Whats this I hear about Flea being a not-so-nice guy?

[duo8675309]

He's one of my favorite bassists of all time and when I heard rumors about him having a sucky attitude I was a little disappointed in my role-model. Can anyone fill me in on some details?

[KyleAwesome]

Originally Posted by duo8675309

He's one of my favorite bassists of all time and when I heard rumors about him having a sucky attitude I was a little disappointed in my role-model. Can anyone fill me in on some details?

Well I cant attest to fleas attitude, I will go a little off topic and let you all know Sean Connery is a real douche in person, hulk hogan is a real chill guy, and the olsen twins are total hookers.

Yes I have met each of them...

[duo8675309]

Hahaha. Celebrity gossip. I"m really starting to like VH1 now that they've ran out of lists. But I'm sure they're just waiting for more stuff to happen so they can make more top 100's. Man that used to be all they showed. Anyway i'm off topic too. Thanks a lot! Anyway back to Flea.

[GM60466]

I met Flea in a guitar shop in Chicago. He had all the best basses lined up ready for him to pull the trigger. I saw a bass in his pile and asked if I could play it. He was great about it. Wasn't too chatty but certainly not a bit rude.
Don't believe everything you hear.

GM

[Spector_Ray]

Originally Posted by KyleAwesome

Well I cant attest to fleas attitude, I will go a little off topic and let you all know Sean Connery is a real douche in person, hulk hogan is a real chill guy, and the olsen twins are total hookers.

Yes I have met each of them...

Um......can I get the Olsen's digits?

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by duo8675309

He's one of my favorite bassists of all time and when I heard rumors about him having a sucky attitude I was a little disappointed in my role-model. Can anyone fill me in on some details?

Everyone has bad days. It's just that the us non-celebrities don't have our pissy moods written about on the internet.

I met Flea at Lollapalooza years ago and he seemed genuinely nice, as did the rest of the members of the band that I met (everyone except Anthony). But, I'm sure there are people who have negative stories about him, too, that are equally true.

I wouldnt' worry about it.

[johnvice]

that is, bad news sells. Sadly, a story about Flea being a nice person would not sell so well as Flea having a bad attitiude.

[Digo]

Originally Posted by GM60466

I met Flea in a guitar shop in Chicago. He had all the best basses lined up ready for him to pull the trigger. I saw a bass in his pile and asked if I could play it. He was great about it. Wasn't too chatty but certainly not a bit rude.
Don't believe everything you hear.

GM

should of asked if you could buy one from him or him buy you one

[KyleAwesome]

Originally Posted by Spector_Ray

Um......can I get the Olsen's digits?

Ha ha, seriously they seem to be down in the bahamas (where my family is from) every time I am down there. Last time I saw them they were walking around the waterpark of atlantis.

[Digo]

last time u saw them? u stalk them or sumin

[IanStephenson]

Originally Posted by duo8675309

He's one of my favorite bassists of all time and when I heard rumors about him having a sucky attitude I was a little disappointed in my role-model. Can anyone fill me in on some details?

I can't say anything about flea. HOWEVER I can ask you what makes you think that being a great bass player makes you a good person? Mother Theresa was really rubbish bass player - couldn't hold a groove... no one complained about that.

You need to learn that people you admire for one reason may not be admirable in other respects. It doesn't detract from the things you admire them for. It's a "fan" thing - you love their music and idendify with it. That DOESN'T mean you know them, and it doesn't mean there's a connection between you - it just means they wrote some good songs. If you meet them, and they're jerks then don't meet them again.

Some good bass players have great attitudes (I never heard a bad word about VW), others are jerks. Judge them as people by all means, but don't confuse that with their playing. If you think they're a great player, and discover they torture small animals for fun, they're still a great player. If they're rubbish players, then opening an orphanage aint gonna change that.

As I said at the beginning - I don't know anything about Flea. You like his playing? Great. Practice his songs, get his style down. That's the only thing between you - he's not "your" role model, or "your" anything. If you want moral guidance go to church or do some volenteer work.

Ian

[TreeChild]

Originally Posted by IanStephenson

HOWEVER I can ask you what makes you think that being a great bass player makes you a good person?

i think part of being a good muscian is being a good human. but i do see your point.

[Demon]

Well, you cant expect everyone to be happy all the time, as someone says, everyone has ther bad days, and dont listen to that gossip crap, when they write about someone tis allways something bad, tahts what makes money.

[superbassman2000]

and so what?

if flea is your hero, and his attitude sucks, does that change the way you hear his music? it shouldn't...heck Tim Commerford was (and still is) one of my bigger bass heroes, and he did an interview or two that might have had signs of a bad attitude, but you know what? i still like his music, as thats what originally made him my hero...Heck...even Jaco had his bad days

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by TreeChild

i think part of being a good muscian is being a good human. but i do see your point.

I dunno. Chuck Berry and Little Richard are some of the founding fathers of Rock and Roll, and I don't think either one of them would be considered a really nice person.

The list of "Good Musicians Who Are Complete Jerks" is pretty long, and varied.

Unless they are renting a room from you, or are sharing a car on a long drive, it's not super important, IMHO.

[Matt Till]

Regardless of his attitude, I hate his personality. The thing that really pissed me off is when Weird Al parodied "Give it away" by doing a Flinstones tribute, "Yabba Dabba Doo" in the place of Give it away. It was kinda funny, and most musicians are ok with it, Coolio and RHCP are the only people I've heard be winey bitches about Weird Al. Flea said in an interview (paraphrasing), "I just don't think it's that clever, I mean, Yabba Dabba Doo... those just aren't clever lyrics."

What I got you gotta give it to yo mamma
What I got you gotta give it to you pappa
What I got you gotta give it to your dog
Til you do a little dance then you drink a little water

Give it Away Give it away give it away give it away now


Yeah, Flea, he's butchered those clever clever lyrics.

He tries for the "I'm a hippy at peace with everything" attitude in interviews, but is a big fake. And there are too many "Flea is a jerk" stories for me to believe that he just has "off days" unless he gets them all the time, and then I suggest medication... and not heroin

[beyondhairy]

Originally Posted by KyleAwesome

Ha ha, seriously they seem to be down in the bahamas (where my family is from) every time I am down there. Last time I saw them they were walking around the waterpark of atlantis.

would u really want them? u could get the sam action dating a toothpick from the kitchen counter

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

.....there are too many "Flea is a jerk" stories for me to believe that he just has "off days" unless he gets them all the time.

This is how I feel. I had a bad experience myself with Flea. I wondered if maybe he was having a bad day, but the multiple stories lining up make me believe as you do.

-Mike

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by Matt Till

Regardless of his attitude, I hate his personality. The thing that really pissed me off is when Weird Al parodied "Give it away" by doing a Flinstones tribute, "Yabba Dabba Doo" in the place of Give it away. It was kinda funny, and most musicians are ok with it, Coolio and RHCP are the only people I've heard be winey bitches about Weird Al. Flea said in an interview (paraphrasing), "I just don't think it's that clever, I mean, Yabba Dabba Doo... those just aren't clever lyrics."

What I got you gotta give it to yo mamma
What I got you gotta give it to you pappa
What I got you gotta give it to your dog
Til you do a little dance then you drink a little water

Give it Away Give it away give it away give it away now


Yeah, Flea, he's butchered those clever clever lyrics.

He tries for the "I'm a hippy at peace with everything" attitude in interviews, but is a big fake. And there are too many "Flea is a jerk" stories for me to believe that he just has "off days" unless he gets them all the time, and then I suggest medication... and not heroin

Well, to be fair, Weird Al won't release a parody unless he has the original artists' okay. The Coolio thing was a misunderstanding. If Flea is listed as one of the songwriters, he could have nixed the idea outright and Al wouldn't have ever released it. So, he couldn't have had that big of a problem with it.






Jeez...I know way too much about Weird Al.

[Matt Till]

And I'm sure if Flea had a problem with it, he could have stopped whoever the songwriter was from giving permission. But why OK something then complain about it later?