My personal history with the Red Hot Chili Peppers is complicated, but the new documentary, The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel (available with a Netflix subscription), is the best thing I’ve seen about the band in decades. Make no mistake, it’s a very sad documentary at times, as there is a sense of dread that hangs over it, knowing that it is building towards the tragic death of their original guitar player, Hillel Slovak. However, what I got from it was the triumph and joy that the band had in those early days. That was the band I fell in love with in junior high.
