Red Hot Chili Peppers is a Californian rock band which combined aspects of funk and hip-hop with rock and roll. The band started in 1983. 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 have been considerably more introspective. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their sound is the bass guitar playing of Flea, whose flashy, slap-heavy playing not only provides a groove but is also the source of many musical flourishes.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers label was originally an EMI subsidiary known as EMI Manhattan. Their breakthrough record Blood Sugar Sex Magik as well as all subsequent records were released on Warner Brothers Records.
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 have had deeper lyrics matched by more complex instrumentals.
See also: Chain Reaction and Anthym (first band before Red Hot Chili Peppers)
The band has featured:
- singer Anthony Kiedis, who has been a member of the band since its foundation;
- bass player Michael Balzary, known as "Flea", who also has been a continuous member;
- founding guitarist Hillel Slovak (d. June 1988 from a heroin overdose), replaced by:
- guitarist Duane 'Blackbird' McKnight. He didn't work out so they turned to an 18 year old fan whose guitar playing impressed them:
- guitarist John Frusciante, who left the band during the Japanese leg of the tour in support of 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik and was replaced by:
- guitarist Arik Marshall, followed by;
- guitarist Jess Tobias, followed by;
- guitarist Dave Navarro, formerly of Jane's Addiction;
- founding drummer Jack Irons;
- Drummer D.H. Pellegrino formerly of The Dead Kennedys;
- Current drummer Chad Smith.
Discography (FIX: incomplete, dates)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers (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
- 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
- The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) - 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, Walking' On Down the Road, Love Trilogy, Organic Anti-Beat Box Band
- The Abbey Road EP (1988) - Fire, Backwoods, Catholic Girls Rule, Holywood, True Men Don't Kill Coyotes
- Mother's Milk (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
- Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) - The Power of Equality, If You Have to Ask, Breaking the Girl, Funky Monks, Suck my Kiss, I Could Have Lied, Mellowship Slunky 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 Sex, They're Ret Hot (Robert Johnson)
- What Hits (Greatest hits 1992)
- Out In L.A (Rarities and B-sides 1994)
- One Hot Minute (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
- Californication (1999) - Around the World, Parallel Universe, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Get on Top, Californication, Easily, Porcelain, Emitremmus, I Like Dirt, This Velvet Glove, Savior, Purple Stain, Right on Time, Road Trippin'
- By The Way (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
- Greatest Hits (2003) - Under The Bridge, Give It Away, Californication, Scar Tissue, Soul to Squeeze, Otherside, Suck My Kiss, By The Way, Parallel Universe, Breaking The Girl, My Friends, Higher Ground, Universally Speaking, Road Trippin', Fortune Faded, Save The Population
