Another one of rock’s greatest guitarists bit the dust in 1988. Even though it has been many years since the founding guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hillel Slovak, lost his life, his legacy has impacted not only his bandmates but fans as well. Though it’s somewhat easier to discuss his death since the band members have had the chance to process their feelings, it’s still easy to imagine why it was the most horrific news to hear at the time, especially for Anthony Kiedis.
Slovak and Kiedis’s friendship predates the formation of RHCP. Anthony had switched high schools during his teens, and faith will have it; Flea and Slovak would be his saviors. The three boys became very close very quickly, and the seeds of what we know now as RHCP were planted. Their shared interest and spark was their love for music. As their friendship grew, they took the first steps to create the band.
The guys were getting the hang of it and working on their debut album when Slovak decided to leave the band. He returned for the second and third studio albums; ‘Freaky Styley’ and ‘The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.’ Although it seemed like everything was on track, Kiedis and Slovak were struggling with substance addiction behind the scenes.
The members were more worried about Kiedis’ addiction at that point as Slovak was keeping it under the radar, and not many people knew of his situation. While the two best friends were battling addiction, the band had to tour their sophomore album ‘Freaky Styley.’ This was the first time everyone started worrying about Hillel, as he was getting worse by the day.
From afar, it seemed like the duo had realized where they were headed if they kept this up and decided to get clean before they hit the road for their third album, ‘The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.’ Although they were on the same boat and were trying to help each other in the process of staying clean, Hillel Slovak’s health was deteriorating and was getting worse.
By the time the tour wrapped up, Slovak had begun to distance himself from the band and went on the journey to try to get clean on his own. However, the worst-case scenario happened: the musician died at his home after a heroin overdose. The unexpected news hit his bandmates like a truck.
Following his death, Kiedis fled town and couldn’t find it in him to attend his friend’s funeral because he was in disbelief that his best friend had passed away. Although his love for Slovak was deep, he decided to deal with the pain of his death by spending some time fishing in a Mexican village.
Even though he was shocked and mortified by Hillel’s loss, he was not initially ‘scared straight’ and continued to use heroin. However, a few weeks later, his friend eventually convinced him to check into rehab and visit Slovak’s grave. His visit to his friend’s grave gave him the push he needed to get clean and be mindful of how he proceeded to live his life.
