The song that announced John Frusciante’s return to RHCP: “He’s just on a different melodic level”When rumours swirled that John Frusciante was returning to the Red Hot Chili Peppers again in 2022, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was a faint, albeit misguided, feeling of optimism within me. I knew full well that time had passed, both for the band and culture as a whole, but nevertheless, I bought into the self-designed propaganda that upon Frusciante’s return to the band, the world would be thrust back to the much simpler 1990s. During the promotion for the 2022 record Unlimited Love, Anthony Kiedis explained, “The biggest event, honestly, was John returning to the band. From Frusciante’s melodic embellishments, to Flea’s hypnotising bass lines and Chad Smith’s powerhouse drumming, it has all of their historic greatness bundled into one. But that was very much the tone of the whole album and largely why it didn’t quite land.