Is there a song that’s skippable on Californication? That’s the question I posed to a friend of mine in the midst of injecting the Red Hot Chili Peppers magnum opus into my veins over this past Memorial Day weekend. Out of all the top-end albums in the Peppers discography, from Stadium Arcadium to Unlimited Love to By The Way to Blood Sugar Sex Magik to Mother’s Milk (hell, I’ll admit I even enjoy the much-panned One Hot Minute for what it is) none stand up to the sheer quality of Californication front to back. You need to get all the way down to “Emit Remmus” at the #9 slot before you even consider the remote possibility of skipping to the next song, and by the time you’re halfway through it the dialed-in groove of Chad Smith, Flea, and John Frusciante have sucked you back in.
Just simply consider the first six songs on this album. The howitzer of a bass line that kicks off “Around The World”, the slow building groove of “Parallel Universe” that eventually explodes, the haunting lyrics and vocal melodies of “Scar Tissue”, the epic backing harmonies of “Otherside” amidst wonderful soft-loud dynamics, the frenetic funk of “Get on Top”, and the painful ache that permeates the entirety “Californication”. To imagine this isn’t a greatest hits list comprising a band’s best songs released over a three decade span but just the opening salvo to an album is frankly incredible.
In the history of rock and roll, no band has combined the elements of funk, punk, and alternative rock as adeptly as RHCP. Drummer Chad Smith’s wicked chops behind the set, Flea’s impeccable bass lines, John Frusciante’s virtuoso guitar playing, and Anthony Kiedis’ helter skelter vocal lines all combined perfectly to create something that was far more than its consummate parts. And on Californication, they were at their absolute best.
Standout Songs: “Californication”, “Scar Tissue”, “Otherside”, “Around The World”, “This Velvet Glove”, “I Like Dirt”, “Porcelain”
