page_title: Flea (musician)
section_title: Musical style
hierarchical_section_title: Flea (musician) / Musical style
caption_attribution_description: Español: Red Hot Chili Peppers en Rock in Rio Madrid 2012.English: Red Hot Chili Peppers in Rock in Rio Madrid 2012. (youtu.be/En1U1P9di64?t=5m50s fast slap)
context_page_description: Michael Peter Balzary, known professionally as Flea, is an Australian-born American musician and actor. He is best known as a founding member and the bassist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and has appeared on every album released by the band. Flea briefly appeared as the bassist for such bands as What Is This?, Fear, and Jane's Addiction. He has performed with rock supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface, and Rocket Juice & the Moon, and collaborated with the Mars Volta, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Alanis Morissette, and Young MC. Flea also performed live with Nirvana in 1993 playing the trumpet.
  Flea incorporates elements of funk, psychedelic, punk, and hard rock in his style of playing. In 2009, Rolling Stone readers ranked Flea the second best bassist of all time, behind only John Entwistle. In 2012, he and the other members of Red Hot Chili Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: Flea has displayed a wide variety of techniques throughout the years, ranging from his initial use of slapping and popping to the more traditional methods he has employed since Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Greg Prato of Allmusic wrote that "by combining funk-style bass with psychedelic, punk, and hard rock, Flea created an original playing style that has been copied numerous times". Flea stated in an interview, that he was influenced greatly by Louis Armstrong. Flea has been considered one of the greatest bassists of all time, with Greg Tate of Rolling Stone saying "if there were a Most Valuable Bass Player award given out in rock, Flea could have laid claim to that bitch ten years running". Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan recalls, that when he first saw the Chili Peppers in 1984, "Flea was playing so aggressively that he had worn a hole in his thumb and he was literally screaming in pain in-between songs because it hurt so bad. Someone kept coming out and pouring crazy glue into the hole." Flea's sound is also determined by what type of instrument he plays. Before Californication, he did not believe the actual bass held much significance: "what mattered was how you hit them [basses] and your emotional intent, and I still think that's the bottom line." Flea owns a 1961 Fender Jazz Bass, treasuring it for its "old wood sound".
  Regarded as one of the best rock bass players of all time, in 2009, Rolling Stone's readers ranked Flea the second-best bassist of all time in their top-ten poll, ranked behind only John Entwistle and ahead of Paul McCartney. In a 2010 poll, conducted on the BBC Two series I'm in a Rock 'n' Roll Band!, Flea was named the bassist in the ultimate fantasy band alongside Freddie Mercury on vocals, Jimi Hendrix on guitar and John Bonham on drums.
caption: Flea performing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 2012 Rock in Rio festival in Madrid
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