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A Message From Flea

#81
AaronVonRock said:
What I was saying was based on 14 years of living abroad and spending a lot of time with Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians, Japanese, Thais, Filipinos, etc. and most of them not giving a single toss about the NFL.
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They don't care because, on a whole, they do not play this game.
I have Canadiens in BOLD 'cause they do...they have their own league that does OK.
As far as soccer/European futbol-
We play it here...along with a bevy of other sports. Sorry, it is not as fun/exciting to play as baseball/football/basketball/hockey/volleyball/etc.

...and yes, it's being shoved down our throats as an alternative to American football.
It's cheaper, safer, & boys/girls can play it together. Kumbaya.
 
#82
I understand RHCP's position here. They were asked to perform under certain, probably uncomfortable conditions and they agreed because it means great exposition and promotion for the band and only bass freaks and geeks like us would notice they were unplugged.

He took the time to explain it and I'm fine with it. They're not the first and won't be the last performers to do it.

If I was asked the same thing, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
 
#86
UGH. Flea comes out and explains it, and then people start accusing him of "faking" the letter. Ridiculous. I could tell Bruno Mars band wasn't playing when I heard the slap parts and the bassist wasn't actually slapping. It's not a big deal, and I guarantee any one hating on the performance would do it in a second. Both artists have earned enough credibility that we all know they can play. It would be one thing if they did this on tour or at a festival, but it was for part of one song. People are likening it to say, Britney Spears lip synching, which is comparing apples to shoes.
 
#87
I'm not offended. A "live" performance where the vocals are live over a pre-recorded track...like that's never happened before :) Honestly, who cares. If you really want to see RHCP, pay for the ticket and see them in concert. The halftime show, as fun as it was, is merely window dressing for a football game.
 
#89
Why bother having anyone play at all? If you are just going to make them play to a track, that means you don't trust them to do a good job during one of the biggest telecasts of the year. Lame. The NFL is basically saying "get up there and dance you monkeys." Why not just have some dancers do some choreography to the track and skip the band altogether?
I don't like RHCP, but I don't blame them for taking the money. "Want a couple thousand dollars to play pretend for 5 minutes on a Sunday?" "SURE!"
It should be the National F U League.
 
#91
Whousedtoplay said:
I think that Flea, at least so far, is
the only one musician/artist who openly and officially, to the whole world, acknowledged the fact of "miming",
(while other musicians who have been "miming" = THOUSANDS OF THEM = made little or no noise about it).
Plus,
Flea openly and officially, to the whole world, has expressed his and the RHCP opinion about it.

It takes A LOT OF COURAGE TO DO IT.

(I wonder if any other musicians or even bass players, who shared the stage with Flea, would do it?)

I have only great respect for Flea.
Aging, but always young and rebellious spirit.
Click to expand...

Your posts are like a text version of a song that uses fingerstyle, slap, pickstyle, tapping, and your thumb.
 
#92
Biggbass said:
They thought it better not to pretend....but they did.
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IMO they did the right thing. They didn't go out of their way to be corny and ruin the show, but Flea and Josh didn't play along by plugging in. That subtle gesture means to me that they weren't going to intentionally fool people, and allowed them to retain a little integrity. IMO it was the best they could do under the circumstances and I respect it.
 
#94
Regardless of who wrote it, it is a great letter.

Everyone knows that shows like this are fake. If the artist can accept it, why can't everyone else?

It does not mean that you can't take thier past or future performances seriously. It means that for 5 minutes (and the other 2 examples cited in the letter) they faked it because the producer of the show (NFL) said it's our way or the highway.

I find it very odd that we are being so hard on these guys. Honestly, would those of you that say you'd never accept such conditions and that your integrity and the integrity of your music and performance is the number one priority and there are no exceptions not take this gig if offered? If you say no you are lying or just being an ass.
 
#95
i like flea's viewpoint. the message i got was: 'we're faking it, and we're not going to fake that we're not faking it."

did bruno mars play that drum thing live at the start of his set? sure looked like it to me.

did prince play his guitar live during his set long ago? sure looked like it to me. curious now...which superb owl performances featured live music (not just voices)?
 
#100
socialleper said:
The NFL is basically saying "get up there and dance you monkeys."
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You are absolutely right.

And let's remember a couple of other things:

The majority of the mainstream audience, both live and TV-viewing, does not care. Those people (the vast majority who saw the half-time show) are not having this conversation. In fact, a big chunk of the audience probably found it pretty damn entertaining. "Dance [like] monkeys" is exactly what RHCP has been doing for decades, to a great deal of success, so I doubt the band took offense at the suggestion. It's only some of us folks on musician chat sites, most of whom play music at places like Moe's BBQ on the weekends, who will never broker a deal like RHCP did, tap-tap-tapping into our little computer keyboards, who are getting twisted over it. Sorry for the reality check, but it helps to keep this in perspective.

No one held a gun to the bands' heads. They knew exactly what they were getting into and did it voluntarily, for the kick of entertaining at the Super Bowl, the exposure and music/ticket sales that will surely result, maybe even a fee (we don't know for sure). Or maybe some combination of those.

I got nothing but respect for the RHCP and the NFL. Two of the best dog and pony shows ever created. P.T. Barnum would be impressed.
 

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