Californication

three bangers on here: Scar Tissue, Californication and Otherside. Some songs are pretty annoying (I like Dirt, Right on Time)

2nd half of the album struggles in quality a bit but overall an enjoyable album

Yay! I Have This Album (#8). And I stand by it, too. 1999 was my favorite year for albums. An iconic cover and many great tracks. To be fair, also many crap tracks. Very frontloaded. That's why it's a 4 and not a 5. I like that they have a unique style and although the lyrics aren't that great (imo), they are full of fragments, which is a unique thing also. The vocals are way louder than the music, which is crucial. Slur count = 2.

Fun fact, I literally always thought the lyric in 'Around the World' was "step aside Mike Johnson" and was wondering why no one but me was referencing that constantly in These Times, but I just found out he's saying "Mark Johnson". Oops. Other lines I quote far too often, for their compelling prosody: "I don't want to be your little research monkey boy", "road trippin' with my two favorite [æ'laɪz]".

Highlights: 'Parallel Universe' (space rock :D?), 'Scar Tissue', 'Otherside', 'Californication' (the journos are correct to call this their best song)

Would be Highlights if not for the ding dongs: 'Around the World'

Lowlights: 'Porcelain' (zzz), 'This Velvet Glove' (zzz), 'Savior' (zzz), 'Right on Time'

Things that are no longer fun facts: 'Emit Remmus' is Summer Time backwards!!! yes, we know!!! everyone in my generation has read Harry Potter 1 and therefore checks if odd phrases spell anything backwards!!! (but if you don't know, now you know...)

Few alright songs, didn’t like most of it

I went into this open minded and optimistic.
The band are not terrible, quite solid actually. They have some very pretty, Beatles-esque melodies as well. However, this album falls off a cliff after about 5 songs. The singles are memorable and tuneful. A lot of the second half of this album is quite hard to listen to due to irritating vocals and aimless jamming from the band.

Ich finds gut, n paar zeitlose Klassiker dabei. Otherside, Californication, Scar Tissue auf der A-Seite ist schon wild. Road Trippin' ist auch echt schön und war auf unserer USA Playlist dabei.
Die rappigeren Songs sind nicht so meins, aber trotzdem gute 4-Sterne

This is one of the most popular albums of the 1990s. While the instrumentals are good, the lyrics are dumb and make absolutely no sense. The vocalist is bad at rapping and only marginally better at singing. He somehow manages to be even worse at being a person, too. Those instrumentals are strong, though; they save this album from a 1 star rating. Only the singles really have good writing; the album drops significantly in quality towards the back half with stinkers like "I Like Dirt" and "Emit Remmus" that manage to be even dumber than the rest of the album. This is very much a front-loaded album, and even the front side's songs are just good(not great). RHCP are perhaps my first "singles band"; their big hits are good, the deep cuts are not.

We have arrived at the first album I've already heard in it's entirety many times. Wow. I absolutely love this album. I own it on vinyl. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of my favorite bands and this is one of my favorite albums. It all started a year and a half ago when my mom randomly said, "Hey, do you want to go to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert." I had never gone to a concert before, but I had heard a few of their songs, so I said yes. It was the Unlimited Love tour. I looked at the common setlists and saw it was mostly songs from their main albums including Californication. I listened to those popular ones before the concert, then the rest in the days after. Since then, I've listened to them so much. They were just my #1 artist on my YouTube Music Recap. The songs from this album I heard live were Californication and Scar Tissue.

What makes RHCP so good? It's everything. Chad Smith, Flea, John Frusciante and even Anthony Keidis are all at their best in this album. Anthony receives a lot of hate for ruining the band, but if you take any member, especially him, out of the band, it just isn't the same. His nonsensical rambling, his weird lyrics, I wouldn't change any of it.

Every song on this album is a 10/10. Around the World is a great start possibly the most RHCP song ever made. Some of my favorites are the fast and loud ones. Get On Top, I Like Dirt and Right On Time fit that category. They are just fun. Then of course there's the sad ones that bring us into the life of Anthony. Scar Tissue, Otherside, Savior.

It's impossible not to mention the title track, Californication. This song is amazing. The lyrics of this song are some of my favorites in their whole discography. It's not necessarily my favorite song on the album, that would be too hard to choose, but it might be their best song.

When I finish the list, this likely won't be chosen as my favorite album, but that's because I want to choose an album that I wouldn't have heard if it wasn't for the list. Just know that this is one of the best albums ever made.

Has some of their best songs, sadly they are ruined by the god-awful production.

Not my favourite Chili Peppers album … but still quite good. Marked down to 3 due to length.

It's pleasant but pretty unremarkable

When RHCP have a decent song it's because their guitarist wrote it. Otherwise, I can't stand the unseasoned whitefish funk sans John Fusciante's capabilities at the creative rudder.

RHCP are on strongest ground when they are acting as funky alt rock radio hit makers. Sure - its dated badly over the last 25 years, but they made a spectacular impact on culture with this. They also get some miledge out of the sweeter, quieter, straight-forward moments like Porcelain and Road Trippin'.

The weakest moments are easily the rap-rock tracks and the more affected "woah man" rock songs which are just lame. Anthony Kiedis has terrible lyrics throughout this record but it is when he starts straining his voice and trying to sound cool that the whole thing falls over.

Awful…

One of the first bands and albums I really got into as a kid. And going back now I was hoping I’d listen and figure out why.

On the few songs it works it’s down to John, Flea and Chad clearly all being exceptional musicians. But then Antony nearly always ruins it with the worst lyrics or generic vocals.

To cap it all off the mixing, even on the remaster is so bad that it really only could work on a crap radio speaker or the cd headphones that came with the player.

Come, Dua Lipa with the peppermint pig
The chalupa’s in the ‘frigerator
Fuck a doorknob, California
Buttermilk pancakes in my eyes
Stepped on a toad, broke a Navajo code
Now it’s time to reiterate California
I got a thumbtack on my nutsack
Pi’s 3.1415

Tickle my bum with a mannequin thumb
On a bongo drum in California
Snuffleupagus atе my asparagus
Supernova toilet clog
Carjacked a nun on the 101
Gotta have some fun in California
There’s a sunspot on my kumquat
Nancy Reagan bit my dog

Better hits on this one but I slightly prefer blood sugar sex magik

Great songwriting (especially the music). This album is a classic without a doubt.

However, it's very difficult to listen to self-acclaimed nonce Anthony Keidis sing about "girls" so much.

Also, what is up with the distortion during the loud bits??? So distracting!

excellent. love the punk roots.

дінь-дон-дон каліфоУурнія

Якщо серйозно, то хз як вже можна оцінювати цей альбом обʼєктивно.
До того ж тут є моя улюблена пісня рхчп - road trippin'. З іншого боку я не можу сказати що хоч раз включив послухати каліфорнікейшн в останні років 10 десь. Тому поставлю 4, хоча звісно цей альбом обʼєктивно заслуговує на пʼятірку.

I thought to myself a few times listening to this album that I really dug the guitar sound.

This is much more pop oriented. I thought Kedis' delivery was improved on this one as well. Even though a few of the songs do sound almost like a parody of what you think a RHCP song would sound like, I found myself enjoying this album very much.