Out In L.A._ a couple of times this week. Searching through my CD vault for another old disc, I rediscovered this small gem. It's a compilation album that was released by the band the year prior to their _One Hot Minute_ album, as a sort of placeholder for the fans that had been waiting three years for new material. Some tracks are remixes, but the majority of the tracks were one-offs and demos that hadn't seen the light of day.My favorite track on the album was reportedly laid down by Anthony and Flea in the middle of the night with the intent of giving it to the rest of the band the next day, to see what they thought. It is from 1982, before the inception of the RHCP name, while the band was in it's infancy recording under the trivia-lover's dream name *"Tony Flow and the Miraculous Masters of Mayhem"*.This recording also goes to show how genius of a bass player Flea was (or is, I guess...). For me, this recording serves as a reminder of the vitality of their music, a time that's long been gone, and sorely, sorely missed.