Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers have held their exalted position in rock’s premier league for an enviable three decades and counting, but they’ve always been aware of how hard it is to gain traction in the first place.

Touting a highly original fusion of funk, punk and rap, the band roared our of their native Los Angeles in 1983, but remained cult-level heroes for their first turbulent decade together – a period during which they also suffered the drug-related death of their original guitarist, Hillel Slovak.

The Chili Peppers’ fortunes improved dramatically after frontman Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea recruited drummer Chad Smith and a second guitar wunderkind, John Frusciante. Helmed by longtime producer/acolyte Rick Rubin, this line-up’s second album together, Blood Sugar Sex Magick, cracked the mainstream in 1992, moving over 13 million copies with help from its reflective signature hit, Under The Bridge.

Further landmark titles, such as 1999’s Californication and 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, have also produced multi-million yields, but it’s not always been plain sailing: recurring personal issues and a turnover of guitarists have, at times, threatened the band’s longevity. Nonetheless, they have endured, and with Frusciante’s timely return coinciding with the release of Unlimited Love, the first of two new albums the reinvigorated group unleashed in 2022 (it was quickly followed by another inspired collection, Return Of The Dream Canteen), Red Hot Chili Peppers seem set to spice up rock for the foreseeable future.