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BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIK

RECORDING INFO:

Dates: Between May - June 1991 (seven weeks total)
Players: Flea, John Frusciante, Chad Smith, Anthony Kiedis.
Additional Performers: Brendan O'Brien (Mellotron), Gail Frusciante and friends (Backing Vocals), Pete Weiss (jaw harp)
Recorded at: The Mansion, 2451 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Produced by: Rick Rubin
Engineered by: Brendan O'Brien
Mixed by: Brendan O'Brien at Record Plant, 1032 North Sycamore Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Released on: September 24, 1991

SONGS RECORDED:

  • The Power Of Equality

  • If You Have To Ask

  • Breaking The Girl

  • Funky Monks

  • Suck My Kiss

  • I Could Have Lied

  • Mellowship Slinky in B Major

  • The Righteous & The Wicked

  • Give It Away

  • Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik

  • Under The Bridge

  • Naked In The Rain

  • Apache Rose Peacock

  • The Greeting Song

  • My Lovely Man

  • Sir Psycho Sexy

  • They're Red Hot
    released on the album Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik

  • Castles Made of Sand

  • Little Miss Lover
    released as bonus tracks on digital music retailers in 2006

  • Fela's Cock

  • Search And Destroy

  • Sikamikaniko

  • Soul to Squeeze
    released and re-released on the Give It Away, Breaking the Girl, Under The Bridge single, the Live-Rare-Remix box, The Coneheads Soundtrack, etc.

  • Unknown Song
    Possibly appears in this VH1 documentary which you can hear here. Has never been addressed by the band, and is considered a "Holy Grail" by fans.

The amount of songs recorded is not 100% confirmed. Some sources say 27, some say 25, some say 23. In this interview, Flea mentions recording Hendrix’s “Bold As Love,” but he most likely means “Castles Made Of Sand,” another ballad from the same album.

It appears that “Search & Destroy” was destined to be released on the UK version of the 12" LP, as per this interview, but that is not the case, and they seemed to know it was never going to make the album early on, as seen here.

Flea is said to have recorded demos for several songs on a 4-track at his home; hopefully these recordings, and John and Anthony's “I Could Have Lied” demo (as mentioned in his memoir), still exist. William Rutten, a Dutch photographer, recalled hearing some demos in 1990, though this is unlikely.

ALTERNATES/ MIX DIFFERENCES:

Entire album - Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions tape
The entire album is presented here as a rough mix, so technically the whole thing is different. Some choice examples include:
- Extra xylophone in “Apache Rose Peacock”
- No guitar in “If You Have To Ask”
- Extended coda in “Funky Monks”
- Extra guitar noodling at the end of “Breaking The Girl”
Entire album - 7/22/1991 tape
Mostly finished mixes of each song from the album sessions, except for “They’re Red Hot,” which is missing entirely. “If You Have to Ask,” “Breaking the Girl,” “Funky Monks” and “Sir Psycho Sexy” are full, unedited mixes featuring their proper endings. “Under the Bridge” is a slightly different mix featuring an extra guitar line towards the end of the song.
Several tracks - Rock Band DLC package
Because of the nature of Rock Band’s playable DLCs, some songs were edited to finish without a fade-out. “Breaking the Girl,” “Sir Psycho Sexy” and “Funky Monks” are edited slightly to end differently, though they are not the song’s natural endings. Proper, unedited versions of these songs surfaced in 2025 via the 7/22/1991 tape.
Search and Destroy - The Beavis and Butthead Experience
Alternate mix when the song was re-released in 1994. As it was being remixed, they were known as “Ultra Insane Din Mix” and “Slightly Cleaner Less Level Mix”. It’s not clear which one was used on The Beavis And Butthead Experience.
Under the Bridge, Give it Away, Soul to Squeeze, Breaking the Girl, Suck My Kiss - Greatest Hits
Alternate mastering

More here.

WORKING TITLES:

Me and Terry Teagle = Sikamikaniko

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES:

Blood Sugar Sex Magik Sessions Tape
This recording reportedly circulated among collectors for a few years before finally surfacing in 2006 on the stadium-arcadium.com forums. It is sourced from a cassette made part way (probably closer to the end) through the BSSM sessions, apparently for Warner Bros. executives, or for a member of staff (or Rick Rubin) to take home.

Each song is in its very rough mix phase and possibly in mono; levels are not quite correct, quite often studio guides (such as Chad counting out pauses) remain, some guitar solos are missing, sometimes entire guitar tracks are missing, etc. It was recorded to cassette, and thus, lots of tape glitches and hiss are present. If you have a better sounding version of this, please let us know.

7/22/1991 tape
An internal cassette passed around Warner Bros. before the album was sequenced and mastered. The entire album is present, plus “Soul to Squeeze,” though “They’re Red Hot” is missing. Features the full extended mixes of “If You Have to Ask,” “Breaking the Girl,” “Funky Monks” and “Sir Psycho Sexy,” plus various other minor mix differences.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik Unmastered/Unsequenced
Another in-house cassette tape that was liberated in 2011. Contains an early tracklisting for the album and some minor mix differences, though is fairly similar to the finished product.

LINER NOTES:

COVER COMPONENTS: