The band’s origins can be traced back to Los Angeles’s Fairfax High School where Anthony Kiedis befriended Hillel Slovak and Michael Balzary—later known as Flea. Guitarist Slovak was in a band called Anthym with drummer Jack Irons. Balzary later joined the group as its bassist and Kiedis acted as the MC for some of the band’s gigs.
What would become the Red Hot Chili Peppers started out as a side project for most of its members. Slovak and Irons were in a group called What Is This, an evolution of Anythm, and Balzary had joined one of LA’s hottest punk bands Fear. The foursome played their first gig together in 1983 as one-song opening act for Neighbor’s Voices. Kiedis wrote the lyrics for that tune called “Out in L.A.,” which covered some of his and his friends’ excessive ways. Wowing the crowd with their punk-rap-rock style, they were asked to play again and soon became a fixture on the Hollywood club scene.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers went through a dramatic change soon after landing a contract with the record label EMI America. Slovak and Irons left the group as What Is This also scored their own record deal. Kiedis and Flea decided to continue with the group, bringing in guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez for their 1984 self-titled debut album, which was produced by Andy Gill from Gang of Four.
After the album bombed, Slovak and Irons returned to the group. The Red Hot Chili Peppers worked on their second album, Freaky Styley (1985), amping up the funk with some help from producer George Clinton of Parliament and P-Funk fame. While the recording failed to make the charts, it was an important step in the band’s musical evolution.
They toured to support the recording, developing quite a following with their frenetic and offbeat live performances. Sometimes quite raunchy, the band members played a few gigs while only wearing strategically placed tube socks. They could be quite wild off-stage as well. Kiedis was kicked out of the group for a time because of his drug use.
With The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), the Red Hot Chili Peppers made the album charts for the first time. This success was soon marred by tragedy, however. In April 1988, Hillel Slovak died of a drug overdose. Irons quit the group in the wake of this event. According to Kiedis’s 2004 autobiography, Scar Tissue, Irons told Kiedis and Flea that “I do not want to be a part of something where my . . . friends are dying.”
Kiedis and Flea decided to keep the band going. Their first set of replacements for Slovak and Irons—P-Funk guitarist Blackbyrd McKnight and Dead Kennedys drummer D. H. Peligro—didn’t work out. Their next line-up with guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith proved to be their most commercially successful incarnation. With their first record together, 1989’s Mother’s Milk, the foursome had a few alternative rock hits, “Knock Me Down” and an accelerated cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.” The videos for these songs were shown frequently on MTV, introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers to a larger audience.
Their 1991 follow-up, BloodSugarSexMagik, peaked at the third spot at the album charts driven in part by such singles as the vibrant, bass-driven “Give It Away” and mellow, reflective “Under the Bridge”—which reached the second spot on the pop charts. The recording eventually sold more than 4 million copies, establishing the Red Hot Chili Peppers as one of alternative rock’s leading bands.
The band, however, soon went through another shake-up. Frusciante left the group and the remaining members made several attempts to find the right replacement. They finally settled on Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction fame after trying out Arik Marshall and Jesse Tobias. With their next album, One Hot Minute (1995), the band had another big hit on their hands. The recording featured such songs as the stripped down “My Friends,” the funky and fast “Warped,” and the catchy and melodic “Aeroplane.”
In 1998, Navarro left the group for a solo career. The Red Hot Chili Peppers brought Frusciante back into the band and then recorded their 1999 hit album Californication. With the contemplative “Scar Tissue,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers scored their second top ten pop hit. “Otherside” broke into the top twenty.
That same year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were a featured act at the Woodstock ’99 music festival. They were performing when the crowd got out of control and started burning things. Kiedis later told the San Francisco Chronicle that “we were not the instigators. . . . I think it was just a culmination of three days of ill conditions for those kids . . . and the natural phenomenon of bonfire-ism that happens at big festival shows.”
The band’s next effort, By the Way (2002) was also a strong seller on the album charts, but its singles did not have the same pop crossover appeal as their previous effort. Stadium Arcadium (2006), however, was a different story. The powerful yet lyrical “Dani California” did well on the rock and pop charts as did the title track. “Snow (Hey Oh)” and “Hump de Bump” also had great appeal to music buyers. For the first time in the band’s history, they had their first number one album on the Billboard 200 chart.
At present, the future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is in question. Kiedis told Rolling Stone in May 2008 that the group was "disbanded for the moment." Kiedis is spending more time with his family and busy planning a new television series. Flea is pursuing new musical projects, Frusciante is continuing his solo career, and Chad Smith is working on a side project called Chickenfoot with musicians Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony. Smith recently announced that the band plans on returning to the studio in September of 2009, though there is no official word yet on this decision.
Türkçe
Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP), 1983 yılında kurulmuş; funk, punk ve metali harmanlayarak müzik yapan ABD'li bir gruptur. Grubun kurucuları Anthony Kiedis, Micheal Balzary, Hillel Slovak ve Jack Irons'dır. İlk isimleri ‘Tony Flow And the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem’ olan grup, aynı yılın sonunda EMI plak şirketiyle sözleşme imzaladı. Daha sonra isimlerini Red Hot Chili Peppers olarak değiştirmişlerdir.
Grubun ilk albümü Red Hot Chili Peppers 1983 yılında gitarist Hillel ve davulcu Jack yerine Jack Sherman ve Cliff Martinez'in katkılarıyla yapılmıştır. Albüm büyük bir ticari başarı yakalayamasa da underground müzik çevresinde ses getirmiştir.
1985'de ise Hillel'in katılımıyla ve "Funk Tanrısı" George Clinton'ın prodüktörlüğüyle Freaky Styley piyasaya sürülmüştür. Daha sonra Jack'in de gruba dönmesiyle 1987 tarihli The Uplift Mofo Party Plan adlı albüm çıkmıştır.Albüm Billboard listelerinde 184. sıraya kadar çıkmıştır. Ancak 24 Haziran 1988'de Hillel'in aşırı dozda uyuşturucudan ölmesiyle grup dağılma noktasına gelmiştir. Bu dönemde Anthony Meksika'ya gitmiş, Jack ise gruptan ayrılmıştır. Anthony'nin dönüşü ve Flea'nın çabalarıyla gitarist John Frusciante ile davulcu Chad Smith gruba dahil olmuşlardır. 1989'da Mother's Milk adlı albümü çıkararak ilk altın plaklarını kazanmışlardır. Albümden çıkan ilk single "Knock Me Down" Hillel'in anısınadır.
1991'de ise Rick Rubin prodüktörlüğünde, RHCP'ın en çok ses getiren albümlerinden biri olan Blood Sugar Sex Magik piyasaya çıkmıştır. Albümde yer alan "Under The Bridge" Amerika listelerine iki numaradan giriş yapmıştır, "Give It Away" ise gruba En İyi Hard Rock Parçası dalında Grammy kazandırmıştır.
Uyuşturucuya bulaşan John Frusciante 7 Mayıs 1992'de stres ve yorgunluk bahanesiyle grubu terk etmiştir. John 1994'de ilk solo albümü olan Niandra Lades And Usually Just A T-shirt 'ü ve 1997'de Smile From The Streets You Hold 'u çıkarmıştır.
Bu arada RHCP yoluna devam etmiştir. 1994'de gruba John'un yerine Jane's Addiction ve Porno For Pyros gibi grupların gitaristi Dave Navarro katılmıştır. 1995'de ise Navarro ile birlikte One Hot Minute adlı albümü piyasaya sürmüşlerdir.“One Hot Minute” tüm Dünya’da 5 milyon kopya satarak, 4 numaradan girdiği Amerika listelerinde 55 hafta boyunca yerini korudu.
Ancak 1998'de Dave Navarro grubu terk etmiş, John Frusciante geri dönmüştür. Frusciante'nin dönüşüyle, 1999 yılında prodüktörlüğünü Rick Rubin'in yaptığı Californication albümü çıkmıştır. Bu albüm Blood Sugar Sex Magik 'in soundundan uzak olsa da çıkan ilk single "Scar Tissue" uzun süre ilk onda kalmıştır. Grup 2000 MTV Video Müzik Ödülleri'nde "Videoda Öncü Grup Ödülü"nü kazanmıştır. Californication 'ın videosu "En İyi Yönetmen" ve "En İyi Sanat Yönetmenliği" ödüllerini kazanmıştır. Bu arada John üçüncü solo albümü olan To Record Only Water For Ten Days 'i çıkarmıştır. 2002'de ise Californication 'a benzese de bazı farklılıklar taşıyan By The Way piyasaya çıkmıştır. Albümde yer alan "On Mercury" adlı parça grubun ilk ska denemesidir.
2004 yılında RHCP, “Live in Hyde Park” adlı ilk konser albümünü piyasaya sürdü. Albüm, Londra’daki Hyde Park’ta sahne aldıkları üç gecenin kayıtlarından oluşurken, grup bu üç gecelik konser dizisinden 17 milyon dolar kazanarak bir rekora imza atmayı başardı.
Grubun en son çıkan albümü ise yine Rick Rubin'in prodüktörlüğündeki Stadium Arcadium'dur. Blood Sugar Sex Magik 'in de kaydedildiği stüdyoda kaydedilen albümün çıkış parçası "Dani California"dır. En son klibini çektikleri parça "Tell me Baby" dir. Albümden çıkan üçüncü single "Snow(hey oh)" 4. parçasıdır. 20 Kasım 2006'da piyasaya çıkacak single'la birlikte parçanın Tony Kaye tarafından yönetilen videosu da yayınlanmıştır. Mtv Awards'a da aday olarak gösterilmiştir.
Ayrıca bu single lar dışında klibi yayınlanan diğer Stadium Arcadium parçaları "Desecration" Smile ve "Hump de Bump" dur Grup kendilerine daha çok zaman ayırmak için kısa bir süre müziğe ara vermiştir. Anthony ve Flea Çocuklarıyla ve hayatlarıyla ilgilenirken, Chad Bir Caz grubuna girmiştir. John ise solo çalışmalarına devam etmektedir.
John Frusciante 16 Aralık 2009 tarihinde gruptan ayrılmıştır. 2 Ocak 2010 tarihinde ise onun yerini Josh Klinghoffer almıştır.
Stüdyo albümleri
| ALBÜM | SATIŞ | Müzik Listelerdeki Yeri | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yıl | Başlık |  Dünya |  ABD |  Avrupa | U.S. |  UK |  Alm |  YZ |  İsv |  Nor |  Aus |  İsç |  İta |  Jap |  Fin |
| 1984 | The Red Hot Chili Peppers | 300,000 | ? | ? | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1985 | Freaky Styley | 500,000 | ? | ? | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1987 | The Uplift Mofo Party Plan | 750,000 | 500,000 | ? | 148 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1989 | Mother's Milk | 2,000,000 | 1,000,000 | ? | 52 | - | - | 47 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1991 | Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 12,000,000 | 7,000,000+ | 2,700,000 | 3 | 25 | 12 | 1 | 26 | 5 | 17 | 10 | 25 | 77 | ? |
| 1995 | One Hot Minute | 5,000,000 | 1,758,399+3 | 1,600,000 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| 1999 | Californication | 15,000,000 | 5,466,5752 | 5,100,000 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
| 2002 | By the Way | 9,000,000- | 1,825,618+3 | 4,600,000 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 2006 | Stadium Arcadium | 7,400,0001 | 2,117,958 | 3,000,000- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Total: | 51,850,000 | 19,653,586 | 16,500,000 | ||||||||||||
- 1Henüz kesinleşmemiş rakam. Bu istatistikler genellikle 2-3 yıl sonra belirginleşir. (Kaynak: IFPI [1])
- 2Soundscan Mart 2007
- 3Son güncelleme: 2006
Ödülleri
| Year | Award | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | MTV VMA | Breakthrough Video (Give It Away) |
| 1992 | MTV VMA | Best Art Direction (Give It Away) |
| 1992 | MTV VMA | Viewer's Choice (Under the Bridge) |
| 1993 | Grammy Awards | Best Hard Rock Performance (Give It Away) |
| 2000 | MTV VMA | Video Vanguard (career award) |
| 2000 | MTV VMA | Best Art Direction (Californication) |
| 2000 | MTV VMA | Best Direction (Californication) |
| 2000 | MTV VMA | Best Artist Website |
| 2000 | MTV EMA | Best Rock |
| 2000 | Billboard Awards | Best Alternative Group |
| 2000 | American Music Awards | Favorite Alternative Artist |
| 2000 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Song (Scar Tissue) |
| 2002 | MTV EMA | Best Live Act |
| 2002 | MTV EMA | Best Rock |
| 2002 | MTV VMA Latin America | Best International Rock Artist |
| 2003 | MTV VMA Japan | Best Rock Video |
| 2003 | Brit Awards | Best International Group |
| 2003 | ECHO Awards | Best International Group |
| 2003 | Q Awards | Best Act In The World Today |
| 2003 | Rolling Stone | 18th Greatest Guitarist of All Time (John Frusciante) |
| 2006 | MTV VMA | Best Art Direction (Dani California) |
| 2006 | MTV EMA | Best Album (Stadium Arcadium) |
| 2006 | Chainsaw Awards | Killer Video (Dani California) |
| 2006 | American Music Awards | Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group |
| 2006 | American Music Awards | Favorite Alternative Artist |
| 2006 | U Choose 40 (NZ) | Best 90's ANTHEMS (NZ) Song (Under the Bridge) |
| 2007 | U Choose 40 (NZ) | Best Big Day Out (NZ) Artist (Give it Away) |
| 2007 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (Dani California) |
| 2007 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Song (Dani California) |
| 2007 | Grammy Awards | Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package (Stadium Arcadium) |
| 2007 | Grammy Awards | Best Rock Album (Stadium Arcadium) |
| 2007 | Grammy Awards | Best Producer (Rick Rubin - Stadium Arcadium) |
| 2007 | ECHO Awards | Best International Group |
| 2007 | MTV VMA Australia | Best Group |
| 2007 | MTV VMA Japan | Best Direction (Dani California) |
| 2007 | U Choose 40 (NZ) | Take Me Back To The 90's (NZ) Song (Under The Bridge) |