10 Fun Facts About Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication

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10 Fun Facts Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers

Did you know that Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication almost didn't have it's title track on the album? Or that the band was turned down by David Bowie when they approached him to collaborate? Why did singer Anthony Kiedis decide to sing jibberish on one of the album's hit singles? Stick around and we'll answer these questions and more. On...

10 Fun Facts about Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers

1. Rejected by Bowie

Following the release of Red Hot Minute and the ensuing tour, Red Hot Chili Peppers wanted to take their album in a more electronic direction along the lines of U2's Zooroopa. They even asked famed Synth Rocker David Bowie to produce their album. However, the Starman politely declined, and the band went with a familiar face in Rick Rubin who had already produced Red Hot Minute as well as Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

As singer Anthony Kiedis told MTV's Kurt Loder:

"We basically called about five other people, you know, from David Bowie to [Nine Inch Nails producer] Flood... And they all just pretty much said, 'That's very nice of you to ask, but I think not." - Anthony Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers Pursued Bowie, Flood For Californication, MTV News (May 28, 1999)

Kurt Loder states:

"You called David Bowie?" ...he's not even that busy." - Kurt Loder, Red Hot Chili Peppers Pursued Bowie, Flood For Californication, MTV News (May 28, 1999)

Anthony replied:

"According to the letter he wrote me, he's very busy... But getting Rick, in the end, turned out to be, again, what we needed... When he came around, he fell in love with it like we had and actually ended up making it his life for two or three months." - Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers Pursued Bowie, Flood For Californication, MTV News (May 28, 1999)

Sources:

Kiedis, Anthony; Sloman, Larry (2004). Scar Tissue. New York City: Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0101-0.

Recording Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californications, Paul Tingen, Sound On Sound (Dec 1999) - https://www.soundonsound.com/people/jim-scott-recording-red-hot-chili-peppers-californications

Red Hot Chili Peppers Discuss Their New Energy And Californication, J.D. Considine, Guitar World (Dec 9, 2011) - https://www.guitarworld.com/gw-archive/archive-red-hot-chili-peppers-discuss-their-new-energy-and-californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers Pursued Bowie, Flood For Californication, MTV News (May 28, 1999) - https://www.mtv.com/news/h8g5ih/red-hot-chili-peppers-pursued-bowie-flood-for-californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers 1999 Song Is A Free Video Game, Ana Diaz, Polygon (Mar 2, 2022) - https://web.archive.org/web/20220419055114/https://www.polygon.com/22958879/californication-video-game-red-hot-chili-peppers/

Red Hot Redux, Richard Skanse, Rolling Stone (Apr 30, 1998) - https://web.archive.org/web/20080306123037/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/redhotchilipeppers/articles/story/5923940/red_hot_redux

The Spice Boys, James McNair, Unknown Publication (accessed through TheChiliSource.com) - http://thechilisource.com/1999-californication-clippings-unknown-origin/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californication_(album)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californication_(song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherside

https://web.archive.org/web/20220426154418/https://comandogdev.itch.io/califonication