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Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Red Hot Chili Peppers are a Californian rock band who have combined aspects of funk and hip-hop with rock and roll, pioneering funk metal. The band started in 1983.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (from left): Flea, Chad Smith, John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis

One critic has summarized their lyrics as "sex, good times, rock and roll and more sex" with some truth, though some of their biggest hits, such as "Under the Bridge", have been considerably more introspective. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their sound is the bass playing of Flea, whose flashy, slap-heavy playing not only provides a groove but is also the source of many musical flourishes. They are also well known for playing bare chested; in fact Flea often goes one step further and performs naked on stage.

Red Hot Chili Peppers' label were originally signed to an EMI subsidiary known as EMI Manhattan. Epic Records offered the band a contract where each member would be paid a million dollars, but only if Epic would release them from their contract with EMI Manhattan by paying them off. Epic and EMI Manhattan hit a wall in negotiations, the deal fell through and the Red Hot Chili Peppers signed with Warner Brothers Records. Their breakthrough record Blood Sugar Sex Magik as well as all subsequent records were released on Warner Brothers Records and were produced by Rick Rubin.

Their earlier work was a fusion of funk and punk rock with a party attitude. After the sobering death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, the Red Hot Chili Peppers would also lose Jack Irons, which would lead to the addition of current members, John Frusciante and Chad Smith. It was after the death of Hillel that the band had their most success.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are busy recording a new album. A release date is widely anticipated in early Autumn

History

The 80's

The band was formed in 1983. It was dominated by Flea's jumpy-in your face-slap/pop bass. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan provided little commercial success, but their electric live performances definately caught the attention of the music world. Their sound was dominated by Punk and Funk influences. Funkadelic/Parliament maestro George Clinton even produced their second album Freaky Styley.

Original guitarist Hillel Slovak died from heroine overdose in 1988. With him left original drummer Jack Irons, devasted by the death of his best friend. Slovak was replaced by the vituoso teenage guitarist John Frusciante and Irons - by experienced jazz-drummer Chad Smith, and the new members helped them become a commercially more successful band. Mother's Milk provided the Peppers first form of real success. It included their cover version of the Stevie Wonder song "Higher Ground" and singer Kiedis' song about Slovak and drug addiction, "Knock me Down". One of the gimmicks that Red Hot Chili Peppers came up with at this time was coming out for encore performances naked, save for strategically-worn socks enclosing their genitalia.

The 90's

The beginning of the 90's saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers get their final breakthrough. With the release of their 5th studio album in 1991, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the Chili Peppers finally reached complete stardom. Instrumenal in the success of the album was producer Rick Rubin (previously known for his work with Run DMC and the Beastie Boys) who soaked in all the creative energy of the band and produced one of the greatest and most influential albums of the 90's. The band had matured from their cocks and socks and as musicians they improved greatly. Flea started to approach song writing differently by instead of having his incredible bass playing on top of the song, he decided to play for the song. Nevertheless his bass playing was as usual, absolutely phenomenal. John Frusciante also matured and finally found his place in the band as one of the more important creative elements of their music. His guitar playing became signature and he was becoming regarded as one of the best around. As for the rest of the band, Anthony Kiedis was still writing his sexed up lyrics and Chad Smith was pounding the drums as hard as ever. The albums biggest hits was the Chili Peppers style funk-rock-rap hit "Give it Away" (which won a Grammy in 1992) and the soulful ballad "Under the Bridge" which was for weeks number one on the Billboard Charts.

Following their new life as super-stars, John Frusciante began to have problems handling it being in a band and also he increased his drug use. Thus he quit the band in 1992. After trying out guitarists Arik Marschall and Jesse Tobias, the Peppers settled for ex-Jane's Addiction guitarist, Dave Navarro. The 1995 album, One Hot Minute, with Dave Navarro on board didn't prove as successful as its predecessor. Once again the Peppers breached new musical ground with a more Rock influence from Navarro. In 1996, Flea won the award for "Best Bass Player" and 2 years later, because of musical differences Dave Navarro left the band.

The band spent some years in obscurity and after John Frusciante spent some time in rehabilitation, trying to get rid of his awful heroin habit, he reconciled with his former bandmates and return to the fold. With his help the band released the mega successful album, Californication. Hits from the album include, "Around the World", up-tempo bass groove dominated song, "Otherside", a beautiful rock song, and the title track Californication - a slower more melodic song and the Grammy Award winning song "Scar Tissue" which show-cased Frusciante's heavy influence on their new trademark sound. Californication confirmed the Chili Peppers place as one of the biggest bands of all time and their place as the undisputed Kings of Funk/Punk/Rock.

The 2000's

Following further touring of their smash album Californication and their picking up of the Grammy for best rock song for "Scar Tissue" the Chili's sat down to record their 8th studio album, By The Way. The album was a great contrast to all the previous Chili's albums, containing more soaring melodies than their more accustomed funky grooves. The song "By the Way", a more typical Peppers song with a strong chorus and a groovy bassline in the verse, became soon very popular. Its success was followed by the release of the single "The Zephyr Song", a very pop-similar song, and then the mega hit "Can't Stop", a funky song that relates more to the roots of the band.

In 2003, the band released its Greatest Hits as an album. The album consisted of 14 songs from the Mother's Milk to By The Way as well as 2 new songs, "Fortune Faded" (also released as a single) and "Save the Population".

In the Summer of 2004 the band embarked on a tour of Europe, playing in stadium sized venues, their first tour of playing venues of this magnitude. New songs were revealed at these shows to the delight of fans, these songs were "Leverage of Space", "Rolling Sly Stone" and "Mini-Epic". The shows played at Hyde Park in London were recorded and compiled to form the band's only live album to date Live in Hyde Park. The album was released very quickly after these shows (about a month and half) and included two of the new songs "Leverage of Space" and "Rolling Sly Stone". The songs included on the album draw heavily from the albums Californication and By the Way with little material included from before Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The concerts held in England by the Chili Pepper's have gone into the record books for having made the biggest amount of money ever out of a music concert event.

It has recently been revealed that the band are finishing up work on their ninth studio album with the final vocals tracks being recorded. The songs that were debuted last summer are said not to be included on the album. John Frusciante has recently said the following: "There's heavier stuff than the band's ever done, and there's also a lot of beautiful, soaring melodies, I feel like everybody's taking their instrument to a new level." He has also cited that his favourite track off the album is entitled "Only 18". The band spent seven months writing and rehearsing before entering the studio to record. Flea has also said the following: "There are also a lot of fucked-up aspects to it, all kinds of flaws and dirt that I like to hear on records." The band is playing a free concert in Las Vegas to celebrate the city's 100th aniversary with Weezer on July 2nd. Many fans speculate that new songs will be performed at this night.

Members

Current Line-Up

Previous Guitarists

Previous Drummers

Discography

Studio Albums

File:Rhcp1.jpg Red Hot Chili Peppers (produced by Andy Gill)(1984) - True Men Don't Kill Coyotes, Baby Appeal, Buckle Down, Get Up and Jump, Why Don't You Love Me, Green Heaven, Mommy Where's Daddy, Out in L.A., Police Helicopter, You Always Sing, Grand Pappy du Plenty
File:Rhcp2.jpg Freaky Styley (1985) (produced by George Clinton) - Jungle Man, Hollywood, American Ghost Dance, If You Want Me to Stay, Nevermind, Freaky Styley, Blackeyed Blonde, The Brothers Cup, Battle Ship, Lovin' and Touchin', Catholic School Girls Rule, Sex Rap, Thirty Dirty Birds, Yertle the Turtle
File:Rhcp3.jpg The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) (produced by Michael Beinhorn)- Fight Like a Brave, Funky Crime, Me and My Friends, Backwoods, Skinny Sweaty Man, Behind the Sun, Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan), Special Secret Song Inside, No Chump Love Sucker, Walkin' On Down the Road, Love Trilogy, Organic Anti-Beat Box Band
File:Rhcp5.jpg Mother's Milk (produced by Michael Beinhorn) (1989) - Good Time Boys, Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder), Subway to Venus, Magic Johnson, Nobody Weird Like Me, Knock Me Down, Taste the Pain, Stone Cold Bush, Fire (Jimi Hendrix), Pretty Little Ditty, Punk Rock Classic, Sexy Mexican Maid, Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky
File:Rhcp6.jpg Blood Sugar Sex Magik (produced by Rick Rubin) (1991) - The Power of Equality, If You Have to Ask, Breaking the Girl, Funky Monks, Suck My Kiss, I Could Have Lied, Mellowship Slinky in B Major, The Righteous & the Wicked, Give It Away, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Under the Bridge, Naked in the Rain, Apache Rose Peacock, The Greeting Song, My Lovely Man, Sir Psycho Sexy, They're Red Hot
  One Hot Minute (produced by Rick Rubin) (1995) - Warped, Aeroplane, Deep Kick, My Friends, Coffee Shop, Pea, One Big Mob, Walkabout, Tearjerker, One Hot Minute, Falling into Grace, Shallow Be Thy Game, Transcending
File:Rhcp8.jpg Californication (produced by Rick Rubin) (1999) - Around the World, Parallel Universe, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Get on Top, Californication, Easily, Porcelain, Emit Remmus, I Like Dirt, This Velvet Glove, Savior, Purple Stain, Right on Time, Road Trippin'
  By the Way (produced by Rick Rubin) (2002) - By the Way, Universally Speaking, This Is the Place, Dosed, Don't Forget Me, The Zephyr Song, Can't Stop, I Could Die For You, Midnight, Throw Away Your Television, Cabron, Tear, On Mercury, Minor Thing, Warm Tape, Venice Queen

EPs

Compilations

Live Albums

Videography

List of Singles

  • 1988 "Behind the Sun" (1992 release)
  • 1988 "Fight Like a Brave"
  • 1989 "Higher Ground"
  • 1989 "Knock Me Down"
  • 1990 "Show Me Your Soul" (from the Pretty Woman soundtrack)
  • 1992 "Give It Away"
  • 1992 "Under the Bridge"
  • 1992 "Breaking the Girl"
  • 1993 "Suck My Kiss"
  • 1994 "Soul to Squeeze" (from the Coneheads soundtrack)
  • 1995 "My Friends"
  • 1996 "Warped"
  • 1996 "Aeroplane"
  • 1996 "Coffee Shop"
  • 1999 "Scar Tissue"
  • 1999 "Around the World"
  • 2000 "Otherside"
  • 2000 "Californication"
  • 2001 "Parallel Universe"
  • 2002 "By the Way"
  • 2002 "The Zephyr Song"
  • 2003 "Can't Stop"
  • 2003 "Dosed"
  • 2003 "Universally Speaking"
  • 2004 "Fortune Faded"

See Also

See also: Chain Reaction, Anthym and What Is This? (bands before Red Hot Chili Peppers) See also: Jane's Addiction (Former guitarist Dave Navarro's band)

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