Red Hot Chili Peppers » Tracks
Californication (5:20)
4,410,853 plays (644,675 listeners)
The song reached #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA, and #16 on the UK charts, and hit #1 on both US Modern Tracks and US Mainstream Rock Tracks. It is notable for its sparse combination of guitar and bass notes in the intro, and its unique music video.
The song is mainly about the dark side of Hollywood. The song opens to the “Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind’s elation. ” Kiedis says in his book Scar Tissue that he got the inspiration for the lyric from when he was in New Zealand and he heard a woman on the street ranting about there being psychic spies in China. The track also makes references to the decline in western society, and other topics such as pornography and plastic surgery and even some pop culture references including Star Wars (“Alderaan’s not far away”), Star Trek, (“Space may be the final frontier, but it’s made in a Hollywood basement”), Celebrity Skin magazine (“Celebrity Skin is this your chin”, although this could also be a reference to Hole’s song, “Celebrity Skin”), and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain (“Cobain can you hear the spheres”). The line “teenage bride with a baby inside” refers to the fictional character Dani California, who is also mentioned in later songs By the Way and the eponymous Dani California. The song’s riff closely resembles the song “Elevation” off of “Marquee Moon” by Television.
The song is mainly about the dark side of Hollywood. The song opens to the “Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind’s elation. ” Kiedis says in his book Scar Tissue that he got the inspiration for the lyric from when he was in New Zealand and he heard a woman on the street ranting about there being psychic spies in China. The track also makes references to the decline in western society, and other topics such as pornography and plastic surgery and even some pop culture references including Star Wars (“Alderaan’s not far away”), Star Trek, (“Space may be the final frontier, but it’s made in a Hollywood basement”), Celebrity Skin magazine (“Celebrity Skin is this your chin”, although this could also be a reference to Hole’s song, “Celebrity Skin”), and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain (“Cobain can you hear the spheres”). The line “teenage bride with a baby inside” refers to the fictional character Dani California, who is also mentioned in later songs By the Way and the eponymous Dani California. The song’s riff closely resembles the song “Elevation” off of “Marquee Moon” by Television.
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Albums featuring this track
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Californication
Red Hot Chili PeppersBuy- Download Album
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- iTunes $9.99
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- Amazon $299.88
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Live In Hyde Park
Red Hot Chili Peppers Buy- Download Album
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- Buy Album
- Amazon $59.44
- eBay Search
-
Greatest Hits
Red Hot Chili Peppers Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $10.99
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $14.81
- eBay Search
-
Rockfornication
Red Hot Chili Peppers Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
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- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Shouts
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frdlr wrote:
Cobain can you hear me
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SuperA7X wrote:
Insprirational.
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micktosin wrote:
hot
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blackpoolrock wrote:
Great live, top band.
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kN1ght0AwL wrote:
I <3d this track
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davidbowiegirl wrote:
Great song <3
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josh_9619 wrote:
perfect song
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supersorina wrote:
ღ ♫ღ ......;-))
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Rebuddle1 wrote:
my fav!!!!!!!!
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MrCosmin wrote:
I LOVE this song. :X:X:X:X:X <3<3<3<3<3<3<3
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MCR_17 wrote:
Perfect song ♥
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meelikeIsa wrote:
OOOMG i loved play in guitar hero ;O ♥
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FenianPiper wrote:
25 + years and their still kicking ass!!
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cowgril wrote:
they are funking awesome
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chenzi wrote:
the slane castle version is FUCKING AWESOME
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Sunzy wrote:
Yess, I agree with S_Jnrlll.
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s_ergiu23 wrote:
best
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S_JnrIII wrote:
Lyrically, their best song.
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BeerDee64 wrote:
Epic.
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dholloran wrote:
awesome track
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Recent Activity
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PossibleNonsens added Californication to the playlist The river 2004. 1 minute ago
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BUZZYMUZZY added Californication to their Loved Tracks. 8 minutes ago
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OxygenHr added Californication to OxygenHr’s library. 18 minutes ago
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lera_boom, DirtyDP83, emoashley and 17 other people loved Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication. 19 minutes ago
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IndieRock_KiD added Californication to the playlist. 4 hours ago
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IndieRock_KiD, bulletspunge11, johnfisher73 and 29 other people loved Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication. 4 hours ago
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AnatoleZX added Californication to AnatoleZX’s library. 7 hours ago
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ebsevens77, BARACADExLSKx, zcpimpin66 and 9 other people loved Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication. 7 hours ago
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rod1968 added Californication to the playlist. 8 hours ago
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