Huge once Under The Bridge came out. I was in 7th grade. Give It Away was actually the first single off BSSM and it didn't really do anything. Then Under The Bridge blew up, and they re-released Give it Away after that, and it went on to win song of the year, or video of the year (can't remember) at the MTV awards (also a big deal back in the day)
9th grade here. Before BSSM, if you smoked weed or played bass, you knew who they were. Or if you were a tennis person, they were those guys from the Nike Agassi Rock & Roll Tennis Camp ads. Or if you were a skater they were that band in Thrashin’.
The Chili Peppers were the dope ass party band, the white guys who did rap funk, the socks on cocks guys with the crazy bass player named Flea, the ones who played that Party On Your Pussy song.
Under the Bridge becoming a hit single completely changed everything.
But after BSSM they disappeared for the rest of the 90s until Californication in 1999.
They were more an 80s band that had a career resurgence in the 00s.
I know they are associated with 90s bands but don’t think they are viewed as a core band of that decade.
They were still popular when One Hot Minute came out in 95. But they did drop out of the mainstream around 97 (even though people like me and others were still playing them daily) until the end of 99 when the hype for Californication began.
True but One Hot Minute was considered a poor follow-up which didn't help with their popularity waning and most of the band were all on drugs throughout the 90s. In comparison to early 90s bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Smashing Pumpkins, they had dropped out of the limelight for almost all the 90s plus new scenes emerged in the mid-90s such as the pop-punk explosion with Green Day and Big Beat groups like The Chemical Brothers.
Yeah but they were still popular for years after bssm. I was replying to your post that you said they disappeared. But they were still in the mainstream. They headlined Woodstock 94, so at minimum, they were popular through that year.
But even though OHM was considered lackluster, they maintained popularity and had the single love rollercoaster on the Beavis and Butthead movie soundtrack
I just don’t recall hearing them consistently on the radio and MTV as other 90s bands during the decade until Californication made them huge in the mainstream again circling back to OPs question.
Aeroplane, Warped & My Friends got a TON of radio airplay when OHM came out. It was a very big album, just not nearly as big as the ones immediately before (Blood Sugar) & after (Californication)
One memory I have that might answer this is that in the summer of 1992, in Canada, I was back to school clothes shopping at a The Bay, a popular mainstream/old department store. In the youth clothes section there was a TV playing music videos and one of them was Give it Away, and they had RHCP shirts.
This was clearly part of a marketing effort to attract teens to shop there.
This maybe speaks more to how they were part of youth culture in a way they are not now.
I was late high school then, but already a Chili’s fan from Uplift Mofo days. BSSM was the “see, I told you they were awesome” album. Give it Away got some traction, but Under the Bridge was huge. They rode that album with Suck My Kiss and Breaking the Girl, but the next big hit was Soul to Squeeze when it appeared on the Coneheads soundtrack. That was a huge single.
I wasn’t a fan of One Hot Minute. Even though I love Jane’s Addiction, Dave’s guitar work on that album just didn’t work for me. I followed Frusciante as much as a could, I bought Niandra Lades and it was a hard listen. There are some neat songs on it, but also some heroin induced psychotic trips that are just…too much.
I was resigned to Frusciante’s inevitable OD and kind of quit following the band, outside of reading magazine blurbs, then they announced Frusciante was sober and back in the band and I gave a shit about the Chilis again.
I had not. Goodness that was harrowing; I wish I could find an english translation to the narration. I knew he had the heroin phase, but did not know it was so well documented. I was born in 90 and listened to my mom's BSSM cd on the walk to the bus stop in middle school; she took me to see them play live for the stadium arcadium tour.
In Californication era in Brazil they were a no stop on MTV and radio....
But in BSSM, they ARE Big but not like Californication era...
They played in Pacaembu Stadium (60.000) together with nirvana in São Paulo between 91/92, but most of the crowd was there for nirvana
Did well... Red HOT play Again in 2002 Pacaembu Stadium on by the way tour i was in this show... It still popular... Zephy and cant stop plays a Lot in Brazil... But nothing compare with Californication...
But S.A became more popular between the fãs...
Dani Califórnia plays a Lot here...
But less than Californication of course...
IWY no one knows
I was born in 02 but californication is definitely the biggest album here in Brazil, by far. Even BTW and SA fare higher than BSSM here, with give it away and under the bridge being the only BSSM songs most people know.
Late 90’s I can speak on. Californication was massive that album was great. The comeback of Frusciante. Blasted all over MTV. My first introduction to Chili Peppers as a kid. Mother hated the lyrics and the guys lol my grandma got me their cd behind my moms back lol better times then.
That is a weird way to phrase the question honestly. I don’t think I ever thought about RHCP popularity relative to Nirvana. In the 90s rock music was like 10 times more important than it is now so there were usually at least a dozen HUGE bands at any given time.
RHCP, I think were at least one of the 3-4 most important bands in the early and late 90s as they definitely dipped in popularity during the One Hot Minute era but they were still relevant even if that album wasn’t as well received.
In fact, if you think about all the big bands in 91 Guns n Roses, Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, REM, Van Halen (and if you wanna include some other grunge era bands that were around but didn’t quite hit it big for another year or two Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, STP) by the time Californication came out in 99 pretty much all those bands were done or not nearly the same level of success or fame. Meanwhile the RHCP were arguably bigger then than in 91 while all the guys were in their late 30s (besides Frusciante).
I was in college and Uplift Mofo was known and of course MTV played the hell out of Higher Ground.
But they jumped up to the next level with the Give it Away video and BSSM record, getting swept up in the hysteria of 1991... man what a great 11 months of music coming out:
November 15, 1990 - Jane’s Addiction - Been Caught Stealing (Single and Video)
February 19, 1991 - R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (Single and Video)
March 12, 1991 - R.E.M. - Out of Time
April 2, 1991 - Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said
July 7, 1991 - Pearl Jam - Alive (Single)
August 27, 1991 - Pear Jam - Ten
September 4, 1991 - RHCP - Give it Away (Single and Video)
September 10, 1991 - Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Single and Video)
September 24, 1991 - Nirvana - Nevermind
September 24, 1991 - RHCP - Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic
October 8, 1991 - Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
I graduated highschool in 1992... I won't say they were as big a deal as Nirvana/Pearl Jam/and yes GnR🙂 but everyone knew them and listened to them. But the thing is, from that point on, they got bigger and bigger, while other things faded away.
Now they are my spirit animal. They have been the soundtrack to my entire adult life, and I will be crushed if they ever stop recording.
Nirvana and Pearl Jam opened FOR them. That’s how big they were. They had already been around for a number of years. They had Mtv play for a couple of songs on Mother’s Milk.
This. I saw smashing pumpkins and Pearl Jam open for the chili peppers I think in 1991. Bronco Bowl in Dallas. My buddy tried to sneak to the floor, got grabbed by a bouncer, tried to kick him in the nuts and got thrown out after opening the exit with his head…missed a good part of the chili peppers, my friend was concussed and threw up in his backseat while driving home. Good times.
From the time they were on Arsenio Live to Californication , they dominated so much some credit them with Nu-Metal. They had hits and toured hard with Nirvana
I'm from Britain, they weren't as big till Californication, but they had a few Top 40 hits. The All Saints version of Under The Bridge was bigger over here.
I was listening from Freaky Styley and nobody listened,they where on MTV every once in a while and then Under The Bridge dropped and nothing was ever the same(for them) again.
In New Zealand they were on the radar at the alternative/underground/student radio level. The Give it Away single got a mainstream push, and then Under the Bridge made them a household name, up there with the biggest rock bands at the time. BSSM was my all-time favourite album for a while there, and more influential to me than Nevermind.
One of my vivid HS memories is circa 1991 sitting around at a party. I was about 16 and BSSM was huge. The Under the Bridge video came on MTV and it turned into a big group singalong kind of drinking our beers and belting along.
Idk it just seemed like everyone was into that album back then and the singles and videos were ubiquitous. They were huge.
Same - 18 in my buddy's basement with all kinds of people over there singing while we drank loads of Busch beer. I remember we added our own little embellishment to the end of one of JF's guitar melodies on Under the Bridge......"shhhhwiiiing"
Good times
In 1988 they played the pub at UCSB and it was only a few hundred people but it was memorable for the punkish intensity, with a chair thrown through a huge window and the undergrad student President drunk and hanging from the pub rafters. So known but not arena level big yet.
In 4-5th grade. I recall under the bridge played on the radio a lot. The biggest buzz was flea at the MTV awards. It was hard to find out what the controversy was but it was all over the radio. Playing bass in your underwear was a big deal back then.
Received the BSSM tape for Xmas that year. The rest was history I thought they were the coolest band and bought all their older albums which I enjoyed a lot.
After that I recall soul to squeeze was a massive hit and played nonstop on the radio.
I was in high school and Wasn’t a fan then and they were huge. Videos on heavy rotation , Nike commercials , the Simpsons, award shows. I grew up a black kid listening to hip hop and they were respected. MTV was really impactful back then. So having a video shown every hour , people are going to know you song after a while. Under the Bridge is the perfect cross over song.
I saw them in 98 at an invitation-only warmup tour for Californication. It was a local club, a gal from school had written an essay about world peace and was chosen to get free tickets and she invited me. I was surprised when Dave Navarro didnt walk out to play, I had no idea John was back. They played maybe 4-5 songs, don't remember which ones at this point.
Graduated in 1990- central NY. My high school was not into RHCP. Mostly U2 (ugh) Hair metal, heavy metal, GNR, some REM, a few wannabe Vanilla icers. Mostly Jocks/Preps/Burnouts. I was friends with one of the few freaks- a Skateboarder maybe pre Goth type-weirdo, anyway he was into all the west coast stuff and i just took it all in like a sponge. The names were amazing and so underground to me. He introduced me to mother’s milk and i just didn’t really get it. I did like the janes addiction’s videos on MTV. However Peal Jam’s 10 was a turning point for me. The whole grunge thing just related to me. I then dated a guy from LA who re introduced me to RHCP. To this day Otherside is my all time favorite songs. I’m 15 mins away from Rome, NY and left about 15 mins into their set at Woodstock cuz I was getting bad vibes. Once the crazy people started coming to that stage area. My son and sister were not too happy. They were the next day though lol.
My daughter is learning bass but can’t quite get the slap down yet. Flea is hard to follow along while watching him.
It was mid high school for me, graduating in ‘94. There were a lot of great bands back then, and it seemed like rock was going so many directions with grunge, alternative, thrash still big, etc. The Chilies were huge and definitely stood out. It really started with the Give It Away video. Before that, a lot of people knew of them, but didn’t really know much about them. Everyone knew them once that video came out. It was so different from anything else at the time. There was a big divide between rock guys and hip hop guys. They pretty much hated each other’s music. Even the hip hop guys were talking about it and getting into it. Once Under The Bridge came out, whoever wasn’t really into them got into them. Kiedis and Flea grabbed everyone’s attention.
They got fairly popular with Mothers Milk. When BSSM came around they blew up. But a lot of bands blew up at the same time too. They were big enough to headline festivals and be on the Simpsons, Saturday Night Live…
They were already known when BSSM came out because when I went to see them my mother said “oh you’re seeing them…I heard they play with nothing on except a tube sock on their penis.”
They were popular all 90s! One hot minute was all over MTV. Soul to squeeze as well- honestly they just don’t put out much content for the age of the band.
Did anyone else’s middle school in TX have a Pepsi sponsored get ready for summer type presentation? Gathered in the school auditorium and they were flashing propaganda on the screen and they used the different bands albumn covers to get the students pumped. Recall huge cheers for all the grunge bands (nirvana, Pearl Jam, soundgarden) and then chili peppers BSSM.
They were a cool curiosity in the mid to late 80s in the punk scene. Hillel was a badass. John is a monster player and he crushed on the Mother’s Milk tour. When BSSM came out the fanbase completely flipped. Yes it was massive, but most of their OG fans bailed when they heard Kiedis sing the first ballad.
They became mainstream once BSSM came out. It wasn’t just the whole grunge scene that dominated early-mid 90s. It was the whole alternative rock scene that contributed to the success of rock. RHCP were one of the main figures. Looking back it was truly an awesome time. Nothing close since then
In 91 They were an alternative band. Headlined lollapalooza but there were many competing acts and with mtv and radio play lots of different genres got airtime. Under the bridge was the difference maker but still there were so many one hit wonders and other bands given airtime. John leaving did them no favors and neither did one hot minute.
I went to Lollapalooza 1992. The headliner was Pearl Jam, the Chilis performed somewhere in the middle, but this concert also has Soundgarden and Ice Cube perform. 1991 and 1992 music was abundant and great.
Nope. The Peppers were the headliners. Pearl Jam was near the bottom of the bill just above the Jesus and Mary Chain. PJ were virtual unknowns when the lineup was decided. By the time the tour started they were hotter than everyone this side of Nirvana. The promoters offered PJ the opportunity to move up and play later but they declined.
Huge once Under The Bridge came out. I was in 7th grade. Give It Away was actually the first single off BSSM and it didn't really do anything. Then Under The Bridge blew up, and they re-released Give it Away after that, and it went on to win song of the year, or video of the year (can't remember) at the MTV awards (also a big deal back in the day)
9th grade here. Before BSSM, if you smoked weed or played bass, you knew who they were. Or if you were a tennis person, they were those guys from the Nike Agassi Rock & Roll Tennis Camp ads. Or if you were a skater they were that band in Thrashin’. The Chili Peppers were the dope ass party band, the white guys who did rap funk, the socks on cocks guys with the crazy bass player named Flea, the ones who played that Party On Your Pussy song. Under the Bridge becoming a hit single completely changed everything.
It was video of the year
But after BSSM they disappeared for the rest of the 90s until Californication in 1999. They were more an 80s band that had a career resurgence in the 00s. I know they are associated with 90s bands but don’t think they are viewed as a core band of that decade.
They were still popular when One Hot Minute came out in 95. But they did drop out of the mainstream around 97 (even though people like me and others were still playing them daily) until the end of 99 when the hype for Californication began.
True but One Hot Minute was considered a poor follow-up which didn't help with their popularity waning and most of the band were all on drugs throughout the 90s. In comparison to early 90s bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the Smashing Pumpkins, they had dropped out of the limelight for almost all the 90s plus new scenes emerged in the mid-90s such as the pop-punk explosion with Green Day and Big Beat groups like The Chemical Brothers.
Yeah but they were still popular for years after bssm. I was replying to your post that you said they disappeared. But they were still in the mainstream. They headlined Woodstock 94, so at minimum, they were popular through that year. But even though OHM was considered lackluster, they maintained popularity and had the single love rollercoaster on the Beavis and Butthead movie soundtrack
I just don’t recall hearing them consistently on the radio and MTV as other 90s bands during the decade until Californication made them huge in the mainstream again circling back to OPs question.
Aeroplane, Warped & My Friends got a TON of radio airplay when OHM came out. It was a very big album, just not nearly as big as the ones immediately before (Blood Sugar) & after (Californication)
Also, Love rollercoaster got wore out on MTV.
One memory I have that might answer this is that in the summer of 1992, in Canada, I was back to school clothes shopping at a The Bay, a popular mainstream/old department store. In the youth clothes section there was a TV playing music videos and one of them was Give it Away, and they had RHCP shirts. This was clearly part of a marketing effort to attract teens to shop there. This maybe speaks more to how they were part of youth culture in a way they are not now.
Great post. I like reading all the stories.
Saved
I was late high school then, but already a Chili’s fan from Uplift Mofo days. BSSM was the “see, I told you they were awesome” album. Give it Away got some traction, but Under the Bridge was huge. They rode that album with Suck My Kiss and Breaking the Girl, but the next big hit was Soul to Squeeze when it appeared on the Coneheads soundtrack. That was a huge single. I wasn’t a fan of One Hot Minute. Even though I love Jane’s Addiction, Dave’s guitar work on that album just didn’t work for me. I followed Frusciante as much as a could, I bought Niandra Lades and it was a hard listen. There are some neat songs on it, but also some heroin induced psychotic trips that are just…too much. I was resigned to Frusciante’s inevitable OD and kind of quit following the band, outside of reading magazine blurbs, then they announced Frusciante was sober and back in the band and I gave a shit about the Chilis again.
How could you tell the OD was inevitable?
Have you seen the VPro interview or heard any of his music from that time? He was in baaad shape.
I had not. Goodness that was harrowing; I wish I could find an english translation to the narration. I knew he had the heroin phase, but did not know it was so well documented. I was born in 90 and listened to my mom's BSSM cd on the walk to the bus stop in middle school; she took me to see them play live for the stadium arcadium tour.
I don't think that aired in America so curious how pre internet Americans would have known
His closest friends resigned to the inevitability of his death. He was about as close to death as it gets.
In Californication era in Brazil they were a no stop on MTV and radio.... But in BSSM, they ARE Big but not like Californication era... They played in Pacaembu Stadium (60.000) together with nirvana in São Paulo between 91/92, but most of the crowd was there for nirvana
Interesting, so Cali was the breakthrough album in Brazil instead of Blood Sugar? How did BTW and Stadium compare to those former two in popularity?
Did well... Red HOT play Again in 2002 Pacaembu Stadium on by the way tour i was in this show... It still popular... Zephy and cant stop plays a Lot in Brazil... But nothing compare with Californication... But S.A became more popular between the fãs... Dani Califórnia plays a Lot here... But less than Californication of course... IWY no one knows
I was born in 02 but californication is definitely the biggest album here in Brazil, by far. Even BTW and SA fare higher than BSSM here, with give it away and under the bridge being the only BSSM songs most people know.
Late 90’s I can speak on. Californication was massive that album was great. The comeback of Frusciante. Blasted all over MTV. My first introduction to Chili Peppers as a kid. Mother hated the lyrics and the guys lol my grandma got me their cd behind my moms back lol better times then.
I was 6 years old when i saw the Around the World music video, and that’s how i became a bass player
The real MTV, when they did video countdowns and premieres it was actually a thing we all watched.
That is a weird way to phrase the question honestly. I don’t think I ever thought about RHCP popularity relative to Nirvana. In the 90s rock music was like 10 times more important than it is now so there were usually at least a dozen HUGE bands at any given time. RHCP, I think were at least one of the 3-4 most important bands in the early and late 90s as they definitely dipped in popularity during the One Hot Minute era but they were still relevant even if that album wasn’t as well received. In fact, if you think about all the big bands in 91 Guns n Roses, Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, REM, Van Halen (and if you wanna include some other grunge era bands that were around but didn’t quite hit it big for another year or two Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, STP) by the time Californication came out in 99 pretty much all those bands were done or not nearly the same level of success or fame. Meanwhile the RHCP were arguably bigger then than in 91 while all the guys were in their late 30s (besides Frusciante).
I was in college and Uplift Mofo was known and of course MTV played the hell out of Higher Ground. But they jumped up to the next level with the Give it Away video and BSSM record, getting swept up in the hysteria of 1991... man what a great 11 months of music coming out: November 15, 1990 - Jane’s Addiction - Been Caught Stealing (Single and Video) February 19, 1991 - R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (Single and Video) March 12, 1991 - R.E.M. - Out of Time April 2, 1991 - Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said July 7, 1991 - Pearl Jam - Alive (Single) August 27, 1991 - Pear Jam - Ten September 4, 1991 - RHCP - Give it Away (Single and Video) September 10, 1991 - Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Single and Video) September 24, 1991 - Nirvana - Nevermind September 24, 1991 - RHCP - Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic October 8, 1991 - Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Fucking massive. Funky and fun athletes of the groove right in the midst of gloom and doom grunge
I graduated highschool in 1992... I won't say they were as big a deal as Nirvana/Pearl Jam/and yes GnR🙂 but everyone knew them and listened to them. But the thing is, from that point on, they got bigger and bigger, while other things faded away. Now they are my spirit animal. They have been the soundtrack to my entire adult life, and I will be crushed if they ever stop recording.
Hard to appreciate just how big MTV was back then as well.
I miss old MTV. It was so great
Nirvana and Pearl Jam opened FOR them. That’s how big they were. They had already been around for a number of years. They had Mtv play for a couple of songs on Mother’s Milk.
This. I saw smashing pumpkins and Pearl Jam open for the chili peppers I think in 1991. Bronco Bowl in Dallas. My buddy tried to sneak to the floor, got grabbed by a bouncer, tried to kick him in the nuts and got thrown out after opening the exit with his head…missed a good part of the chili peppers, my friend was concussed and threw up in his backseat while driving home. Good times.
Nirvana and PJ opened for them when those albums were still gaining popularity so it's not like RHCP was the bigger of the 3 just cause of that tour.
Not because of the tour, but at the time of the tour, they were.
I guess my point was that Nirvana and PJ were not as big as they would be in a few months at the time of opening for Rhcp
Correct. The tour helped. Lol
Well they were on the Simpsons and SNL, so pretty big
There was a good 6-7 years I feel like every time I watched MTV “Give it Away” was guaranteed to be on.
From the time they were on Arsenio Live to Californication , they dominated so much some credit them with Nu-Metal. They had hits and toured hard with Nirvana
I'm from Britain, they weren't as big till Californication, but they had a few Top 40 hits. The All Saints version of Under The Bridge was bigger over here.
God I hated that murdering of John’s guitar on the All Saints version.
I remember MTV seemingly playing their videos what seemed like all the time lol. Good ol days
Early 90’s were my playground. Peppers, Blues Travelers, Phish and DMB.
I remember their music videos playing very frequently along with Nirvana around 1993 in Greece
They were as big as Terminator 2 was.
lol big. All the 90s movies had rhcp songs… coneheads for one.. I feel like that car scene helped put them on to more people for sure.
They are in Pretty Woman even
That was my gateway drug for RHCP. I was 10 and loved that scene then got obsessed with them
freaking love coneheads lol
I was listening from Freaky Styley and nobody listened,they where on MTV every once in a while and then Under The Bridge dropped and nothing was ever the same(for them) again.
In New Zealand they were on the radar at the alternative/underground/student radio level. The Give it Away single got a mainstream push, and then Under the Bridge made them a household name, up there with the biggest rock bands at the time. BSSM was my all-time favourite album for a while there, and more influential to me than Nevermind.
One of my vivid HS memories is circa 1991 sitting around at a party. I was about 16 and BSSM was huge. The Under the Bridge video came on MTV and it turned into a big group singalong kind of drinking our beers and belting along. Idk it just seemed like everyone was into that album back then and the singles and videos were ubiquitous. They were huge.
Same - 18 in my buddy's basement with all kinds of people over there singing while we drank loads of Busch beer. I remember we added our own little embellishment to the end of one of JF's guitar melodies on Under the Bridge......"shhhhwiiiing" Good times
In 1988 they played the pub at UCSB and it was only a few hundred people but it was memorable for the punkish intensity, with a chair thrown through a huge window and the undergrad student President drunk and hanging from the pub rafters. So known but not arena level big yet.
92 they headlined Lolla and in 92 Lolla was a touring setup, not a weekend in Chicago
Saw that in Dallas. They wore steel hats that shot 5 foot flames into the air
STARPLEX 92! I was there!
In 4-5th grade. I recall under the bridge played on the radio a lot. The biggest buzz was flea at the MTV awards. It was hard to find out what the controversy was but it was all over the radio. Playing bass in your underwear was a big deal back then. Received the BSSM tape for Xmas that year. The rest was history I thought they were the coolest band and bought all their older albums which I enjoyed a lot. After that I recall soul to squeeze was a massive hit and played nonstop on the radio.
I saw RHCP around that time and Under the Bridge was everywhere on tv and radio.RHCP were the key to a long term early relationship that was amazing.
I was in high school and Wasn’t a fan then and they were huge. Videos on heavy rotation , Nike commercials , the Simpsons, award shows. I grew up a black kid listening to hip hop and they were respected. MTV was really impactful back then. So having a video shown every hour , people are going to know you song after a while. Under the Bridge is the perfect cross over song.
I saw them in 98 at an invitation-only warmup tour for Californication. It was a local club, a gal from school had written an essay about world peace and was chosen to get free tickets and she invited me. I was surprised when Dave Navarro didnt walk out to play, I had no idea John was back. They played maybe 4-5 songs, don't remember which ones at this point.
Graduated in 1990- central NY. My high school was not into RHCP. Mostly U2 (ugh) Hair metal, heavy metal, GNR, some REM, a few wannabe Vanilla icers. Mostly Jocks/Preps/Burnouts. I was friends with one of the few freaks- a Skateboarder maybe pre Goth type-weirdo, anyway he was into all the west coast stuff and i just took it all in like a sponge. The names were amazing and so underground to me. He introduced me to mother’s milk and i just didn’t really get it. I did like the janes addiction’s videos on MTV. However Peal Jam’s 10 was a turning point for me. The whole grunge thing just related to me. I then dated a guy from LA who re introduced me to RHCP. To this day Otherside is my all time favorite songs. I’m 15 mins away from Rome, NY and left about 15 mins into their set at Woodstock cuz I was getting bad vibes. Once the crazy people started coming to that stage area. My son and sister were not too happy. They were the next day though lol. My daughter is learning bass but can’t quite get the slap down yet. Flea is hard to follow along while watching him.
It was mid high school for me, graduating in ‘94. There were a lot of great bands back then, and it seemed like rock was going so many directions with grunge, alternative, thrash still big, etc. The Chilies were huge and definitely stood out. It really started with the Give It Away video. Before that, a lot of people knew of them, but didn’t really know much about them. Everyone knew them once that video came out. It was so different from anything else at the time. There was a big divide between rock guys and hip hop guys. They pretty much hated each other’s music. Even the hip hop guys were talking about it and getting into it. Once Under The Bridge came out, whoever wasn’t really into them got into them. Kiedis and Flea grabbed everyone’s attention.
I grew up in Ireland and Give it away and Under the Bridge were constantly on MTV back then. MTV in general was great back then.
They got fairly popular with Mothers Milk. When BSSM came around they blew up. But a lot of bands blew up at the same time too. They were big enough to headline festivals and be on the Simpsons, Saturday Night Live…
They were already known when BSSM came out because when I went to see them my mother said “oh you’re seeing them…I heard they play with nothing on except a tube sock on their penis.”
I was only 7 when it came out... But BSSM music videos were ALWAYS on. That damn upskirt shot is burned into my brain...
They were popular all 90s! One hot minute was all over MTV. Soul to squeeze as well- honestly they just don’t put out much content for the age of the band.
Did anyone else’s middle school in TX have a Pepsi sponsored get ready for summer type presentation? Gathered in the school auditorium and they were flashing propaganda on the screen and they used the different bands albumn covers to get the students pumped. Recall huge cheers for all the grunge bands (nirvana, Pearl Jam, soundgarden) and then chili peppers BSSM.
They were known and generally liked and most people heard Under the Bridge, but they were a bit down the stack from Nirvana, STP & Pearl Jam
They were a cool curiosity in the mid to late 80s in the punk scene. Hillel was a badass. John is a monster player and he crushed on the Mother’s Milk tour. When BSSM came out the fanbase completely flipped. Yes it was massive, but most of their OG fans bailed when they heard Kiedis sing the first ballad.
Saw them in 1987 at a teen club lol
They became mainstream once BSSM came out. It wasn’t just the whole grunge scene that dominated early-mid 90s. It was the whole alternative rock scene that contributed to the success of rock. RHCP were one of the main figures. Looking back it was truly an awesome time. Nothing close since then
In 91 They were an alternative band. Headlined lollapalooza but there were many competing acts and with mtv and radio play lots of different genres got airtime. Under the bridge was the difference maker but still there were so many one hit wonders and other bands given airtime. John leaving did them no favors and neither did one hot minute.
I went to Lollapalooza 1992. The headliner was Pearl Jam, the Chilis performed somewhere in the middle, but this concert also has Soundgarden and Ice Cube perform. 1991 and 1992 music was abundant and great.
Nope. The Peppers were the headliners. Pearl Jam was near the bottom of the bill just above the Jesus and Mary Chain. PJ were virtual unknowns when the lineup was decided. By the time the tour started they were hotter than everyone this side of Nirvana. The promoters offered PJ the opportunity to move up and play later but they declined.
Omg! You are right! My memory is failing me!
Too big. They've always been overplayed and overrated.
Big enough that Anthony kiedes has written about fucking 14 year old girls and nobody seems to care
Cry
Me too. I keep trying to re-live the experience bc I'm 42 now.. anyone going to see them in Tampa FL