More Red Hot Chili Peppers Information

Tragedy struck the band after the release of the Abbey Road EP when Slovak took an accidental heroin overdose and died in June. Deeply upset, Irons left, while the band recruited John Frusciante and Chad Smith for guitar and skins duty. After the release of Mother's Milk, the single 'Knock Me Down' was released as a tribute to Slovak. For the commercially successful Blood Sugar Sex Magik they hit Top 40 stride. Producer Rick Rubin, usually associated with the harder end of the metal and rap spectrum (Slayer, Danzig), nevertheless brought out the band's first ballads, including the classic US number 2 hit single 'Under The Bridge'.

Frusciante left in May 1992 and was replaced by a succession of guitarists, before Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) joined in time to participate in the recording of One Hot Minute, released in 1995. The band enjoyed another transatlantic hit two years later with 'Love Rollercoaster', taken from the soundtrack of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. Navarro left the band in 1998 and was replaced by ex-member John Frusciante. Having endured various personal upheavals, it was encouraging to hear the band in such good shape on 1999's US/UK Top 5 album, Californication, featuring stand-out tracks such as 'Scar Tissue' (a US Top 10 single), 'Parallel Universe', and 'Easily'. By The Way was a collection of mellow and slower paced numbers, very much in the style of 'Under The Bridge'.