Maps of Music

Californication (1999)

Where the lyrics of Californication take you, and where it was really made.

The band hesitated to rehire the producer of its two previous albums, yet this record became one of its best-selling releases.

Key places

Recorded at Cello Studios in Los Angeles (1999)

Recording site EastWest Studios — Californication was recorded at Cello Studios in Los Angeles. The band recorded the songs in five days, and completing the album took a little over three weeks. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Free show in Moscow's Red Square (1999)

Live show Red Square — The band opened its European tour with a free show in Moscow's Red Square on August 14, 1999. The crowd was reported at over 200,000 people. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Californication: seventh studio album by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Released June 8, 1999 on Warner Bros. Records
• Produced by Rick Rubin
• Among the band's best-selling albums, together with Blood Sugar Sex Magik
• Marked the return of guitarist John Frusciante and shifted the band's style
• Lyrics kept the band's sexual innuendos and added death, California, suicide, drugs, globalization and travel

Background

• 1991 Blood Sugar Sex Magik: breakthrough, seven million copies sold in the United States
• Frusciante left after that album, overwhelmed by the band's new popularity
• Dave Navarro replaced him; One Hot Minute (1995) failed to match its predecessor; Navarro left in early 1998
• Frusciante became addicted to heroin and cocaine, then entered rehab
• In 1998 he rejoined the band at the insistence of bassist Flea
• Band first considered an electronic album, but multiple electronic producers turned them down
• They chose an alternative rock direction with throwbacks to their roots

Recording

• Most of the music was written in summer 1998 at Flea's makeshift garage studio
• Band wrote 30 to 40 songs, later distilled to 15 for the release, according to biographer Jeff Apter
• Recorded at Cello Studios in Los Angeles; completion took a little over three weeks
• Recording the songs took five days, with all four members playing in the same room
• About a week into sessions, Jim Scott was brought in as replacement audio engineer after the band was unhappy with the original production
• Most of the album was mixed in monaural sound

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Los Angeles in 1982 by Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Flea, and Jack Irons, classmates at Fairfax High School.
• First performed on December 16, 1982 at the Grandia Room club on Hollywood Boulevard, in front of about 30 people.
• Changed the name to Red Hot Chili Peppers in March 1983.
• Released the self-titled debut album in August 1984, which sold 300,000 copies.

Members

• Current: Flea (bass, backing vocals, trumpet), Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals), Chad Smith (drums, percussion), John Frusciante (guitars, backing vocals, keyboards).
• Former members include Hillel Slovak (guitar, died of a heroin overdose in 1988), Jack Irons (drums), Dave Navarro (guitar, 1993–1998), and Josh Klinghoffer (guitar, 2009–2019).

Career

• Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) was the first major commercial success; "Under the Bridge" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Californication (1999) became the band's biggest commercial success, with over 16 million copies sold worldwide.
• Stadium Arcadium (2006) was the first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and won Grammy Awards.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 31, 2022.
• Over 120 million records sold worldwide.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Greg Tate: the band's previous projects were spirited, while this one was spiritual and epiphanic, a significant change in style
• Billboard's Paul Verna: the album brought out the band's softer, melodic side, unlike their previous six albums
• Critics credited the album's success to the return of Frusciante
• NME criticized the rare use of the funk sound; Pitchfork said it lacked the funk found on Blood Sugar Sex Magik
• Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention

Reappraisal

• Some journalists credit the album with revitalizing the band's image and relevance
• Cited as an example of the loudness war, with listeners complaining of compression and distortion
• Greg Milner (2009): one of the most heavily derided albums in online audio mastering communities

Records

• Billboard 200 peak: number 3; sold 189,000 copies by June 26, 1999
• Stayed on the Billboard 200 for 101 weeks
• UK Albums Chart peak: number 5; 169 weeks on the chart
• Certified 5× Platinum by the BPI for 1.5 million copies in the UK
• Number 1 in Australia, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden
• Certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA for over 8 million copies in the US
• Over 17 million copies sold worldwide; the band's best-selling album as of 2019
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: 399 in 2003, 286 in the 2020 and 2024 revised lists

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• In September 1998 the band recorded early demos at Daniel Lanois' El Teatro studio in Oxnard, California.
• The Teatro sessions stayed unreleased until they leaked to the internet in 2014.
• The Teatro sessions included seven songs that never got past the demo stage.
• The band closed Woodstock '99 at the end of its US tour leg, an event infamous for its violence.
• The video for the lead single Scar Tissue shows the four members riding in a convertible through Joshua Tree National Park.
• The band opened its European tour with a free show in Moscow's Red Square in August 1999.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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