Californication

"Californication"
Single by Red Hot Chili Peppers
from the album Californication
Released	June 20, 2000
Format	CD, cassette, vinyl
Recorded	Early 1999
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	5:21
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	Rick Rubin
Red Hot Chili Peppers singles chronology
"Otherside" (2000) "Californication" (2000) "Road Trippin'" (2000)

"Californication" is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' fourth single from their seventh studio album, Californication. Released in 2000, the song reached #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA, and #16 on the UK charts, and hit #1 on both US Mainstream Rock Tracks and US Modern Rock Tracks. It is notable for its sparse combination of guitar and bass notes in the main riff; guitarist John Frusciante drew inspiration from The Cure song "Carnage Visors".^{[citation needed]} The artwork from the single (pictured on the right) is used on the iTunes re-release of the album of the same name.

Song information

The song is mainly about the dark side of Hollywood. The song opens to the "Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation." Kiedis says in his book Scar Tissue that he got the inspiration for the lyric from when he was in New Zealand and he heard a woman on the street ranting about there being psychic spies in China. The track also makes references to the decline in Western society ("it's the - edge of the world and all of Western civilization"), and other topics such as pornography ("hardcore soft porn") and plastic surgery ("pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging") and even some pop culture references including Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain and David Bowie ("Cobain, can you hear the spheres singing songs off Station to Station?"), Star Wars ("and Alderaan's not far away"), and Star Trek ("Space may be the Final Frontier but it's made in a Hollywood Basement"). "First born Unicorn/hard core-soft porn" refers to the late Dorothy Stratten. She was first born, and was written about in the novel "The Killing of the Unicorn".

Guitarist John Frusciante exclusively recorded this song and "Otherside" with a vintage Gretsch White Falcon hollow body electric guitar, he also played these songs live with the White Falcon until 2006 when he retired it for one of his vintage Fender Stratocasters.

	Californication Sample of "Californication" from Californication
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In Kiedis's book Scar Tissue he reveals that the band had enormous difficulty in putting the song together. Kiedis had written the lyrics, which he felt were some of the best he had ever written, but the band could not decide how the song should sound musically. As they struggled with the song it seemed like they would not be able to finish it in time to include it on the album, until one day Frusciante walked into the studio and exclaimed that he had "figured it out". He played the song as he visualised it, and it went from being a song that could have been an afterthought, to becoming one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' greatest hits, similar to the way "Under the Bridge" was conceived.

Music video

The video takes the form of a 3D PC video game from the third person point of view of each of the band members off to some sort of adventure eventually concluding with all of them meeting at the center of the Earth. The video itself bears resemblance to many games, including Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, Crazy Taxi, Panzer Dragoon, SSX, Resident Evil, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and the railcar level of Donkey Kong 64.

Track list

CD Single 1

1. "Californication" - 5:21
2. "I Could Have Lied" (Live) - 4:26
3. "End Of Show Brisbane" (Live) - 8:11

CD Single 2

1. "Californication" - 5:21
2. "I Could Have Lied" (Live) - 4:26
3. "End Of Show State College" (Live) - 9:27

Ep. 1

1. "Californication" - 5:21
2. "End Of Show Brisbane" (Live) - 8:11
3. "I Could Have Lied" (Live) - 4:26
4. "End Of Show State College" (Live) - 9:27