Stadium Arcadium is the ninth studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[1] It produced five singles: "Dani California", "Tell Me Baby", "Snow (Hey Oh)", "Desecration Smile" and "Hump de Bump", along with the band's first fan-made music video, for the song "Charlie".

After the release of the band's previous album, By the Way, the Red Hot Chili Peppers embarked on a world tour, from July 2002 to a mid-June 2004 date at London's Hyde Park.

There was very little tension, very little anxiety, very little weirdness going on and every day we showed up to this funky room in the Valley, and everyone felt more comfortable than ever bringing in their ideas.

"[13] The band originally wanted to create an "old-fashioned Meet the Beatles-like record", and to keep the number of songs down to about 12, to make "a small, digestible piece of art.

"[17] It was also noted that Frusciante's playing style had changed from his signature 'less is more' style, inspired by punk and new-wave guitarists, to a more flashy approach, not seen extensively in his playing since Mother's Milk, his first album with the band; drawing influence from guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi (of Black Sabbath), Jimi Hendrix and Steve Vai to even hip-hop artists such as Wu-Tang Clan.

Frusciante's approach to guitar on Stadium Arcadium was influenced by progressive rock group The Mars Volta and R&B singer Brandy.

While Frusciante was pleased to have used the modular synthesizer on the album, he admitted that when the band began rehearsing for the tour, it was frustrating because many of the songs sounded empty without it.

That thing at the end of Wet Sand – where the guitars come in and sound like a harpsichord – they’re just the treble pickup of a Stratocaster, three tracks in harmony with one another, playing that same riff you hear in the first part of the cycle of that section.

Kiedis states that "love and women, pregnancies and marriages, relationship struggles – those are real and profound influences on this record.

During pre-album interviews, many of the songs were known by alternate/working titles: "Early Eighties" ("Strip My Mind"), "Forty Detectives" and "Ghost Dance 2000" ("Hump de Bump"), "Wu-Tang" ("Dani California"), "Funkadelicish to Me" ("She's Only 18"), "Fela Funk" ("We Believe") and "Public Enemy" ("Storm in a Teacup").

The delicate 'Hard to Concentrate' is the most vulnerable Peppers tune ever—a full-on marriage proposal from Anthony Kiedis, with Flea's muted bass and John Frusciante's layered guitars slow-dancing over Afrobeat hand drums.

Q magazine said it was one of the year's best albums,[37] while Andrew Perry of The Observer stated it was "relentless, purposeful, as moreish as McDonald's... mainstream America in excelsis.

The use of analog tape lends a raw, organic touch to the whole album and the Chili Peppers come off more assured and confident than they ever did back when they made a career out of bragging.

"[33] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic was more reserved in his praise, finding the album overproduced and self-indulgent despite the presence of "something pretty great and lean buried beneath the excess".

[30] Pitchfork critic Rob Mitchum wrote that the album "is split between slightly askew mid-tempo pop and regrettable relapses into funk and muso noodling".

It can be regarded as a product of the loudness war, with heavy use of dynamic range compression, and suffering of frequent clipping.

[43] Artist Storm Thorgerson, known for providing seminal album artwork for numerous bands including Pink Floyd, T. Rex, Audioslave, The Mars Volta, and Muse, was asked to create the cover art for Stadium Arcadium.