Scar Tissue

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"Scar Tissue"
"Scar Tissue" cover
Single by Red Hot Chili Peppers
from the album Californication
B-side(s) "Gong Li"
"Instrumental #1"
Released May 25, 1999
Format CD, cassette, vinyl
Recorded 1999
Genre Rock
Length 3:35
Label Warner Bros. Records
Producer(s) Rick Rubin
Chart positions
Red Hot Chili Peppers singles chronology
"Love Rollercoaster"
(1996)
"Scar Tissue"
(1999)
"Around the World"
(1999)

"Scar Tissue" is the Red Hot Chili Peppers first single from their album Californication. It is one of their most successful songs spending a record 16 weeks on top of Billboard's Modern Rock Charts. It was released in late 1999, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #15 on the UK charts. It won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in the year 2000. Being a melodic ballad, it broke the trend of the Chili Peppers releasing a fast-paced, heavy rock song as the album's first single. A melodic ballad would normally have been their second single, such as "Under the Bridge" (Blood Sugar Sex Magik) and "My Friends" (One Hot Minute). It is notable for its mellow intro guitar riff and for its slide guitar solos throughout the song.

Contents

"Scar Tissue" is considered to be representative of the new, more melodic rock sound the band experimented on Californication (in contrast to the psychedelic One Hot Minute, and dry funk of Blood Sugar Sex Magik). The song's most agreed-upon interpretation is that it is a celebration of life and rebirth, especially due to the situation before Californication (guitarist John Frusciante left the band in 1992 and spent six years as a drug addict, almost dying at one point, before cleaning up and rejoining).

The metaphorically rich "Scar Tissue" music video by Stephane Sednaoui can be viewed as an unofficial sequel to Sednaoui's classic "Give It Away" video. The latter captures the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an iconic young band prancing half-naked in the desert, projecting the playful, sexual physicality of their funk-rock music.

Eight long years later we again see them in the desert once again, but the sheen is gone. The opening shot is of John Frusciante driving, a metaphor for John's return and ascension to musical leadership of the band (he does not drive in real life). But the four of them are battered, beaten, and bandaged. They are traveling in a rusty wreck and playing broken instruments on the comeback trail. The video ends after an emotional 30 second John guitar solo at the moment of sunset, with John tossing the broken guitar from the moving car in defiance.

  1. "Scar Tissue (Album)" – 3:37
  2. "Gong Li (Unreleased)" – 3:43
  3. "Instrumental #1 (Unreleased)" – 2:48

  1. "Scar Tissue (Album)"
  2. "Gong Li (Unreleased)"



Scar Tissue is also the title of band member Anthony Kiedis' autobiography.

Preceded by
"My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
June 26, 1999- October 9, 1999
Succeeded by
"Higher" by Creed


Red Hot Chili Peppers
Anthony Kiedis | John Frusciante | Flea | Chad Smith
Hillel Slovak | Dave Navarro | Cliff Martinez | Jack Sherman | Arik Marshall | Jesse Tobias | D. H. Peligro | Jack Irons
Discography
Studio 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)
EPs, Live albums and compilations: The Abbey Road E.P. (1988) | What Hits!? (1992) | Live Rare Remix Box (1994) | Out in L.A. (1994) | Under the Covers: Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers (1998) | The Best of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1998) | Greatest Hits (2003) | Live in Hyde Park (2004)
Singles: 1984: True Men Don't Kill Coyotes, Get Up and Jump | 1985: Jungle Man, American Ghost Dance, Catholic School Girls Rule, Hollywood (Africa) | 1987: Fight Like a Brave, Me & My Friends | 1989: Knock Me Down, Higher Ground, Taste the Pain | 1990: Show Me Your Soul | 1991: Give It Away | 1992: Under the Bridge, Suck My Kiss, Behind the Sun, Breaking the Girl | 1993: If You Have to Ask, Soul to Squeeze | 1995: Warped, My Friends | 1996: Aeroplane, Coffee Shop, Shallow Be Thy Game, Love Rollercoaster | 1999: Scar Tissue, Around the World | 2000: Otherside, Californication, Road Trippin', Parallel Universe | 2002: By the Way, The Zephyr Song | 2003: Can't Stop, Dosed, Universally Speaking, Fortune Faded | 2006: Dani California, Tell Me Baby, Snow ((Hey Oh)) | 2007: Desecration Smile, Hump de Bump
Other pages: Videography | Songs | B-sides Compilation
Related articles
Chain Reaction | What Is This? | Jane's Addiction | Pearl Jam | Fear | The Mars Volta | Rick Rubin | "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
Categories: Red Hot Chili Peppers | Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs
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