In 1998, the future of the Red Hot Chili Peppers seemed extremely uncertain. Once considered alternative rock’s hottest act on the back of their triumphant 1991 album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the LA quartet would spend the next few years languishing in the doldrums, with drug addiction and in-house tension threatening to undo those previous years of hard work. To say that Californication saved the Red Hot Chili Peppers is an understatement. For Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and the returning John Frusciante – long considered the band’s classic line-up – the 1999 album cemented the Chili’s as the poster boys for alternative rock.

Musically, Californication still featured a lethal dose of the band’s powerhouse funk, but the album was also more melodic, minimalistic, and structured. Combined with Kiedis’ often brutally honest and introspective lyrics, songs such as the delicate and sombre ‘Scar Tissue’, the epiphanic ‘Otherside’, and the scathing title track would usher in a new era of the band, where the promise they had previously shown was about to be fully realised.

This book discusses album’s writing and recording processes in detail, the stories behind every song (including the B-sides and unreleased material), the ensuing world tour, and the legacy the record has left behind.

Matt Karpe is an author based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Californication is his twelfth book overall, with previous titles covering artists including Korn, Tool, Faith No More, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Prince.

, Flea, Chad Smith, and the returning John Frusciante – long considered the band’s classic line-up – the 1999 album cemented the Chili’s as the poster boys for alternative rock.