Top Ten Songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers (originally Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayheare) are a four piece funk-rock band from Los Angeles, California in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Michael “Flea” Balzary (bass), Anthony Kiedis (vocals), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Although their music is commonly refered a “funk rock”, the band has successfully created a fusion sound that combines elements of funk, rap, pop, psychedelic rock, some blues, as well as heavy metal. Since the birth of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the early 1980’s, they have gone through many personal issues, as well as many lineup changes, resulting in 8 ex-members total including two original members and Janes Addiction’s Dave Navarro. The band started off playing one show in 1983 which was supposed to be their one and only, later that year they would sign with EMI Records, then Warner Brothers Records in the 1990’s. In the years to come, The Red Hot Chili Peppers would go on to top music charts internationally, have their music featured in movies, and sell over 60 millions of albums worldwide since 1984.

They also hold the records for most #1 modern rock hits with 9, and most weeks spent atop that chart, with 72. Their music has been featured in numerous films and video games, including “Pretty Woman” and “Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater 3”. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was listed at number 310 on the Rolling Stone magazine list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and then in 1992 it climbed all the way to # 3 on the U.S. album charts almost a year after its release. In 2009 The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be eligible to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

From many of their greatest albums, here are there top ten songs of all time:

10)Fight Like a Brave
A song from their 1987 album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. It is the first song on the album and was released as a single. It combines funk-rap vocals and instruments to create the established and “original” Red Hot Chili Pepper’s sound.

9)Scar Tissue
From the album Californication, released in 1999. According to the band’s vocalist Anthony Kiedis’s autobiography, “Scar Tissue,” this song is about overcoming his extensive drug addiction. Kiedis’ drug abuse got so out of control, emotionally and physically, that he was kicked out of the band by all its members. He flew home to Michigan and stayed with his mother to clean up. He attended various support groups in the arwa. He began to take the meetings seriously when he saw that they were filled with a bunch of guys just like him who were just trying to help each other out. He called Michael “Flea” Balzary, the band’s bassist,, to tell him about his new soberiety, and Flea and the members invited him to rejoin the band. Kiedis wrote the lyrics to this song on the plane-ride back to California to reunite with the band. This is the song featured in the video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.

8) On Mercury
From their “By The Way” album released in 2002. It includes funk and upbeat instrumentals to create an earpleasing sound.

7)Californication
Californication is the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 4th single from their hit album, Californication. It was released in 2000, the song reached #61 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, and #16 in the UK charts, though it remains as one of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s best known songs, and is played at nearly every single one their concert since its release. It is a protest song about globalization, as are many of the other songs on the album.

6) Around the World
A single released off the Red Hot Chili Peppers 1999 album Californication. It was released on September the 14th 1999 as the 2nd single off the album. This single was released in 2 parts. On Part 1 a demo version of “Parallel Universe” is present along with “Teatro Jam”, a previously unreleased Red Hot Chili Pepper’s song. On Part 2, two live songs are used, “Me And My Friends” and “Yertle Trilogy”.

5) Give It Away
Another hit song released in 1991 on the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. A five-minute ode to selflessness, “Give It Away” was one of five singles from the album and achieved fame internationally, quickly becoming the defining song of the Chili Peppers’ distinct funk-influenced sound. It won a Grammy in 1992.

4) Fortune Faded
A song released in 2003 as a single, to coincide with the release of their Greatest Hits album. The song was first played live by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at a few concerts in August 2001 in Europe, however it didn’t make it on the following album By The Way. The b-side, “Bunker Hill” was recorded for Californication though never released.

3) Can’t Stop
From their 2002 album By The Way. It is the seventh song on the album. The song is a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan favorite and is almost never absent from a live show. The intro to this song appears to be modeled after Jeff Buckley’s song “Eternal Life”, with a less rough texture to create more of a funk-rock sound.

2) Parallel Universe
It is the second track on Californication. Although being one of the album’s loudest songs it does not contain any of the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s signature rap or funk that they were primarily known for at the time of its recording.

1) The Zephyr Song
The second single released on the eighth studio album By the Way, after the single “By the Way” was released. It is one of the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s most influential songs of all time including beautiful harmonic lyrics and a positive beat. A music video was also made for the song.