frusciante's big toe 😈🙏

hillel slovak, rhcp's first guitarist, died in 1988, aged 26, due to an overdose. this death left a massive impact on the band, especially on anthony kiedis. during this time, he was addicted to drugs, spending almost all his money from shows to buy heroin. after hillel's death, the consequences of drugs truly hit him, especially after flea made the decision to leave the band unless anthony got sober. flea and anthony both suffered immensely from this death, but so did john frusciante. hillel was his hero, and learned the guitar part for every chili pepper song. this is why when the band were looking for a new member, john was the perfect fit. as hillel had such an effect on them all, it lead him to be mentioned and referenced across multiple songs. some of these include open / close ( which features a story about hillel ), this is the place, skinny sweaty man, me and my friends, feasting on the flowers, otherside, knock me down and my lovely man.

the song was played with pre - recorded tracks ( as you can see flea and josh don't have cables attached to their guitars ). the NFL clarified from the beginning that they would have to " mime " the song out, and the band understanding the hassle of setting up to play live went with it.