Californication

Californication is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on June 8, 1999 on Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Rick Rubin, Californication marked the return of John Frusciante, who had previously appeared on Mother’s Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to replace Dave Navarro as the band’s guitarist. Frusciante’s return was credited with changing the band’s sound altogether. The record was a notable shift in style from what was produced with Navarro. The album’s subject material incorporated various sexual innuendos commonly associated with the band, and introduced themes of lust, death, contemplations of suicide, and drugs.

Californication produced several hits for the band, including “Otherside”, “Californication” and the Grammy Award-winning “Scar Tissue”. Californication peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200. It is the Chili Peppers’ most commercially successful album to date, selling more than fifteen million copies worldwide; a revitalization in comparison to their previous album, One Hot Minute. The record marked a change in style for the band; Rolling Stone’s Greg Tate noted that “while all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanic.”