WARNER MUSIC Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

[LOUDWIRE] The mid-'90s were some difficult times for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but bookending the decade were two of the band's biggest albums. In 1991, they released their monster Blood Sugar Sex Magik album and in 1999, they offered Californication, their biggest-selling album worldwide. And those discs also provide an interesting arc for guitarist John Frusciante.

Fast forward to 1999 and re-enter Frusciante. The guitarist addressed his heroin and cocaine addiction by entering and completing rehab. One of his visitors during that period was Chili Peppers bassist Flea and their renewed friendship led to an invite to rejoin the group.

Frusciante told Guitar Player, "We started in June 1998, but we took some time off for one reason or another. We probably spent a total of four months rehearsing and writing, and then we went into the studio and recorded everything in three weeks."

Singer Anthony Kiedis recalled the first rehearsal to Rolling Stone, stating, "When John gets excited, he's like eight billion volts of electricity. He was knocking things over -- it was absolutely chaotic, like a little kid trying to set up a Christmas tree. And when he hit that first chord, it was so perfect -- this blend of sounds from these people who I hadn't heard play together in so long."

Indeed the band was on to something. By early 1999, they played the songs "Scar Tissue," "Otherside" and the title cut "Californication" to their managers, who decided the band was on the right track. It was also decided that "Scar Tissue" would be the lead single for the album. By May of 1999, the song arrived at radio and it soon became evident that they had another hit on their hands.

Frusciante got the unique guitar sound on the album by running his '55 Strat through the Showman amp. He then took two notes far apart and turned it into a cool rhythm that vocalist Anthony Kiedis could write to. And Kiedis looked internally for inspiration, penning the track about his own battles with drugs and the arguments he had with friends and band members as a result. The song would spend 16 straight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and it earned the band a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2000.

With a hit song on the radio, it came time to finally release the Californication album, and on June 8, 1999, fans got their hands on the highly anticipated disc. After a summer dominating radio with "Scar Tissue," the band moved on to "Around the World" as the next single from the Rick Rubin-produced disc.