The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982,[1] consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums).

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed in Los Angeles by Kiedis, Flea, the guitarist Hillel Slovak and the drummer Jack Irons.

Due to commitments to other bands, Slovak and Irons did not play on their 1984 self-titled debut album, which instead featured the guitarist Jack Sherman and the drummer Cliff Martinez.

With Frusciante and Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded Mother's Milk (1989) and their first major commercial success, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991).

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed in Los Angeles in 1982 as Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem by singer Anthony Kiedis, guitarist Hillel Slovak, bassist Flea, and drummer Jack Irons, classmates at Fairfax High School.

Gary Allen, a friend of the band, was hosting a release party for his new EP and asked Kiedis and Flea to put together an opening act.

[61] The Chili Peppers began their Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour, which featured Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins, three of the era's biggest upcoming bands in alternative music, as opening acts.

Frusciante's friend and frequent musical collaborator Josh Klinghoffer joined the touring band, contributing guitar, backing vocals, and keyboards.

The North American leg, expected to begin in January 2012, was postponed to March due to a surgery Kiedis required for foot injuries he had sustained during the Stadium Arcadium tour.

[134] In February 2014, the Chili Peppers joined Bruno Mars as performers at the Super Bowl XLVIII half-time show, watched by a record 115.3 million viewers.

"[162] On November 2, the Chili Peppers performed their final show with Klinghoffer, at a charity event at the Silverlake Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles.

[167] In August, the former Chili Peppers guitarist Jack Sherman died aged 64; the band released a statement thanking him for "all times good, bad and in between".

[174] NME wrote that Unlimited Love shared the "melancholic riffmaking, anthemic choruses and softly-sung melodies" of Frusciante's previous work with the Chili Peppers, but introduced new "grungy" and acoustic elements.

[185][186] On January 30, 2025, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played their first show of the year at the FireAid benefit concert, which took place at the Kia Forum.

"[202] The band's influences include Parliament-Funkadelic, Defunkt, Jimi Hendrix, the Misfits, Black Sabbath, Metallica, James Brown, Gang of Four, Bob Marley, Big Boys, Bad Brains, Sly and the Family Stone, Ohio Players, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, Deep Purple, the Beach Boys, Black Flag, Ornette Coleman, Led Zeppelin, Yes,[203] Fugazi, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Santana, Elvis Costello, the Stooges,[204] the Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees,[205][206] Devo, and Miles Davis.

Slovak was primarily influenced by hard-rock artists such as Hendrix, Kiss and Led Zeppelin,[211] while his playing method was based on improvisation common in funk.

[212] Kiedis observed that his playing evolved during his time away from the group in What Is This?, when Slovak adopted a more fluid style featuring "sultry" elements compared to his earlier hard-rock techniques.

[215] Slovak also used a talk box on songs such as "Green Heaven" and "Funky Crime", in which he would sing into a tube while playing to create psychedelic effects.

On Californication and By the Way, Frusciante derived the technique of creating tonal texture through chord patterns from post-punk guitarist Vini Reilly of the Durutti Column, and bands such as Fugazi and the Cure.

[220][221][222] On By the Way, he wanted people to be able to sing the lead guitar part, influenced by John McGeoch of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division.

[223] He initially wanted this album to be composed of "these punky, rough songs", drawing inspiration from early punk artists such as the Germs and the Damned, an English band.

He was also intrigued by the life lessons that the band had learned,[236] including Kiedis' experience with meeting a young mother at the YMCA, who was attempting to battle her crack addiction while living with her infant daughter.

Themes within Kiedis' repertoire include love and friendship,[240][241] teenage angst, good-time aggression,[242] various sexual topics and the link between sex and music, political and social commentary (Native American issues in particular),[243] romance,[240][244][245] loneliness,[246] globalization and the cons of fame and Hollywood,[247] poverty, drugs, alcohol, dealing with death, and California.

"[248] Bands who have cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence include Incubus,[249] Mr. Bungle,[250] Primus,[251] Rage Against the Machine,[252] System of a Down,[253][254] Papa Roach,[255] 311,[256][257] and Sugar Ray.

[259] Kiedis said the band were early to combine "hardcore funk and hip-hop-style vocals", and suggested that they had influenced Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, and Linkin Park.

[279][280] In January 2015, they performed their first show of the new year for the Sean Penn & Friends Help Haiti Home fundraiser in support of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization.

[281] In September 2015, the band joined more than 120 other entertainers and celebrities to formally endorse Bernie Sanders for President during the Democratic primary ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

[288] In February 2018, Smith again joined Ferrell at his One Classy Night benefit at the Moore Theatre in Seattle to help raise money for Cancer for College.

They were each sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine, plus $300 to the State Attorney's Office for prosecution costs and $5,000 to the Volusia County Rape Crisis Center, and ordered to write letters of apology to the woman.

"[295] In 2016, Julie Farman, a former music executive, alleged that two members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers pressed themselves against her and "told me about all of the ways we could make a super sexy sandwich" after a meeting with them at Epic Records in 1990.