Transcending
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"Transcending" is a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the last track on their 1995 album, One Hot Minute. It is a tribute song to the late River Phoenix, who died on October 31st 1993. The song was originally titled "Rivers" during the recording of the album and was written by bassist Flea. Some interpret the song as an attempt to create ballads such as "I Could Have Lied" on previous album Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
The track could be seen as two songs in one. It starts off as a rather subdued ballad of sorts, laden with the psychedellic influences that appear throughout the One Hot Minute album. At around the 3:00 minute mark, the track builds up and changes into a highly distorted and dirty metal song, perhaps the closest the Red Hot Chili Peppers have ever come to sounding like grunge. Anthony Kiedis's vocals in this section become increasingly more abrasive. Both sections of the song were a far cry from anything the Chilis had done beforehand.
It is also worth noting that Dave Navarro's guitar slowly detunes during the second part of the song, presumably due to the excessive use of his whammy bar.
