Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers performing at a Pinkpop festival
Years active 1983-present
Genres Funk rock
Alternative rock
Labels EMI (1984-1990)
Warner (1990-present)
Members Anthony Kiedis
Flea
John Frusciante
Chad Smith
Past members Hillel Slovak
Dave Navarro
Jack Irons
Arik Marshall
Jack Sherman
Jesse Tobias
D.H. Peligro

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American funk rock band. They formed in 1983 and are still active today after releasing nine studio albums.

[edit] Band history

[edit] 1980s: EMI Records

Red Hot Chili Peppers (first named Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem) were made after what was planned to be a one-time performance in 1983 by former Fairfax High School students Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass), Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Jack Irons (drums) and Hillel Slovak (guitar). Later that year, after becoming popular in the Los Angeles rock scene, they got a record deal with EMI. Irons and Slovak viewed the band as a side project, and left the Chili Peppers shortly before their first album to focus on their original band, "What Is This?". Red Hot Chili Peppers, the band's 1984 first album, was recorded with replacement members Jack Sherman on guitar and Cliff Martinez on drums. Produced by Gang of Four's Andy Gill, the album did not sell many copies. The concerts after did not make money either, with fighting between Sherman and the rest of the band causing him to leave, and Hillel Slovak returning. George Clinton from Parliament-Funkadelic was hired to produce their second album, 1985's Freaky Styley. Martinéz was fired from the band soon after the release of the album, allowing the return of original drummer Jack Irons in early 1986. During this time, drug problems started with the band. At one point Anthony Kiedis left the band because of his heroin addiction, but rejoined after getting clean. Hillel was also using heroin but kept it in control and stayed in the band. Their next album became their first to enter the Billboard Top 200, 1987's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, was produced by Michael Beinhorn. This would be the only album to feature the four original members. During the supporting tour, drug problems in the band became obvious when Slovak relapsed; resulting in strange behavior and poor performances. Shortly after the band returned from some performances in Europe on June 27, 1988, Slovak was found dead of a heroin overdose. Jack Irons left the band because of Slovak's death, going on to drum with Pearl Jam and Eleven. The band temporarily employed Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro and former P-Funk guitarist DeWayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight, before replacing them with Chad Smith and John Frusciante to record their next album. Mother's Milk was released in August 1989, and gave the band their first top modern rock hits with their tribute ballad to Slovak, "Knock Me Down", and their cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". The album reached #52 on the album charts, the best chart position the band had attained thus far.

[edit] 2000 to now

The band returned to the studio in early 2001 and released By the Way over a year later, on July 9, 2002. The album, at the time, was their most important chart debut (with over 700,000 copies sold in first week), starting at #2 and producing hit singles such as: "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 quiet and calm album they have ever made, focusing mostly on melodic ballads instead of 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. To the surprise of many fans, only two songs from By the Way were included in the Greatest Hits Album, those songs were Universally Speaking and By the Way. They were criticized for not having "Can't Stop" on the album, which is considered one of the band's most popular songs. Band member Flea reportedly said that a lot of tension was going on between him and John during the recording process. The tension was so bad that, after their "By the Way" tour, he was planning on leaving the band. The events that took place during that legendary, 3 and a half year tour, however, forced him to change his mind. In 2004, the group released their first full-length live album, "Live in Hyde Park"; recorded during their 2004 performances in Hyde Park, London, because of a very high attendance rate. In the three evenings they performed, the made an estimated 17 million dollars, making it the highest grossing concert at a single venue in history. Two new songs were featured on the Album: "Rolling Sly Stone" and "Leverage of Space". In 2006, they completed their ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium. Although 38 songs were meant to be released as 3 mini-albums spaced six months apart [4]it was released 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, and over 1,000,000 worldwide, 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[2]. In addition to "Dani California", "Tell Me Baby" reached Billboard's hot modern rock tracks in early July.[3] The songs "Storm in a Teacup", "Snow ((Hey Oh))", "Tell Me Baby", "Stadium Arcadium", "If" and "Especially in Michigan" have been featured on ABC commercials for the 2006 X-Games. In 2007, from mid January to March, they will tour the United States with Gnarls Barkley.