Retro Video of the Week: "Knock Me Down" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the release of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' fourth studio album, Mother's Milk.  This was the album that put the Chili Peppers on the precipice of superstardom that awaited them with their next album, 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik.  Mother's Milk was the first of their albums to go gold in the U.S. (though it eventually went platinum), and it was the first to crack the top 100 of the Billboard album charts, reaching #52.

It's somewhat of a bittersweet success, as it's the first album the band released after the death of their original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of a heroin overdose in June 1988.  Slovak's death and lead singer Anthony Kiedis's struggles with drugs prompted drummer Jack Irons to also leave the band (he would later join Pearl Jam from 1994 to 1998).  Kiedis and Flea thought about hanging it up, but thankfully, instead, they recruited 18-year-old guitarist John Frusciante and drummer (and Will Ferrell lookalike) Chad Smith to replace Slovak and Irons, and the new foursome soon recorded Mother's Milk.

The band's excellent cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" is probably the best-known song off the album, but I'm going with "Knock Me Down" -- a song about Slovak's addiction that perfectly melds funk, punk, and rock as only they could.  And the video features Alex Winter, better known to you and me as Bill S. Preston, Esq.