The legendary Los Angeles alt-rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday (March 31). The band’s on-again, off-again (and now back on again) guitarist John Frusciante reunited with lead singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith to receive the honor. Frusciante played on the band’s 12th album, Unlimited Love, which is due Friday.
Friends of the band, including Bob Forrest, George Clinton and Woody Harrelson, came to the ceremony and gave speeches.
“I hope that I had a little bit to do with their career, but they had it made no matter what anybody said,” said Clinton, who produced the band’s second record, Freaky Styley, and went on to develop a close bond with the band. “They were on their way to be the stars that they are today. They walked these streets so much, their footprints should already be in the sidewalk.”
The band members each had their own L.A. memory to share, starting with Flea. “When I was 11 years old, I panhandled on this street,” he recalled. “I know this street inside out. The street knows me. Whenever we traveled around the world, the street has always been a part of me.”
“We started out playing dive bars up and down the street and making a handful of people dance and come to life,” Kiedis said. “But as time went on, we stuck together as a team and as a band and now we can make everybody dance and feel joy, and we’ve been connected to this life and this experience.”
The Chili Peppers’ star is the 2,717th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In February, the band released “Black Summer,” their first song to feature Frusciante in 16 years, as the lead single from their upcoming album Unlimited Love, which is produced by Rick Rubin.
Watch the Walk of Fame star unveiling ceremony below:
