Otherside

Red Hot Chili Peppers are fantastic and now I’d like to take the time to focus on the song + music video for Otherside, off their Californication album. I identify with this song deeply and I’m about to analyze it which is something I don’t really do and that bothers me. I’m a dancer, as opposed to a musician and when I hear a song the beat is what hits me first. I’m sure that’s how it goes most of the time, when a song has a good hook, yadda yadda. But I listen to the vocals like its another instrument, which it is, but I don’t interpret the song. Well, I get a vibe about what it’s about. I hear keywords and can determine the nature of the song. Like I said, I’m a dancer, so my body responds to the rhythm before my head responds to the meaning.

Here’s what I get out of Otherside. It’s about compromising yourself for someone you love and they don’t feel the same. The is person a jerk because they’re deliberately pulling you along making you think there’s something to rekindle. And you really they’re doing this to you but still love em and that makes you numb because you know you shouldn’t. So you go to the Otherside and don’t express how you feel because it hurts. Ultimately, it’s a song about loneliness, lust and trying to feel whole again.

Am I on the right track? Well, this how I feel. There are a number of interpretations for this. Now it’s time for some outside research, boo ya! Alright, so I’m on the right track. I skimmed a few unreliable sources saying Anthony Keidis wrote this while dealing with heroin addiction. So, along with the corruption in California, lonliness, and lust just throw in a drug addiction.

Cool! I can analyze songs! Now, onto the music video. It’s a mix of M.C. Esher battling Cubism with Nosferatu like shooting and a hint of Edgar Allen Poe, mainly because he fights a Raven.

I love this song and video. It’s dark, dynamic, and mesmerizing.
Otherside – Red Hot Chili Peppers

That is all.

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