Sports

Years before Flea's solo bass national anthem, Chad Smith played it on drums

by Jesse Locke

Kobe Bryant’s final NBA game on April 13th (a.k.a. #MambaDay) saw the L.A. Lakers win 101-96 over the Utah Jazz… and started off with a national anthem from Flea. The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist let his Lakers yellow freak flag fly with some noodly jammage on the “Star-Spangled Banner” giving Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock a run for its money.

But guess what? Flea wasn’t the first member of the Chi Peps to sprinkle the national anthem with some blood sugar sex magik. Back in 1991, drummer Chad Smith introduced a Detroit Pistons vs. Atlanta Hawks game at The Palace In Auburn Hills.

Sporting a blazer and shaggy shoulder length hair (guess this was years before his pork-pie hat obsession took hold), Smith powered through loose-limbed cymbal crashes, nimble snare rolls, and quieter dynamics before stepping up from the kit and tripping over his headphones. And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave…

UPDATE: The people have spoken and you can now watch both national anthems together in one glorious mash-up.