Californication (album)

Californication
Studio album by
Red Hot Chili Peppers
ReleasedJune 8, 1999 (1999-06-08)
RecordedDecember 1998 – March 1999
StudioCello (Los Angeles, California)
Genre
Length56:24
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerRick Rubin
Red Hot Chili Peppers chronology
Under the Covers: Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers
(1998) 		Californication
(1999) 		By the Way
(2002)
Singles from Californication
  1. "Scar Tissue"
    Released: May 25, 1999
  2. "Around the World"
    Released: August 23, 1999
  3. "Otherside"
    Released: January 11, 2000
  4. "Californication"
    Released: June 2000
  5. "Road Trippin'"
    Released: November 18, 2000

Californication is the seventh studio album by U.S. rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on June 8, 1999, on Warner Bros. Records.[3] It was produced by Rick Rubin. Along with Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication is one of the band’s best-selling albums.

Californication marked the return of guitarist John Frusciante, who'd previously appeared on Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and shifted the band's style. The lyrics incorporated the sexual innuendos already associated with the band, but added themes including death, California, suicide, drugs, globalization and travel.

Californication is the Chili Peppers' most commercially successful studio release internationally, with more than 15 million copies sold worldwide, and more than seven million in the United States alone.[4] As of 2002, the album had sold more than four million copies in Europe.[5] The record yielded several hits for the band, including "Otherside," "Californication" and the Grammy Award-winning "Scar Tissue." Californication peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200.

The record marked a significant change in style for the band: Rolling Stone's Greg Tate noted that "while all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanic".[6] Another critic, Billboard's Paul Verna, mentioned that the album brought out "the group's softer, melodic side", as opposed to their previous six albums.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AllMusic Bio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Gin (February 3, 2016). "Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication: Album Review". ClassicRockHistory.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  3. ^ "How the Chili Peppers Turned It Around with 'Californication'". June 8, 2014.
  4. ^ "Chili Peppers get first US number one album". Music Week. May 19, 2006. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  5. ^ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2002". ifpi.org. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  6. ^ Tate, Greg (June 24, 1999). "Californication". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  7. ^ Verna, Paul (June 19, 1999). "Reviews & Previews" (PDF). Billboard. p. 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2022 – via worldradiohistory.com.