Flea regrets smashing his bass.
Back in the 90s, Flea was famous for smashing his bass on stage. The rocker smashed at least five basses during his shows with the band. More recently, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist took to X to share his thoughts on it. He wrote:
“Feel like such an idiot for smashing my bass to pieces on stage back in the day, pathetic.”
Though Flea’s feelings about smashing his gear have changed, many fans wrote that it was cool back then. One said:
“Added to the energy and performance at the time. Like most things people destroy or throw out when younger, they wish they had back.”
Another wrote that it’s one of the things people do at young ages:
Everyone does things that seem silly when they were young, no?
Some Fans Kept The Bass Pieces
The tradition isn’t alive anymore, but fans’ passion to commemorate the moment sure is.
Two different Reddit users shared the two different pieces of the same bass guitar from the late 90s. While one user had more than half of the broken bass, the other only had a small piece of it. The user with the bigger piece wrote:
“I have Flea’s main Modulus bass from 97-99 (smashed).”
The other user wrote in another post:
“9-20-1998 Stockton Auditorium, Stockton CA – piece of Flea’s bass that he smashed at beginning of show. Cut my hand when I caught it flying out into the crowd, but I still have the piece!”
You can see Flea’s post below.
feel like such an idiot for smashing my bass to pieces on stage back in the day, pathetic.
— Flea (@flea333) April 15, 2024