Does anyone really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

it sounds like shit and there’s a feeling of whiplash between their funk stuff and their newfound pop-rock focus. just feels inconsistent and broken as a record though most of the songs are very good, even the deep cuts cf. this velvet glove, easily, porcelain, purple stain

i’m listening to the new one and “aquatic mouth dance” is amazing

i baseline like all of their stuff lol love to learn this about myself :(

the loudness war shit on californication is awful

klinghoffer records underrated, “brendan’s death song” is amazing

klinghoffer's def the noisiest guitarist they ever had, his playing is so spikey and scribbled

obv i didn't pay much attention to i'm with you at the time but dare i say it's the closest they've ever gotten to post-punk?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6MXX8GLiH8

This is a band that has always seemed ridiculous to me but someone could say the same about many acts I adore, so

But

I could probably come up with a list of 10 RCHP bangers if I put my mind to it

(At heart, funk just isn’t my jam.)

obv i didn't pay much attention to i'm with you at the time but dare i say it's the closest they've ever gotten to post-punk?

walking this back a little bc obviously the '84 debut has a foot in post-punk

One Hot Minute would also top my list.

That’s the album I’ve spent the most time with.

god it's so good, it's like they tripped into a hole in the universe

I sing Don Henley's "New York Minute" to the title track, unfortunately.

More like 5, not 10:

My Friends
Scar Tissue
Under the Bridde
Warped
The Zephyr Song

Bridge, obv

"Warped" is so good.

I wish Duran Duran had sounded like "Warped" in 1995.

I always thought the Klinghoffer albums were way better than anyone expected them to be. Nothing amazing happens but it's solid, consistently tuneful altrock. This is probably my favorite RHCP song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DIQWkQJ6bE

"In Love Dying (Parts One + Two)" (2013)

One Hot Minute has Aeroplane on it, which means by definition it isn’t good

RHCP mistakes:

1. Kiedis trying to sing like a normal singer
2. Hiring Dave Navarro

pleasure spiked with pain

i sang "aeroplane" at karaoke the other week, it was fun

One Hot Minute has Aeroplane on it, which means by definition it isn’t good

― castanuts (DJP)

often my favorite Chili Peppers tune.

any album with "one big mob" and "transcending" on it is by definition good

I LOVE "Aeroplane", my favorite single of theirs after "Scar Tissue" and maybe "Under the Bridge"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2hGitt4gbg

some of the tracks on i'm beside you are incredible

1. Kiedis trying to sing like a normal singer
2. Hiring Dave Navarro Kiedis' mustache

I don't know the name of the song, but on a podcast I heard someone play a mid-'00s RHCP song that was clearly a Strokes ripoff, it was pretty striking.

have no idea which one that could be

Oh, it was this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoOibAstPJ4

ohhhh i've never made that association!!!

final ranking with a slight boost for californication bc i think i'm being unfair to it just bc the classic singles are all victims of overplay for me and i can barely hear them anymore:

one hot minute
blood sugar sex magik
by the way
freaky styley
mother's milk
i'm with you
stadium arcadium
californication
the uplift mofo party plan
unlimited love
the getaway
red hot chili peppers

surprised i prefer i'm with you to the getaway but i'm not a huge fan of the muffled danger mouse production sound, it's the least they've ever sounded like a band (also surprised i prefer rubin's absolute non-production, at least on the later records). if i'm with you and i'm beside you were spliced so that only the best tracks remained and it ran less than 50 minutes, it would be the best rhcp record

my favorite red hot chili peppers song of all time is "warm tape"

ok on brief revisit i’m really underrating uplift mofo party plan there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PccS-4wSZCY

one of my favorite songs on the new record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzRYRi2cb4g

also going to post The Song Where John Frusciante Sings The Chorus, because it is awesome

I remember ‘Uplift Mofo Party Plan’ as a big disappointment bc it lacked a good single and I felt the psychedelic stuff was an awkward addition to the sound. It just wasn’t the huge leap forward I expected. (‘Mother’s Milk’ kind of was that). Knowing now that it was the only album from the original lineup makes we want to re-listen.

i think it's the first album on which they managed to write real songs, it's also just really fun

also i assume this has been tested and it didn't work, but i just feel like if you played the bob dylan cover for a boomer they would die instantly

I actually saw them on the ‘Uplift Mofo’ tour. Last one with Hillel Slovak

xp a lotta kids played that and the Hendrix cover for their dads, back in the day

the sodomsky review of the new one is pretty accurate (he and i approach this band from a very similar position, given his excellent sunday review of to record only water for ten days), i'd give it a slightly higher rating, plus it sounds better every time i put it on, but it really is like they decided to pretend it was the day after they recorded stadium arcadium and just started from there

it brings me no pleasure to report that "white braids & pillow chair" is totally gorgeous in inverse proportion to how embarrassing the title is

fell so hard for i'm with you and its b-sides in the last week that i made a composite version of the record with the best b-sides included. i still couldn't get it beneath an hour lol. but here it is:

1. monarchy of roses
2. factory of faith
3. brendan's death song
4. long progression
5. how it ends
6. never is a long time
7. police station
8. victorian machinery
9. did i let you know
10. hanalei
11. goodbye hooray
12. in love dying
13. meet me at the corner

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/300HJlG68z3UG8n7xcEvQm?si=287758faa5864ddb
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/3e1492f0-fbd2-461d-add1-fa9e577d132b

they have some good singles thats about it!

haven't listened to the new album yet but the new single is fairly "heavy" by chili peppers standards. i got some Who vibes

thread is a good late-night read

I'm listening to Stadium Arcadium right now and just want to say how great you guys really are and how much all of your work is appreciated!luv all ur cd's ~~~keep em comin!!! peppers are hot!!!
/your #1 fan
― Anna Loumis (peppersfan), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 03:45 (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

im so fuckin drunk
― Stephen Bush (Stephen B.), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 19:42 (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's cool
― Anna Loumis (peppersfan), Friday, 7 July 2006 02:15 (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

plus some actual insight esp from Brad

they certainly kept em comin

on my fifth consecutive listen of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album

— Skylar Spence (@skylar__spence) April 1, 2022

that's me

Tbh I find them literally unlistenable for the most part, but I'm weirdly fascinated by them as people and I will probably listen to all these interviews that Rick Rubin is doing with the members on his podcast.