Flea’s bass style is an amalgamation of punk rock, funk and blues, borrowing from artists such as Bootsy Collins of Parliament-Funkadelic and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. The groove-heavy, low-tuned melodies, composed through either normal finger style or slapping, have contributed to the RHCP’s signature style. While Flea’s slap bass style was prominent in earlier albums, later albums (post Mother’s Milk) have more melodic basslines.

The guitar styles of the four guitarists that have recorded albums with the group share common traits, featuring distorted, sharp sound with strong range. Replacement players appear to have tried to stay as close as possible to original guitarist Hillel Slovak’s style with its heavy blues and funk elements. Current guitarist John Frusciante brought a more melodic, textured, and deep sound; Dave Navarro focused on a style rooted in heavy metal, progressive, and psychedelic rock.

Kiedis provides a range of vocal styles for RHCP songs, with his style of rapping and spoken verse (the latter being characteristic of his vocals up to Blood Sugar Sex Magik) complemented with more traditional vocals have helped the band maintain a relatively consistent style.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have written several songs addressing political topics. The song “Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky” from Mother’s Milk is about the plight and affliction of the Native Americans, and this particular song made the public see Kiedis as part-Native[citation needed], “I was born in a land, I don’t think you understand god damn what I am I’m a native of this place.” The song “Green Heaven” from Red Hot Chili Peppers discusses police brutality and racism in America. “The Power of Equality” also speaks out against racism, and the lyrics are very similar in style to those of rap group Public Enemy, who are referenced in the song. “Californication” is critical of globalization. The song “Pea” from the album One Hot Minute is about a personal experience Flea had being harassed by rednecks. Venice Queen (By The Way) was a song written for Kiedis’ therapist during rehab, who had helped him conquer his drug problems. It is named Venice Queen, because after overcoming addictions, he bought her a house on the Venice Beach in California. The songs “I Could Die for You”, “Dosed” and “This is the Place” (By The Way) also deal with issues related to drugs. In “This is the Place”, several street names are mentioned, possibly where Kiedis previously found heroin.

History

The 1980’s/EMI Records

A promotional flyer from 1986.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (originally “Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem”) were formed after what was supposed to be a one-time performance in 1983 by Fairfax High School alumni Michael “Flea” Balzary, Jack Irons, Anthony Kiedis, and Hillel Slovak. Later in that same year, they secured a record deal with EMI.

Irons and Slovak were committed to their original band, What Is This?, so the sessions for their self titled debut, Red Hot Chili Peppers were recorded with Jack Sherman on guitar and Cliff Martinez on drums. Produced by Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, the album did not achieve commercial success. The ensuing tour did not fare much better, with internal fighting resulting in Sherman’s leaving the band, at which point Slovak returned.

Parliament-Funkadelic’s George Clinton was hired to produce their second album, 1985’s Freaky Styley. Martinéz would leave the band soon after the release of the album, allowing the return of original drummer Jack Irons in early 1986.

While the album did garner some attention from college radio, mainstream radio gave it little notice.

Their first album to enter the Billboard Top 200, 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, was produced by Michael Beinhorn. This would be the only album with to feature the four original high school friends. Its first single, “Fight Like a Brave”, would later be featured on the soundtrack to the video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 in 2001.

During the supporting tour, drug problems, which have haunted the band throughout its career, came to public light when Slovak relapsed; resulting in erratic behaviour and botched performances. Shortly after the band returned, on June 27, 1988, Slovak was found dead of a heroin overdose. When news spread of the death of one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, everyone (including Blackie Dammett, Kiedis’ father) assumed it was Kiedis, because of the severity of his addiction. It wasn’t until later that they discovered the truth. Anthony couldn’t be immediately tracked down, as he was somewhere in Los Angeles, getting high. Jack Irons left the band soon after, saying he didn’t want to be in a band where all his friends were dying.

The band temporarily employed Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro and former P-Funk guitarist DeWayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight, later replacing them with Chad Smith and John Frusciante. Mother’s Milk was released in August 1989, providing the band with their first top modern rock hit with their tribute ballad to Slovak, “Knock Me Down” [2]. The album reached #52 on the album charts, the best chart position yet for the band at that point. Frusciante proved to be a prodigious and talented guitarist, and that contributed to that album being their breakthrough album. Although it’s their breakthrough album to the mainstream, the band usually refrains from playing it in live concerts due to John’s dislike of the “macho” way he used to play on it. In an 2002 interview, John Frusciante stated:

“Way back when I joined the band and when we were recording ‘Mother’s Milk’ the producer pushed me into this metal-funk department and I therefore played mainly hard riffs on the lower e-string. That didn’t really come from the heart, however, in those days it seemed to be a good idea. Although I’m not too proud of ‘Mother’s Milk’, it is probably our most influential album. At least back then a lot of people jumped at it. In some instances we simultaneously put five distorted guitar tracks and a piercing solo on top of the bass.” [citation needed]

The 1990’s/Warner Brothers Records

1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik

The group soon moved on to Warner Brothers Records, in the early months of 1990 and Rick Rubin was hired in 1991 to produce their fifth album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which would go on to sell seven million copies in the United States, alone. The album contained the singles “Give it Away” which won a Grammy award in 1992 for “Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal” and “Under the Bridge,” a melodic ballad that propelled the band to superstardom.[3]

The talked-about possible merger and acquisition between Warner Bros. and EMI may in the end put all the RHCP’s albums under the same label record company and that might enhance the chances of promoting their earlier albums, produced and marketed under the EMI label.

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 climbed all the way to #3 on the U.S. album charts almost a year after its release.

Success and drug addiction were taking their toll on Frusciante, who abruptly quit the band during the BSSM tour in May of 1992.[4] After headlining Lollapalooza festival in 1992 with replacement guitarist Arik Marshall, and briefly with Jesse Tobias of the California based band Mother Tongue in 1993, former Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro joined in 1993.

Dave Navarro first appeared with the band at Woodstock 1994, and a year later appeared on the album One Hot Minute. The album featured the familiar blend of funk, metal, and jazz, but this time showed increased hard rock,and psychedelic influences. Although critically dismissed compared to their previous work, mostly due to the lack of Frusciante’s more familiar style, the album was a commercial success, selling five million copies internationally and reaching double-platinum status in the USA. It remained on the chart for 55 weeks thereafter. The band parted ways with Navarro in 1998, after four years together.

Frusciante rejoined the band in 1998 after spending time in rehab for drug problems and releasing two solo albums. The refreshed, refocused, and re-energized guitarist was on board for the band’s 1999 release, Californication. Unexpectedly, it became a massive success, outselling Blood Sugar Sex Magik and introducing them to a new generation of fans.

The album peaked at #3 in USA and produced three more modern rock hits–the Grammy-winning “Scar Tissue”, “Otherside” and “Californication”, and also made it onto the modern rock charts with “Around the World”, “Road Trippin’” (UK single), and “Parallel Universe”, which broke the Top 40 modern rock charts despite not being released as a single. Compared to their previous albums, Californication contains few rap-driven songs. The band went on a tour which lasted nearly two years and featured some of their largest shows, including a Moscow performance in front of 200,000 people and a performance at the controversial Woodstock 1999 festival. At Woodstock 99, the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed Fire by Jimi Hendrix as a tribute to the late rocker who performed at the original Woodstock. It was considered the high point of the concert.[1] In 2001, they released their first concert DVD, Off The Map which was directed by longtime friend, Dick Rude, who also directed the music videos for “Catholic School Girls Rule” and “Universally Speaking”.

2000-onwards

The band returned to the studio in early 2001 and finally released By The Way more than a year later on July 9, 2002. The album, at the time, was their biggest chart debut, entering at #2 and produced the hit singles “By The Way”, “The Zephyr Song” , “Can’t Stop”, “Dosed”, and “Universally Speaking” which was only released in Europe as a single and video. It is the most subdued album they have ever done, focusing primarily on ballads as opposed to their classic style of rap-driven funk.

The Chili Peppers recorded two new songs, “Fortune Faded” and “Save The Population” for their Greatest Hits album released later that year. It was their most critically acclaimed compilation album [citation needed] (although having several, such as What Hits!? and Out in L.A.). There were, unfortunately, only two songs from By The Way that made it to their Greatest Hits. One of the biggest upsets was the absence of Can’t Stop, generally one of their most popular songs. The Zephyr Song was also left out. Only Universally Speaking and By The Way made it. It was later said, by band member Flea, that a lot of tension was going on between him and John during the recording process. So much so, that, following their “By The Way” Tour, he was planning on leaving the band. The events that took place during that Tour, however, forced him to change his mind.

In 2004, the group released their first ever live album, Live in Hyde Park; recorded during their 2004 performances in Hyde Park, London, due to the high attendance rate. In the three nights they preformed there, the band took in an estimated 17 million dollars, making it the highest grossing concert at a single venue in history[2]. Two new songs were featured on the Album: “Rolling Sly Stone” and “Leverage Of Space”.They also released a DVD titled “Live at Slane Castle”, in 2003, where they were headliners for the year.

In 2006, they completed their ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium. Although 38 songs were created with the intention to be released as 3 mini-albums spaced six months apart [5]it was released, to primarily favorable reviews, in May 2006 as a 28-track double album. 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 Albums Chart and 25 other countries as well[citation needed]. In the album’s first week, it sold 442,000 units in the United States alone, setting a personal record for one week sales. The record’s first single “Dani California,” was the band’s fastest-selling single, topping the Modern Rock chart in the US, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching #2 in the UK[3].In addition to “Dani California”, “Tell Me Baby” reached Billboard’s hot modern rock tracks in early July.[4]

In 2009, they will be old enough to be qualified for admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [5]

TV and film

Band members Flea and Kiedis have been featured individually and together in many movie and TV appearances.[6] [7]

The group has been featured on many movie soundtracks, most notably “Show Me Your Soul” from the Pretty Woman soundtrack; “Soul to Squeeze” from the Coneheads, “Love Rollercoaster”, a cover of The Ohio Players hit song; “Search and Destroy” from the Beavis and Butthead Do America soundtrack, “taste the pain” from Mother’s Milk from the film Say Anything, and “Sikamikanico” from Wayne’s World. “Dani California” was also featured in the Japanese motion picture Death Note.
Also the band played themselves 1986 movie Tough Guys starring Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster & Dana Carvey.
The 1992 version of the band, with Marshall standing in for Frusciante, appeared in an episode of The Simpsons titled “Krusty Gets Kancelled”, in which Bart and Lisa helped Krusty save his career by showing a ‘Krusty Komeback Special’ featuring many celebrities.[8] They performed their song “Give it Away”, although Krusty suggested that they change the song’s lyric “What I got you gotta get it put it in you” to “What I’d like is I’d like to hug and kiss you”, to which the band surprisingly agree to. This is a reference to Ed Sullivan instructing The Doors to change the lyrics to their song, “Light My Fire.”