"Scar Tissue"

Formed in 1983 in Los Angeles, California and having been survived for over two decades Red Hot Chilli Peppers is my favourite rock music band. The band consists of vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary, and drummer Chad Smith. RHCPs varied style of music comprising of alternative rock, funk rock had impressed its millions of fans worldwide. The group originally featured guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. Slovak, however, died of a heroin overdose in 1988, resulting in Irons resigning. The band has seen many lead guitarists and drummer but the current line up has been together for the longest preiod of time.

So far the band has released 9 record albums: The Red Hot Chili Peppers(1984), Freaky Styley(1985), The Uplift Mofo Party Plan(1987), Mother's Milk(1989), Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), One Hot Minute (1995), Californication (1999), By the Way(2002), Stadium Arcadium(2006).

"Scar Tissue" is the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis. The story follows Kiedis from his birth in 1962 to the (then) present day of early 2004. It follows Kiedis into the depth of his experiences with drug addiction. The title name was taken from the single "Scar Tissue" released nine years earlier on the Chili Peppers' album Californication.

The most damning indictment of the book is that there is literally no narrative structure here; Kiedis does not impose any sort of dramatic development on his story, so unless one is familiar with the outlines of Chili Pepper history, this is just one really long picaresque. One of the more chilling moments in reading the book is realizing that the overdose death of Hillel Slovak (the Chili Peppers' original guitarist), who Kiedis refers to as his best friend and "soulmate", prompts approximately a page of reflection from Kiedis. That's it. After that, it's on to further bouts of drug-taking, startlingly dysfunctional relationships with women and occasional musings on sobriety.

Though a bit long(comprising of 400 pages), I would recommend this book to all RHCP fans which enlightens about the history of this band.