Red Hot Chili Peppers

[xgsjx]

I loved their early stuff. Freaky Stylee was my first introduction to them & BSSM being their last good album.

Californication is where they got stuck in this mould & start to make every song sound the same, so I’d listen to them, but get bored very quickly (I really tried to like Stadium Arcadium, but it sounds so bland). 
Then more recently, they decided to show their support for apartheid & the pervy singer is not someone I’d ever want anything to do with, so I don’t even listen to their early stuff anymore.

 

They’re on my boycott list.

[Supernaut]

I think Dream Canteen is their best album in years. 
 

Mother's Milk, BSSM, One Hot Minute and Californication are all highlights. 
 

I do have a major soft spot for By The Way. 

[thodrik]

Loved them in my youth. Liked most of their output up to By The Way which I really tried to like but never did and still don't. Finally saw them live in 2007 (I think) and it was one of the most dull, boring, phoned in gigs I had ever seen. I think it was towards the end of the Stadium Arcadium tour and I think the band had mentally checked out. 

Not really listened to them since, not out of anger/disappointment of the gig, but just the fact that I generally listen to heavier, more aggressive music and/or singer/songwriter acoustic stuff these days. 

[paul_5]

I saw them on the By The Way tour - 2002 I think it was. They were OK, (better than New Order who were supporting) but nothing to write home about. I haven't been concerned with seeing them live since.

[BassApprentice]

Being a 90's kid, they were firmly on my radar when I started listening to music from older siblings and friends.

 

Weirdly enough, seeing them twice have been two of my least favourite gigs. First one was Stadium Arcadium (which I didn't like much of at the time, but definitely more fond of it now) and just last year in Glasgow. They cancelled in 2022 then came back and didn't say a word to the crowd and played for 90 minutes and that was it.

 

I'll still listen to them, but won't be spending £100 on a ticket again 😂

Edited August 13 by BassApprentice

[uk_lefty]

Used to love them. BSSM is untouchable greatness IMO. I struggle with the stuff before. Californication is a very good album, but after that I struggle to find the magic in it. In 2012 I saw them live in Knebworth and I left early. I was really looking forward to the gig but it was just so incredibly bland and uninspiring, no energy, no audible vocals, and I found Flea's crowd chat childish nonsense. Another band I probably saw too late in their career.

[dudewheresmybass]

BSSM is a perfect album to me.

I can't say I'm a massive fan aside from bssm, but I'm very much of the opinion that Chad and Flea are simply one of the greatest rhythm sections ever

[Bassybert]

1 hour ago, dudewheresmybass said:

BSSM is a perfect album to me.

I can't say I'm a massive fan aside from bssm, but I'm very much of the opinion that Chad and Flea are simply one of the greatest rhythm sections ever

I’m in the same camp, I think BSSM is a landmark record across any genre, and captures the band at their absolute zenith. I remember buying it on cassette and later ended up listening to it over and over during my college art course around 94.
 

Amazing musicianship, a fantastic balance/running order of great songs and importantly they still had that element of danger about them that set them apart. 
 

I liked a few songs on OHM but remember feeling like it was a massive downgrade and Dave Navarro although a great player wasn’t the best fit. 
 

A lot of stuff after that seems music by numbers to me, with quite possibly some of the worst lyrics ever put down in the history of recorded music. 
 

BSSM though, what a record. 

Edited August 13 by Bassybert

[mike f]

Used to love them.

First I heard was Uplift Mofo, still one of my favourites of theirs. Then really got into them with Mother’s Milk. Loved it but strangely don’t listen to it anymore.

As others have said BSSM was the pinnacle.

Then John left.

Didn’t like One Hot Minute though I did see them at Wembley with Dave N and it was a good gig.

John returns and Californication, while being damned good didn’t for me reach the heights of 10 years previous.

By the Way is probably the album I listen to most now. I think it’s fantastic and up there with BSSM and Uplift Mofo.

Stadium Arcadium could for me lose about 10 tracks.

Cannot listen to anything of theirs since 2011 and cannot stand the sound of AK of late.

Saw them 5 times from 89 to 2012; disappointingly they were never amazing as much as I wanted them to be.

John’s solo stuff has moments of excellence. Flea should’ve kept his Spector. 
Go watch Fight Like a Brave!

 

Edited August 13 by mike f

[Russ]

They're a great band, and always deliver live, even now, in their 60s. They've got more live energy than bands half their age. And Flea remains one of the greats, and seems to be getting more and more musical as he gets older. 

 

But I think they've been coasting pretty much since By The Way.

 

The subsequent albums are good, but nothing they haven't done before. I thought Josh brought a bit of a different sound to them - there was a bit more spacey, delay-heavy Navarro-style stuff which I quite liked (I loved One Hot Minute, but, then again, I'm also a massive Jane's fan), but the songs were all still much of a muchness. 

[obi 2 kenobi]

Got into them around freakee stylee. Love uplift album. 
Saw them in Glasgow on mother’s milk tour. Great gig. 
Got BSSM but nothing since as, forgive me, there is less energy & excitement in their music, imo

[super al]

I've been a fan since Uplift Mofo but didn't get round to seeing them until 2003 for some reason.

I was discussing the absolute hatred some folks have for them with a fellow bassist the other week and he couldn't quite believe it (he'd never come across it). Someone once told me why they're so crap live which was enlightening, they do elicit a strong reaction among 'musos' 😆. I kind of like that in a way, boring world if we all liked the same stuff! I don't get Rush 🤷🏻‍♂️😆

At the end of the day they've been surfing that BSSM and Under The Bridge wave for over 30 years, if that didn't happen I guess they would've faded into obscurity during the 90s.

Still love em despite Stadium Arcadium (my kids played it to death, it was the only album I allowed due to lack of profanity 😁). Won't go to see them live unless some benevolent friend buys me a ticket but all my friends hate the Chilis so that's not happening ☹️

[OliverBlackman]

Can’t stop and by the way we’re huge hits when I was a teenager and I enjoyed listening to them up to stadium Arcadium. My brother also used to have the live at Slane castle DVD which I thought was an unreal performance and have watched 100x over. 
 

My overriding feeling though seeing them at the London Stadium a few years ago was they’ve past it and only flea still had the energy.

[Doctor J]

Californication is where they went from red hot to lukewarm and have been getting cooler, in the bad way, ever since. I've picked up the CDs as they've come out as I'm an eternal optimist but, apart from the odd song or two, they've lost the danger and the sexiness, it's a stream of weak sauce. Shame.

 

BSSM is, as has been said more than once, their peak and an undeniable classic.

[Leonard Smalls]

13 hours ago, Bassybert said:

stuff after that seems music by numbers to me, with quite possibly some of the worst lyrics ever put down

 

They've always had duff lyrics 😁

 

https://youtu.be/QUzCFEJh8-I

 (won't let me embed as vid is age restricted!)

 

And don't even think about Sex Rap!

[Leonard Smalls]

But just found this vid of George getting them to Funk It Up, with Hillel (RIP!) and Cliff...

 

 

[xgsjx]

I propose they change their name to the 

Yellow Cold Salad Peppers

[40hz]

I absolutely love them. My favourite band by FAR. However, they've been utter pants since By The Way in 2002.

 

I love different eras of them for different reasons, probably erring towards the early days for that absolutely wild, colourful, energetic, dangerous punk funk thing. Uplift, Mothers Milk, BSSM, OHM, Californication and By The Way are stone cold (bush) classics, IMO.

 

My favourite album is One Hot Minute. It's the most f**** up album they've made and the heaviest. Dave Navarro's guitar playing on it is phenomenal (I don't like Janes, weirdly).

 

Things that can get in the bin about them these days are numerous;

 

- the cult of John (his fanboys are tragic)

 

- the way all of their songs now follow the exact same formula and sound, with Anthony doing the same singing style that started with Stadium Arcadium (my least favourite album).

 

- the fact they won't take any risks as they once did, even though they're in a position to do that with ease.

 

- Flea not using a Modulus

 

Truthfully, I just think my favourite band got old.

Edited August 14 by 40hz

[Russ]

2 hours ago, 40hz said:

I absolutely love them. My favourite band by FAR. However, they've been utter pants since By The Way in 2002.

 

I love different eras of them for different reasons, probably erring towards the early days for that absolutely wild, colourful, energetic, dangerous punk funk thing. Uplift, Mothers Milk, BSSM, OHM, Californication and By The Way are stone cold (bush) classics, IMO.

 

My favourite album is One Hot Minute. It's the most f**** up album they've made and the heaviest. Dave Navarro's guitar playing on it is phenomenal (I don't like Janes, weirdly).

 

Things that can get in the bin about them these days are numerous;

 

- the cult of John (his fanboys are tragic)

 

- the way all of their songs now follow the exact same formula and sound, with Anthony doing the same singing style that started with Stadium Arcadium (my least favourite album).

 

- the fact they won't take any risks as they once did, even though they're in a position to do that with ease.

 

- Flea not using a Modulus

 

Truthfully, I just think my favourite band got old.

I'm a big OHM fan too. I do enjoy a bit of Navarro, and loved what he brought to it. The man really knows how to make a wall of psychedelic sound with a guitar, a Marshall and a bunch of reverb and delay, and also knows how to write a killer simple riff. 

 

It's also Flea being more Flea than on any other album, in my opinion. There's the funky slap stuff, obviously (Aeroplane, Coffee Shop, etc), some great riffing (Warped, Shallow Be Thy Game), and loads of lovely melodic and counterpoint stuff all over the place (Deep Kick, Transcending, etc). The Alembic tone on the record is also pretty great. This was also, in my opinion, the last album where Kiedis actually sincerely emoted.

 

Incidentally, Dave Navarro and Eric Avery from Jane's made a fantastic album after Jane's broke up the first time around called Deconstruction. It's an album all about life in Los Angeles in its many guises, and kinda set the tone for the approach Navarro would take during his time with RHCP, in terms of psychedelic/post-punk influences. If you've never heard it, take a listen. Not many people are aware of it, but everyone who listens to it ends up loving it. It's melancholy, melodic and quite beautiful, in a bleak sort of way.