The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed at the handover ceremony as the Summer Olympics completed competition in Paris, and readies for Los Angeles in 2028.
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The closing ceremony included H.E.R. performing the national anthem, followed by Tom Cruise descending from the roof. The Olympic flag then began its journey to Los Angeles where the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed “Can’t Stop” beachside.
To prepare for LA28, here’s a look back at the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ greatest California jams.
“Out in L.A.” from The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984)
It’s fitting that “Out in L.A.” was the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first song. According to lead vocalist Anthony Kiedis, they went by the name Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. Soon, Kiedis and his friends called themselves the Red Hot Chili Peppers and signed with EMI. Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill produced their self-titled debut, which featured a hyper mixture of funk and punk rock, with rap vocals and heavy metal guitar riffs.
It’s the only album to feature guitarist Jack Sherman, who briefly replaced founding member Hillel Slovak. Though Slovak and fellow founding member, drummer Jack Irons, are missing from the recording, the debut remains a blueprint for their Hall of Fame career. Flea’s extraordinary bass playing drives the track, supporting Kiedis’ quick-fire cartoonish raps.
After several verses, Kiedis throws a guitar cue by shouting: You better be burning Sherman! The song mentions a bunch of brothers living in a cool way, along with six million others in this place called L.A. Meanwhile, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were on their way to competing with The Beach Boys as the most California-centric band in history.
“Magic Johnson” from Mother’s Milk (1989)
Mother’s Milk was the first album to feature then-teenage guitar virtuoso John Frusciante. In 1988, Slovak died from a heroin overdose, and Frusciante gave the band a second life. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are well-known fans of the Los Angeles Lakers and this track is an ode to the 1980s “Showtime” Lakers led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This team, famous for the fast break, won five NBA championships.
“Magic Johnson” is a furious combination of funk and punk featuring the band shouting out their favorite players. Frusciante’s early genius can be heard during the jam’s rapid-fire funk breaks. On Mother’s Milk, he began reshaping the band’s sound. “Knock Me Down” is a wistful, melodic turn for the group that foreshadowed future hits like “Scar Tissue,” “Breaking the Girl” and “Under the Bridge.” Drummer Chad Smith also debuted on Mother’s Milk, completing the most successful lineup of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“Dani California” from Stadium Arcadium (2006)
Dani is a fictional composite of Kiedis’ former romantic partners. She’s a Southern girl who moved to California, became a young mother, and fell victim to a hard and fast life. By the song’s end, a North Dakota man kills Dani on her way to Minnesota. The wayward character also appears in “Californication” and “By the Way.” Frusciante ends the track with a burning guitar solo that sounds like Jimi Hendrix playing “Purple Haze” while jacked on steroids.
Stadium Arcadium is the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first No. 1 album. The band worked again with producer Rick Rubin and recorded the double album at the same Laurel Canyon mansion where they’d recorded Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
“Californication” from Californication (1999)
Frusciante returned to the group for their seventh studio album Californication. After surviving a dark descent into drug addiction, Frusciante emerged with the kind of beautiful and minimalist textures heard on the title track. On their defining song, Kiedis details the dark side of the Hollywood dream.
In his memoir Scar Tissue, the singer writes, “I showed ‘Californication’ to John, and he loved the lyrics and started writing some music. But for some reason, even though there was a perfect song in there, we couldn’t find it. We tried 10 different arrangements and 10 different choruses, and nothing ever worked. All these other songs were pouring out of us. We’d been working for a few weeks when someone started playing an ultra-sparse riff that sounded like nothing we’d ever done before. As soon as I heard it, I knew it was our new song.”
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