Everything about Give It Away totally explained
"
Give It Away" is a song by the
Red Hot Chili Peppers released in 1991 on the album
Blood Sugar Sex Magik. "Give It Away" was the first of five singles from the album and achieved fame around the world. It won a
Grammy Award in 1992. Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum has "Give It Away" listed as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Music video
It features the members painted gold (though due to the black and white camera used in filming, the band appear silver) and dancing wildly in a desert, shot in black-and-white. The band members, otherwise scantily-clad, wear unusual clothing and eccentric hair styles.
Due to its unique peculiarity and sheer frenzied energy, the groundbreaking video, directed by
Stéphane Sednaoui, is considered by fans of the
alternative rock genre to be one of the greatest if not most extreme of music videos, often ranking highly in polls. Sednaoui would later direct the videos for other of the Chili Peppers' singles including "
Scar Tissue" and "
Around the World". The former can be seen as a sequel of sorts, as it shows the Chilis returning to the desert, while the latter's visual style is very reminiscient of "Give It Away".
The music video is considered to be the first from the Chili Peppers to move away from the comedic, almost camp visual style of their earlier videos (such as "
True Men Don't Kill Coyotes", "
Fight Like a Brave" and "
Higher Ground") and into works of more artistic merit.
Release as a single
"Give it Away" was released on
September 24, 1991, as the first single from
Blood Sugar Sex Magik. However, despite the Chili's reputation, many radio stations refused to play the single; one station manager went so far as telling the band to bring it back to them "when they'd a melody." However, L.A station
KROQ began to play the song, and it quickly received hundreds of requests a day for the song.
Another concern surrounding the release was that the recently shot
music video would be too weird to be played onto
MTV. This proved true for some while until it came to the attention of fans of the band. MTV, like KROQ, began to receive hundreds of requests a day for the video.
In September 1992, The Red Hot Chili Peppers played the
MTV Video Music Awards show and received two awards for "Give It Away", one of which was the much sought after Breakthrough Video Award. Infamously, during the acceptance of the award on live TV,
Flea pretended to
masturbate and was hastily pulled off stage by security.
Popularity
It is included on the band's
Greatest Hits CD and has become an unmovable part of all their concerts, often being the last song performed (as on their
Live in Hyde Park album). It is now one of the few purely
funk rock songs still performed live by the band. During recent performances (such as their special concert for
Top of the Pops), the band has begun to include a heavy, energetic intro inspired by the 1987
Public Enemy single "You're Gonna Get Yours" (the first track from their debut album
Yo! Bum Rush the Show), before segueing into "Give It Away" itself. During concerts in the
Dave Navarro era, a segment from the instrumental "Grand Pappy du Plenty" (a track on the band's
self-titled debut) was often used for the song's intro.
This song is also well-remembered because of its commercial success at the time. It became the Chili Peppers' first of many #1 singles on the
Modern Rock Tracks chart, gave them a #9 hit on the
UK Singles Chart, and reached #71 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful, chart-wise, as the later single "
Under the Bridge", it was quite successful in many countries.
"Give It Away" still sees regular if not occasional play on radio and music video channels. The song was also performed by an animated version of the band in the
The Simpsons episode, "
Krusty Gets Kancelled" (in the episode,
Krusty persuades the band to alter the line "
What I got, you gotta get and put it in you" to "
What I'd like is I'd like to hug and kiss you"). They also performed this song live on
Saturday Night Live on May 6, 2006, nearly 15 years after its release.
NBA Basketball player and rapper
Shaquille O'Neal resumed the words sequence "give it away, give it away now" in his 1993 song "Shoot Pass Slam".
Busta Rhymes also used the chorus of the song in the intro to his song "
Break Ya Neck".
"Weird Al" Yankovic later parodied the song, along with the music video, in his 1993 single "
Bedrock Anthem", a tribute to the
television show
The Flintstones. (The introduction to the song and video was a parody of the bands bigger hit "
Under the Bridge".)
Track list
CD single (1991)
- "Give It Away" (Single Mix)
- "Give It Away" (12" Mix) – 6:02
- "Search and Destroy" (Previously Unreleased) – 3:34
- "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix) – 6:47
- "Give It Away" (Album)
CD single 2 (1991)
"Give It Away" (Single Mix)
"Give It Away" (12" Mix) – 6:02
"Give It Away" (Rasta Mix) – 6:47
"Give It Away" (Album)
"Search and Destroy" (Previously Unreleased) – 3:34
"Soul to Squeeze" (Previously Unreleased) – 4:50
CD single version 3 (1991)
"Give It Away" (Album)
"Search and Destroy" (Previously Unreleased) – 3:34
"Soul to Squeeze" (Previously Unreleased) – 4:50
CD single version 4 (1991)
"Give It Away" (Single Mix)
"Give It Away" (12" Mix) – 6:02
"Give It Away" (Rasta Mix) – 6:47
"Soul to Squeeze" (Previously Unreleased) – 4:50
Cassette single (1991)
"Give It Away" (Album)
"Search and Destroy" (Previously Unreleased) - 3:34
Sample clip
Further Information
Get more info on 'Give It Away'.
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