Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. For most of
its career, the group has consisted of vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist
John Frusciante, bassist Michael "Flea"
Balzary, and drummer Chad Smith. The band's varied musical style has fused traditional
rock with various elements of funk, punk rock, hip hop, heavy
metal, and psychedelic rock.
In addition to Kiedis and Flea, the group originally featured guitarist Hillel Slovak
and drummer Jack Irons. However, Slovak died of a heroin overdose in 1988, resulting in Irons
resigning.[2] Irons was replaced briefly by
D. H. Peligro, the former Dead Kennedys drummer,
before the band found a permanent replacement in Chad Smith, while Slovak was replaced by
upcoming guitarist Frusciante. This lineup recorded the band's fourth and fifth albums, 1989's Mother's Milk and 1991's Blood Sugar Sex
Magik.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was a critical success and sold over twelve million copies. However, Frusciante grew increasingly
uncomfortable with the band's success and left the band abruptly in 1992. Kiedis, Flea, and Smith employed Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction for their subsequent album,
1995's One Hot Minute. It failed, however, to match the critical acclaim of
Blood Sugar Sex Magik and sold less than half the copies of its predecessor. Shortly afterwards, Navarro was fired from
the band due to creative differences.
Frusciante, while absent from the band, developed a severe drug addiction and nearly died. In 1998, he completed
rehabilitation and, at Flea's request, rejoined the band. The reunited foursome
returned to the studio to record 1999's Californication, which went on to
sell fifteen million units worldwide, becoming their most successful album to date. It was followed three years later with
By the Way, which continued their success. In 2006, the group released the double
album Stadium Arcadium. Stadium Arcadium was voted the second best album
of 2006 by Rolling Stone magazine and nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy in 2007.
History
Formation and first album (1983–1984)
A promotional flyer featuring the band from 1986.
Red Hot Chili Peppers (originally Tony Flow and the Miraculous Masters of Mayhem)[3] were formed by Fairfax High
School alumni Anthony Kiedis, Hillel
Slovak, Jack Irons, and Michael "Flea"
Balzary following what was supposed to be a one time performance in 1983.[4] As Slovak was already committed to another group, What Is This?, the foursome never intended to become part of the ubiquitous Los Angeles punk scene. Their first performance was at
the Rhythm Lounge, to a crowd of roughly 30 people.[5] One song had been created for the occasion, which involved the band improvising music while
Kiedis rapped a poem he had written called "Out in L.A.".[6] The performance was so lively that those in charge of promoting the show asked the band to return the
following week.[5] Due to this unexpected
success, the members changed the band's name to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, playing several more shows at various LA clubs and
musical venues. Six songs from these initial shows were recorded onto the band's first demo
tape.[7]
Several months after their first performance, the band was signed to the record label EMI.
However, two weeks prior, What Is This? had obtained a record deal with MCA, and as Slovak and Irons considered the Red Hot Chili Peppers a side project, they quit to pursue their
first project. Instead of dissolving the band, Kiedis and Flea decided to recruit new members.[8] Cliff Martinez, an acquaintance of
Flea's, was asked to join the Chili Peppers shortly thereafter. Auditions for a new guitarist produced Jack Sherman.
Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill
was hired to produce their first album. Despite Kiedis and Flea's misgivings, he pushed the band to play with a cleaner, crisper
and more radio-friendly sound. [9] The Red Hot Chili Peppers was released on August
10, 1984, and was a commercial flop.[10] It initially sold approximately 25,000 units, and garnered little
marketable recognition.[11] The ensuing tour fared little
better, as continuing musical and lifestyle tension between Kiedis and Sherman complicated the transition between concert and
daily band life. [12][13] Sherman was fired soon after, with Hillel Slovak returning to the Chili Peppers
after growing tired of [[What is .
Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1985–1988)
George Clinton was selected to produce the next Red Hot Chili Peppers
album, Freaky Styley. The album was recorded in Detroit's famed R&B and funky
United Sound Systems studios on the edge of Wayne State University's campus. Clinton combined various elements of punk and funk
into the band's repertoire,[14] allowing their music to
incorporate a variety of distinct styles. However, though the band had a much better relationship with Clinton than with
Gill,[15] Freaky Styley, released on
August 16, 1985, was hardly more successful than the band's
first release, failing to make an impression on any chart. The subsequent tour was also considered unproductive by the
band.[16]
Cliff Martinez departed from the group in the summer of 1986, and the band temporarily hired Chuck Biscuits to finish the tour. Jack Irons, out of work and finally separated from other commitments,
rejoined the group, to Anthony, Flea, and Hillel's great surprise. The band chose Michael
Beinhorn to produce their next album.[17] Songs
began to form quickly, and the album's shape came into view, blending the same funk feel and rhythms as Freaky Styley, but
also taking a harder, more immediate approach to punk rock and funk metal.[18] Reuniting all four
original members renewed their creativity, enlivening the recording process.[19]
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' original lineup c. 1988. Left to right: Jack Irons, Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak.
On September 29, 1987 The Uplift Mofo Party Plan was released. It was the first Red Hot Chili Peppers' album to
appear on the charts; although it peaked at only #148 on the Billboard Hot
200,[20] this was a significant success
compared to the Chili Peppers' first two albums.
During this period, however, Kiedis and Slovak had both developed serious drug addictions,[21] often abandoning the band, each other, and their significant others for days on
end. Slovak's addiction led to his death on June 25, 1988, not
long after the conclusion of the Uplift tour.[22]
Kiedis fled the city and did not attend Slovak's funeral, considering the situation to be surreal and dreamlike.[23] Jack Irons subsequently left the group, saying that he did
not want to be part of a group where his friends were dying. [24]
Mother's Milk (1989–1990)
In an attempt to cope with the death of Slovak and the departure of Irons, Kiedis and Flea temporarily employed
Dead Kennedys drummer D. H. Peligro and former
P-Funk guitarist DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight. Neither sparked any notable chemistry and they
were each replaced rapidly. However, Peligro's brief tenure did have one vital, long-term consequence for the Red Hot Chili
Peppers - his association with the band led an acquaintance of his, John Frusciante, to
audition for the band's empty guitarist role. Frusciante was fascinated with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and, as a result, was
particularly interested in auditioning. Following a constructive jam (which would later appear on Mother's Milk as Pretty Little Ditty), there was a unanimous
decision to accept Frusciante into the band.[25]
Three weeks prior to the beginning of recording, the band was still without a drummer, despite several auditions. Eventually,
a close friend of the band told them about a drummer she knew, Chad Smith, who was so
proficient on the drums he "ate [them] for breakfast".[26] Kiedis had qualms about allowing Smith to try out; however, he agreed to give the drummer a chance.
At his audition, Smith overwhelmed the band by not only matching Flea's intricate and complex rhythm, but even beginning to lead
him. After this successful jam session, Kiedis, Frusciante and Flea admitted Smith into the band.
The recording of the band's fourth album was hindered by conflict with producer Michael Beinhorn, whose primary agenda was to
give Frusciante's guitar playing a loud, overpowering sound, similar to the abrasive tones utilized in heavy metal.[27] This
modification caused Frusciante great discomfort, as it did not fit with his preferred style of guitar playing.[28]
The Chili Peppers' fourth album, Mother's Milk was released in August of 1989,
and gave them their first top modern rock hits - a tribute ballad to Slovak, "Knock Me
Down",[4] and their cover of
Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". The album
reached #52 on the American album charts and became the band's first gold record.[29]
Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1990–1992)
In 1990, the group switched labels to Warner Bros. Records, with
Rick Rubin hired to produce their then-untitled fifth album. Rubin has produced all of the
band's subsequent studio albums. The writing process for this album was far more productive than it had been during the creation
of Mother's Milk, with Kiedis saying that "[every day] now, there was new music for me to lyricize".[30]
The band embarked on the grueling six-month process of recording a new album--the long periods of rehearsal, songwriting, and
the incubating of ideas - but Rubin wasn't satisfied with a regular recording studio, thinking the Chili Peppers would work
better in a less orthodox setting. He came across an "amazing, huge, empty historically landmarked Mediterranean haunted mansion
a stone's throw from where we all lived."[31] For the
next month or so, Frusciante, Kiedis and Flea remained in seclusion, never once leaving the house during the entire recording
process. Smith, however, decided not to live in the house, believing it to be haunted.[32]
The band was unable to decide on the title of the album, but to Rubin, one particular song title stuck out: "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". Although it was not a featured song, Rick believed it to be "Clearly the
best title we have."[33]
On September 24, 1991, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released. "Give It Away" was
released as the first single; it won a Grammy award in 1992 for "Best Hard Rock Performance
With Vocal"[34] and became the band's first number one
single on the Modern Rock chart. The ballad "Under
the Bridge" was released as the follow up single, and went on to reach #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,[35] the highest the band has reached on that chart,[35] and became one of the band's most recognizable songs. Other singles
such as "Breaking the Girl" and "Suck My Kiss"
also fared well on the charts. The album itself was an international sensation, selling over 12 million copies[36] and greatly broadening the Chili Peppers' audience.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was listed at number 310 on the Rolling Stone magazine list of The 500
Greatest Albums of All Time, and in 1992 it rose to #3 on the U.S. album charts, almost a year after its release.[10]
After producing the album, the members of the band wished to release the song "Sir Psycho Sexy" as their newest single.
However, Warner Bros. Records believed that the song was too graphic to be played on the radio. As a result, the song was not
released as a single.
The band's success and drug addiction were taking their toll on Frusciante, who abruptly quit the band during the Blood Sugar
Japanese tour in May 1992.[4] The band
headlined the Lollapalooza festival in 1992 with replacement guitarist Arik Marshall (who appeared with them in The Simpsons fourth
season finale, "Krusty Gets Kancelled", and the videos for "Breaking the Girl" and "If You Have to Ask"), and briefly
with Jesse Tobias of the Los Angeles-based band Mother Tongue. Neither lasted very long,
with the rest of the band stating that "The chemistry wasn't right."[37] They eventually settled on former Jane's Addiction
guitarist Dave Navarro.
One Hot Minute (1993–1998)
Dave Navarro first appeared with the band at Woodstock
'94, where they wore enormous light-bulb costumes attached precariously to chrome metallic suits, making it
near-impossible for them to play their instruments. To outsiders all seemed to be settling with the band internally, however, an
relationship between the three established members and Navarro began to deteriorate.[38] His differing musical background made performing difficult as they began
playing together,[39] and further
continued to be an issue over the next year as his first and only effort with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, One Hot Minute, was recorded and released on September 12,
1995. The band described One Hot Minute as a darker, sadder record compared to their
previous material.[39] Despite
mixed reviews, the album was a commercial success. It sold five million copies worldwide,[40] spawned the band's third #1 single, the ballad "My Friends," and enjoyed chart success with the songs "Warped" and
"Aeroplane".
This iteration of the band was also featured on several soundtracks. "I Found Out", a
John Lennon cover, was featured on Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon. The Ohio Players cover, "Love Rollercoaster", was featured on the
Beavis and Butthead Do America soundtrack, and was released as a
single.
By this point Kiedis had resumed his heroin dependence. In April 1998 it was announced that Navarro had left the band due to
creative differences; Kiedis stated that the decision was "mutual."[41] Reports at the time however indicated Navarro's firing came after he attended a band practice under
the influence of drugs, which at one point involved him falling backwards over his own amp.[42] Kiedis himself has since said that although the event should have been comical,
it was instead pitiful and was the impetus for Navarro's departure.[43]
Californication (1998–2001)
In the years following his departure from the band, it became public that John Frusciante had developed an addiction to
heroin, which left him in poverty and near death.[44] He was talked into admitting himself to Las Encinas Drug Rehabilitation Center in January of
1998.[45][46] He concluded the process in February of that year and began renting a small apartment in Silver
Lake.[47] He acquired many injuries/problems
in the years of his addiction, some requiring surgery, including permanent scarring on his arms, a restructured nose, and new
teeth to prevent fatal infection.[48]
In April 1998, Flea visited his former band-mate and openly invited Frusciante to re-join the band, an invitation an emotional
Frusciante readily accepted.[47] Within the
week and, for the first time in six years, the reunited foursome gathered to play, and jump-started the newly reunited Red Hot
Chili Peppers.[49] Anthony Kiedis said of the
situation:[50]
| “ |
For me, that was the defining moment of what would become the next six years of our
lives together. That was when I knew that this was the real deal, that the magic was about to happen again. Suddenly we could all
hear, we could all listen, and instead of being caught up in our finite little balls of bullshit, we could all become players in
that great universal orchestra again. |
” |
Despite the band's elation by Frusciante's return, he was both mentally and physically torn. Frusciante had not played in
several years, having previously sold every guitar he owned for drug money,[44] and experienced a difficult time resuming life prior to his drug usage. His former talent did,
however, resurface and new songs began to roll out. On June 8, 1999, after over a year of production and meticulous practice, Californication was released as the band's seventh studio album. An almost instant
achievement,[10] the album
ultimately sold over 15 million copies worldwide[51]
and became the band's most successful recording to date. Californication
contained fewer rap-driven songs than its predecessors, instead integrating textured, consistent, and melodic guitar riffs,
vocals and bass-lines.[citation needed]
Californication peaked at #3[10] in the US and produced three more number one modern rock hits: "Scar Tissue", "Otherside" and "Californication". "Scar Tissue" won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. It was also
performed at the ceremony and included a brief jam with rapper Snoop Dogg at its culmination.
Other singles included "Around the World",
"Road Trippin'" (UK only), and "Parallel
Universe", which broke the Top 40 modern rock charts despite not having been commercially released as a single.
In July 1999, as part of the band's two-year long international world tour in support of their new album, the Red Hot Chili
Peppers played at Woodstock 1999. Some 10 minutes before the show, they were asked by
Jimi Hendrix's sister to play a cover of her brother's songs. After some hesitation, the
band decided to play his classic "Fire", which they had covered in Mother's
Milk. Coincidentally, about two thirds of the way into the band's set, the closing set of the three day concert, a small fire
escalated into full-fledged vandalism and resulted in the intervention of riot control squads.[52]
In 2001 they released their first concert DVD, Off the Map. The DVD was
directed by longtime friend Dick Rude, who had also produced the music videos for
"Catholic School Girls Rule" and "Universally Speaking". The footage was taken from numerous different concerts, but was amalgamated
with transition and indistinguishable song conversions.
By the Way (2002–2005)
The band began writing their next album in early 2001 and released By the Way over
a year later, on July 9, 2002. The album, at the time, was their
most noteworthy chart debut (with over 700,000 copies sold in first week), emerging at #2,[10] and producing hit singles "By
the Way", "The Zephyr Song" , "Can't
Stop", "Dosed", and "Universally Speaking"
(Europe only). It was the most subdued album they had generated to date, focusing primarily on melodic ballads as opposed to
their classic style of rap-driven funk. The album was followed by an eighteen month-long world tour.
The Chili Peppers recorded two new songs, "Fortune Faded" and "Save the Population" for their Greatest Hits album released in November 2003,[53] peaking at #18 on the Billboard Hot
200.[10] However, to
the surprise of countless fans, only two songs from By the Way were included in the
compilation: "Universally Speaking" and "By the Way".
The European leg of the By the Way tour produced the band's second full-length concert DVD, Live at Slane Castle, which was recorded during a show at
Slane Castle in Ireland on August 23, 2003. The band also went on to release their first full-length live album, from the 2004 European Tour,
Live in Hyde Park; recorded during their performances in Hyde Park, London, due to the concerts' high attendances.
It featured two previously unheard songs, "Rolling Sly Stone" and "Leverage of Space", which are believed to have been unreleased
tracks from the By the Way sessions. In the three evenings the band performed in Hyde Park, they generated an estimated
$17 million, making it the highest grossing concert at a single venue in history (moving The
Beatles to 2).[54]
Stadium Arcadium (2006–Present)
In 2006 the band released the Grammy Award-winning Stadium Arcadium, produced by Rick Rubin. Although 38 songs
were created with the intention of being released as three separate albums spaced six months apart, [55] the band instead chose to release a 28-track double album, with the remaining ten tracks released later as B-sides. It was their first album to debut at
#1 on the US charts, where it stayed for two weeks, and debuted at number one in the UK
and 25 other countries. In the album's first week, it sold 442,000 units in the United States alone, and over 1,100,000
worldwide, setting a personal record for one week sales.[10] By the end of 2006, Stadium Arcadium was named the best-selling album of the
year, with over seven million units sold, and also recorded the highest one week in total sales of the year.
The record's first single "Dani California", was the band's fastest-selling single,
debuting on top of the Modern Rock chart in the US, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot
100, and reaching #2 in the UK.[35] "Tell Me Baby", released next, also topped the
charts in 2006. "Snow ((Hey Oh))" was released in late 2006, breaking multiple records
by 2007. The song became their eleventh number one single, giving the band a cumulative total of 81 weeks at number one (all
singles combined). It was also the first time three consecutive singles by the band made it to number one.[35] "Desecration Smile" was released internationally in February 2007 and has reached number 27 on the UK
charts. "Hump de Bump" was planned to be the next single for the US, Canada, and Australia
only, but thanks to positive feedback from the music video, it was released as a worldwide single in May 2007.
The band began another international world tour in support of Stadium Arcadium in 2006, beginning with promotional
concerts in Europe and culminating in a two-month long European tour from late May to mid-July. The group then toured North
America from early August to early November, returning to Europe later in November for a second leg that ran until mid-December.
The Chili Peppers began the year of 2007 with a second North American leg, this time including Mexico in addition to the United
States, from mid-January to mid-March. This was followed by the band's first shows in Oceania in seven years, including various
cities in Australia and New Zealand, from early-to-mid April and two months later, and concerts in Japan in early June. The Chili
Peppers recently finished touring Europe for another leg from late June to late August. They appeared at the Live Earth concert at London's Wembley Stadium on July 7</
