The 60-year-old Michigan-born musician Anthony Kiedis is known for two things: running with his shirt off in music videos and saying interesting things. Here below, we will dive into the latter.
Videos by American Songwriter
Yes, the front person for the Red Hot Chili Peppers who wrote songs like “Under the Bridge” and “Scar Tissue” is one of the most identifiable lead singers. The rocker rose to fame with his Los Angeles-born band, which released its first album in 1984 and a whopping two albums in 2022.
But with all that success, work, and recognition to his name, one might wonder what Kiedis has to say outside the lines of songwriting. What are his thoughts on life and love, his craft, and the world at large?
1. “Sometimes life’s so much cooler when you just don’t know any better and all the painful lessons have not hammered your head open yet.”
2. “What doesn’t kill you only makes your book longer.”
3. “I was a little self-centered gutter punk in the early 1980s and all I wanted to do was diss everybody.”
4. “I think people that have a fear that, ‘Oh if I have a kid I won’t be able to do this and I won’t be able to do that.’ It’s kind of the opposite. It really gives you energy. It makes people better.”
5. “You know I love pot, and I love beer, but I am totally sober, just because it completely stopped working for me.”
6. “I never really thought in terms of the concept of being a rock star – being around people like that just seemed like normal day-in-the-life stuff to me. Those were just the surroundings I grew up in.”
7. “I don’t even know what words to use to talk about the music industry anymore. But the business has changed a lot—the methods of releasing music.”
8. “The fact my relationship with my son is so good makes me forgiving of my father and also appreciative.”
9. “As a father now, I wouldn’t do what my dad did, because it left me feeling emotionally unstable as a kid. But he didn’t do the things he did out of selfishness or malice.”
10. “And I have a few friends that I think would go to bat for me no matter what. Flea is definitely one of them. Guy Oseary is one of them.”
11. “It seems like the chaos of this world is accelerating, but so is the beauty in the consciousness of more and more people.”
12. “I like the idea of defying the convention of what it is to be in your 40s, or 50s, or 60s.”
13. “I think art is inherently nonviolent and it actually occupies your mind with creation rather than destruction.”
14. “I have to laugh at myself.”
15. “But then when [John Frusciante] left, I realized that it was harder to write songs and feel spiritually connected to art and music as a band. When he came back I felt it again, instantaneously.”
16. “I inherited my father’s insatiable desire to meet all the beautiful girls in the world.”
17. “I would have to say the person with whom I am most in love is definitely my son, Everly Bear. Although I’m his dad, I’m also his friend.”
18. “I find it hard to meet the right woman as people assume I’m a certain type of person, which I’m not.”
19. “I’ve acclimated to the music-while-exercising thing.”
20. “You know, I like to climb trees and ride bikes and play.”
Photo by Santiago Bluguermann/Getty Images
