Acid for the Children

More Information & Critical Reviews

Michael Peter Balzary, better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-born American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers with whom he was inducted in 2012 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

‘Acid for the Children is not an as-told-to, nor is it written “with” someone. These are Flea’s words – excitable, jazzy, regretful, disarming, popping and writhing away in his biological bass zone. Insecurities to the fore: He worries that he may be producing “a thorny jumble of trash.” But he’s actually a lovely writer, with a particular gift for the free-floating and reverberant. He writes in Beat Generation bursts and epiphanies, lifting toward the kind of virtuosic vulnerability and self-exposure associated with the great jazz players….Flea-elegant nutcase, funk-at-high-pressure bassist, wildly cultured and culturedly wild man-has written a fine memoir. You’ll put down Acid for the Children with your human sympathies expanded; you’ll feel less alone.’ The Atlantic

‘An electric, surprisingly moving memoir…Flea is an enlightened narrator, and this passionate, smart memoir will resonate with readers whether they’re fans of the band or not.’ Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

‘A wild ride through the coming-of-age wilderness of the famed rock bassist…Relentlessly honest, untamed, and often revelatory.’ Kirkus

‘Flea is a surprisingly good writer…RHCP fans or not, readers will find a unique coming-of-age memoir that’s also an ode to books, music, and performing.’ Booklist

‘A sensitive, well-written coming-of-age memoir. Readers will find much to relate to in Flea’s life story and will hope that this isn’t the only entry in his writing career.’ Library Journal

‘. . . a vital, only-in-L.A. account of a wide-open time filtered through an engaging, humbled voice reshaped by his recovery and reconnecting to his spirit through art and music.’ LA Times

‘. . . a coming-of-age bromance in the vein of Patti Smith’s Just Kids.’ Rolling Stone

‘Acid For The Children is written with the same lyrical, holy goof-ball energy its author brings to all his public activities, and its earnest, eccentric prose reflects Flea’s evolution from Hollywood-scene knucklehead to reflective, spiritually clued-in adult.’ The New York Times