The Story Behind: "Otherside" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Otherside is a song by American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. The single was released in early 2000 from their comeback album Californication, which was released in June, 1999.

Backstory

The song was one of the first songs that the band had written together with their ex-guitarist John Frusciante. John was previously in the band from the year 1988 to 1992, and was a huge influence on the band's core sound in the albums - Mother's Milk and the legendary Blood Sugar Sex Magik.   

After touring with the band with their newly released album, Frusciante feel into a addiction to heroin and cocaine. Midway through the tour Frusciante quit the band duo to the sudden fame of the band and the addiction. Frusciante's addiction got worse, leaving him poor and near death. Bassist Flea visited John when he was at his lowest and urged him to enter drug rehabilitation for several years, until John agreed to get help in 1998.  

After the treatment, John re-joined the band in mid 1998 and started writting new material with the band. As mentioned the song Otherside was one of the first songs that Frusciante had written with the band and was a great blueprint for other songs on the album. The band switched their fast paced funk sound to an alternative rock sound with different genres of music also mixed in the songs.  

The Lyrics

The lyrics of the song are mostly about drug addiction of both Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante, that was at an all time high for both in the last five years before the writting process of the song.   

The song is also about the tragic death of the founding member band and guitarist of the band Hillel Slovak, whom co-wrote the first three albums and recorded two records with the band (Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan). Hillel was the reason Flea started to play bass guitar, was the biggest inspiration of Frusciante whom was at the time the biggest fan of the band and a big part of the band's core sound.  

The Music Video

The music video was directed by duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and filmed in a black and white style, which was inspired by Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and a lot of different futurist artists from the 30's.  

The music video features a cartoonish town which is a part of a man's dream. The band members are dressed in black using different props as instruments (Frusciante is playing a rope in the corridor as a guitar, Flea is playing voltage wires as a bass guitar and Chad is rotating a medival clock that serves as a drum kit). Singer Anthony Kiedis is on the top of a castle tower with short platinum hair, with a dark and calm persona, which is the polar opposite of the energetic and happy performances featured in older videos in the 90's.