If you follow Justin Hawkins closely, you probably know that he had previously targeted the instrumental abilities of various artists such as Mark Knopfler to Ed Sheeran. This time, he once again sparked controversy with his recent remarks about the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Despite previously attempting to reconcile with the Red Hot Chili Peppers after expressing his disappointment with Frusciante’s guitar playing, Hawkins did not hold back in his criticism of the musician. In the video, Hawkins, accompanied by Pat Finnerty, expressed his view that Frusciante is overrated and discussed what he perceives as subpar guitar skills.
The Darkness frontman started his words, saying:
“My issue with Red Hot Chili Peppers is that I get nothing from John Frusciante’s guitar playing, and I feel like if we can call Mark Knopfler an underrated player, I would describe John Frusciante as an overrated player. In fact, I have done that more than once, and they want to f*cking kill me. I don’t know. I’m not allowed to have that opinion somehow.”
In later parts of the video, Finnerty stepped in and commented:
“If you take a song like one of the California songs, like ‘Californication.’ There’s like the dinkiest solo in that song ever, and it makes me think, ‘Wait for a second, is this so far out, or it’s in.’ I honestly have that question when it comes to himself.”
Hawkins continued:
“Well, I have heard, as somebody said to me, it’s deliberately minimalist. Or like maybe it’s that thing when you become a super accomplished painter, and then you just do some naive child-like daubings, and then that’s your phase. I think that might have been one of the things that he was exploring, but it doesn’t stop it from being sh*t.”
You can watch the entire video below.
