Strip My Mind – Red Hot Chili Peppers

The first time I encountered this song was in the movie The Fighter, with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale playing boxers and half brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund. Even though this is a music blog, I can’t recommend this movie enough. Rightfully nominated for a plethora of Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, with Bale and Melissa Leo taking home best supporting actor and actress, respectively. Even if you are not a boxing or sports fan, I think most will find the story captivating. The needle drop in the film fits incredibly well, and I’ll link the scene below.

As for the song, it begins with John Frusciante striking the somber chord progression, and Chad Smith and Flea joining in shortly after. Anthony Kiedis’ lyrics, to me, seem to tell a somewhat mournful story about reminiscing on one’s past, and perhaps he’s trying to hold onto a sense of who he was before he gained so much fame. That’s just how I interpret it, and I would love to know some other opinions on it. Flea delivers as always with a fairly tame and relaxed bass line by his standards, but Frusciante steals the show with an incredibly passionate solo. Oftentimes you hear people talking about certain guitar players being able to make their instruments talk, but John is making his cry. The emotion he is able to put forth through his wailing axe is incredible. The album it’s featured on, Stadium Arcadium, will most likely end up in one of my album reviews, and it would also be the last album Frusciante would play on until he rejoined the band in 2019.

I’d also like to mention that this song was brought back to the forefront of my mind when I saw a clip on Instagram of an acquaintance’s band playing it live, so a big shoutout to him and his band Dogwood Dream.

Link to the song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp7rGy0UkYU

Link to the scene from The Fighter – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7_e7ds6ilk

Link to Dogwood Dream’s instagram –https://www.instagram.com/dogwood.dream/