History Music / Californication

* AnimatedMusicVideo: The ConceptVideo for "Californication" depicts the band members as characters in a UsefulNotes/PlayStation-style game (the console had come to America only four years prior and was only just then becoming popular).

[[caption-width-right:337:''"Deep inside of a Parallel Universe/It's getting harder and harder to tell what came first..."'']]

''Californication'' is the seventh studio album by Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, released in 1999. It is known as the comeback album for the Chilis, and it is their most widely sold album to this day, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 200.

The history behind the album, its creation and its sound is a long and troubled one. At the beginning of the decade with the Peppers' massively successful fifth studio album, ''Music/BloodSugarSexMagik'', guitarist Music/JohnFrusciante became completely disillusioned with the band's overnight recognition and left the band mid-tour in 1992. During his absence, he lived alone and developed a serious heroin addiction. The Chilis, meanwhile, replaced Frusciante with Dave Navarro, the guitarist of Music/JanesAddiction, and in 1995 released their DarkerAndEdgier sixth album, ''One Hot Minute''. The latter did not perform as well due to its artsy psychedelia and the issues the band was facing at the time. The band faced internal conflicts and came close to breaking up, especially in the wake of singer Anthony Kiedis's drug relapse.

Finally, in 1997, Frusciante, on the brink of death, miraculously checked himself into rehab. He was let back into the band in 1998, and the reunited foursome, celebrating their freedom from drug addiction, released this album. ''Californication'' has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide and spawned a slew of radio-friendly hits such as "Otherside", "Californication", and "Scar Tissue" (which won the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Best Rock Song in 2000). It is tied with ''Music/{{Meteora}}'' for the most cumulative weeks its singles have spent at Number 1 on Billboard Modern Rock Hits. It remains an incredibly influential album to this day.

* BuxomIsBetter: "Fat Dance", an outtake from the album. The song was originally spelt "Phat Dance"; "phat" stands for "Pretty hot and tempting." This makes sense because the song's about Anthony Kiedis's girlfriend Yohanna Logan, who is anything but fat.

Finally, in 1997, Frusciante, on the brink of death, miraculously checked himself into rehab. He was let back into the band in 1998, and the reunited foursome, celebrating their freedom from drug addiction, released this album. ''Californication'' has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide and spawned a slew of radio-friendly hits such as "Otherside", "Californication", and "Scar Tissue" (which won the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Best Rock Song in 2000). It is tied with ''Music/{{Meteora}}'' for the most cumulative weeks its singles have spent at Number 1 on Billboard Modern Rock Hits, and on ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime "500 greatest albums of all time" list]], ''Californication'' received the #401 spot. It remains an incredibly influential album to this day.

Singing songs from [[Music/DavidBowie Station to]] [[Music/StationToStation Station]]\\

[[Music/{{Nirvana}} Cobain]] can you hear [[Music/FooFighters the Spheres]]\\

* SoCalization: "Californication", which includes the line "''Little girls from Sweden dream of silver-screen quotations''".

* LoudnessWar: This album's shitty mastering got even non-audiophile consumers to complain. Even the ballad "Scar Tissue" was downright deafening. What makes the case of this album particularly egregious is that even the vinyl mix was ruined. Apparently, it was run through a digital dynamic range processor before being mastered for vinyl, which is usually mixed from analogue sources. The [=CDs=] of future RHCP albums were also brickwalled, but the vinyl mix of at least ''Stadium Arcadium'' was made from a pristine analogue mix by audiophile favourite Steve Hoffman that basically cancelled out all the CD version's flaws. With ''Californication'', listeners don't have that option with any of the commercially available versions, so the whole thing is basically ruined. There is, however, a remastered version making the rounds on the Internet that does not have the clipping problems. This is one of those cases where the album can basically only be truly appreciated through piracy.
** The album was eventually given a vinyl {{remaster}} that is generally considered substantially superior to the original release of the album. It's still pretty loud, but not as horribly distorted as the original, nor is it as muddy.

* BuxomIsBetter: "Fat Dance", an outtake from the album. The song was originally spelt "Phat Dance"; "phat" stands for "Pretty hot and tempting." This makes sense because the song's about Anthony Kiedis's girlfriend Yohanna Logan, [[http://cache-assets.flogao.com.br/s74/2009/01/07/93/128942910.jpg who is anything but fat]].

* GermanExpressionism: The video for "Otherside" is initially designed to resemble ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', which Flea had recently caught channel surfing one night. However, the directors of the video (John and Valerie Davis)

* SongStyleShift: "Quixoticelixer" gets far more intense during the final verses. "Savior" has jarring ones between the choruses and the verses.

The history behind the album, its creation and its sound is a long and troubled one. At the beginning of the decade with the Peppers' massively successful fifth studio album, ''Music/BloodSugarSexMagik'', guitarist Music/JohnFrusciante became completely disillusioned with the band's overnight recognition and left the band mid-tour in 1992. During his absence, he lived alone and developed a serious heroin addiction. The Chilis, meanwhile, replaced Frusciante with Dave Navarro, the guitarist of Music/JanesAddiction, and in 1995 released their DarkerAndEdgier sixth album, ''One Hot Minute'', which didn't perform as well due to its artsy psychedelia and the issues the band was facing at the time. The band faced internal conflicts and came close to breaking up, especially in the wake of singer Anthony Kiedis's drug relapse.

The history behind the album, it's creation and it's sound is a long and troubled one, starting way back at the beginning of the decade with the Pepper's massively successful fifth studio album, ''Music/BloodSugarSexMagik''. Guitarist Music/JohnFrusciante became completely disillusioned with the band's overnight recognition and left the band mid-tour in 1992. During his absence, he lived alone and developed a serious heroin addiction. The Chilis, meanwhile, replaced Frusciante with Dave Navarro, the guitarist of Music/JanesAddiction, and in 1995 released their DarkerAndEdgier sixth album, ''One Hot Minute'', which didn't perform as well due to its artsy psychedelia and the issues the band was facing at the time.

Finally, in 1997, Frusciante, on the brink of death, miraculously checked himself into rehab. He was let back into the band in 1998, and the reunited foursome, celebrating their freedom from drug addiction, released this album. ''Californication'' has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and spawned a slew of radio-friendly hits such as "Otherside", "Californication", and "Scar Tissue" (which won the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Best Rock Song in 2000). It is tied with ''Music/{{Meteora}}'' for the most cumulative weeks its singles have spent at Number 1 on Billboard Modern Rock Hits, and on ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime "500 best albums of all time" list]], ''Californication'' received the #401 spot. It remains an incredibly influential album to this day.

* FunkRock: Though, this is the album where they started to downplay the genre. But still, songs like "I Like Dirt" and "Purple Stain" are textbook funk rock.
* GermanExpressionism: The video for "Otherside" is designed to resemble ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari,'' which Flea had recently caught channel surfing one night.

A bit of history for you, if you're late to the party: following the massive success of the Chilis' fifth studio album, ''Music/BloodSugarSexMagik'' from 1991, guitarist Music/JohnFrusciante became completely disillusioned with the band's overnight recognition. He left the band mid-tour in 1992 and began living alone while using hard drugs in his home. The Chilis eventually replaced Frusciante with Dave Navarro, the guitarist of Music/JanesAddiction, and in 1995 released their DarkerAndEdgier sixth album, ''One Hot Minute'', which didn't perform as well due to its artsy psychedelia and the issues the band was facing at the time.

* LoudnessWar: This album's shitty mastering got even non-audiophile consumers to complain. Even the ballad "Scar Tissue" was downright deafening. What makes the case of this album particularly egregious is that even the vinyl mix was ruined. Apparently, it was run through a digital dynamic range processor before being mastered for vinyl, which is usually mixed from analogue sources. The [=CDs=] of future RHCP albums were also brickwalled, but the vinyl mix of at least ''Stadium Arcadium'' was made from a pristine analogue mix by audiophile favourite Steve Hoffman that basically cancelled out all the CD version's flaws. With ''Californication'', listeners don't have that option with any of the commercially available versions, so the whole thing is basically ruined. There is, however, an remastered version making the rounds on the Internet that does not have the clipping problems. This is one of those cases where the album can basically only be truly appreciated through piracy.
** The album was eventually given a remaster that most people consider to have fixed a number of the complaints about the album - not just the LoudnessWar issues, but also the muddy production and so on.

* LoudnessWar: This album's shitty mastering got even non-audiophile consumers to complain. Even the ballad "Scar Tissue" was downright deafening.
** What makes the case of this album particularly egregious is that even the vinyl mix was ruined. Apparently, it was run through a digital dynamic range processor before being mastered for vinyl, which is usually mixed from analogue sources. The [=CDs=] of future RHCP albums were also brickwalled, but the vinyl mix of at least ''Stadium Arcadium'' was made from a pristine analogue mix by audiophile favourite Steve Hoffman that basically cancelled out all the CD version's flaws. With ''Californication'', listeners don't have that option with any of the commercially available versions, so the whole thing is basically ruined.
** There is, however, an remastered version making the rounds on the Internet that does not have the clipping problems. This is one of those cases where the album can basically only be truly appreciated through piracy.
* LyricSwap: The final chorus of "Otherside" has Anthony finishing the phrase he repeats, "''Slit my throat, it's all I ever-''" with "''...had''".

Finally, in 1997, Frusciante, on the brink of death, miraculously checked himself into rehab. He was let back into the band in 1998, and the reunited foursome, celebrating their freedom from drug addiction, released this album. ''Californication'' has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and spawned a slew of radio-friendly hits such as "Otherside", "Californication", and "Scar Tissue" (which won the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Best Rock Song in 2000). It is tied with ''Music/{{Meteora}}'' for the most cumulative weeks its singles have spent at Number 1 on Billboard Modern Rock Hits, and ''Magazine/RollingStone'' Magazine marked it as the #401 [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime best album of all time]]. It remains an incredibly influential album to this day.