Flea's Mouth Is Some Kind of Monster

RHCP member Flea was shocked this week to find out that the band's new album 'Stadium Arcadium' was leaked onto the internet and available for free download this week. Wow! How did they do it? Free music on the internet? Huh?

Here's Flea's last paragraph of the email he posted to the band's website. I right-clicked and copied it here from the site. Any inherent degradation of the words and pixels from this copying process are due to my meddling and are not the work of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

'yes, it is stealing from us, and that is lame everyone has to live with their own conscience on that one let it be your guide but to take a version that has been defiled sound wise a version in which some idiot has taken our year and a half of soul baring work and pissed all over it that will break our hearts'

I have to ask: what is Flea afraid of? He seems so shocked, in 2006, that the mp3 format sounds so much crummier than CDs...hmmm...maybe that's because he's only been listening to SACDs through B and W speakers and tube amps at his house in the Hollywood Hills all this time?

Lemme guess Flea...
The view is also better in the front row of a concert?
Moet White Star tastes better than PBR?
Geeze, Flea, you really are a fucking genius.

I got no problem with springing for the good shit every now and then, in all sorts of disciplines...but what bothers me is when people start pontificating about how it's so morally wrong to 'steal' shared music files. You don't get the packaging and 'hard possession' of an album when you download it, and as Mr. Flea so eloquently writes in his email, the sound quality is usually shite compared to the real album.

Yes, listening to crappy-quality music sucks, but you know what sucks worse? Not having health insurance. Not having a car. Going to the dentist every eight years or so. Not having any contacts or glasses when your eyes are fucked up.

At least the people who drive Ferraris don't spew bullshit about how it's morally wrong to drive a beater.

Musicians who are against downloading are afraid. What they don't realize is that free MP3 downloads don't circumvent the invisible hand of economics. Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo's song 'Crazy' just became the #1 single in the UK...before official release of the record...on the strength of legal iTunes downloads alone. Now, this song has been making the blog download rounds for months. Hell, you could even get it on myspace or from their own website as an MP3. If you can get something on Gnutella or LimeWire, why pay for the HQ version?

Hmm....why buy a Rolls-Royce when a Ford can get you there? Why smoke Cuban cigars when Basic cigarettes are at every gas station?? Is this shit not obvious yet???

The only people who should worry about downloads are people who make crappy or fair-to-middling music.

Flea, you should be OK here buddy. Don't worry...nobody's snatching any silver spoons from your table. Your music is good, and the stuff you're doing in Silverlake with the Conservatory is grand. Just don't say all of us poor motherfuckers are morally 'wrong' about some shit, mmmkay?