The funk based punk rock group The Red Hot Chili Peppers dates back to Fairfax High School in the early 1980's. The group was originally formed as a side project while some members where further committed to other bands. The original name for the band was Tony Flow and the Miraculous Masters of Mayhem. The group at this time consisted of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Hillel Slovak (guitar, vocals), Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass guitar), and Jack Irons (drums).

Flea, originally a trumpet player, picked up the bass with little struggle and quickly found many bands after him. He did play with other groups, but continued to jam with Anthony Kiedis as a side project because it gave him more musical freedoms to play his own style which was funky slap bass. Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons, both in the band What is This, quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they were signed to a record deal despite the fact that the RHCP was also given a record deal not long after by EMI.

Their vacant locations in the band were filled by Cliff Martinez (drums), who was friends with Flea, and Jack Sherman (guitar) who auditioned for the part. This new group then released their debut album "The Red Hot Chili Peppers" in 1984. This album found little commercial success as did the tour following the album release. Due to musical differences and tensions with Kiedis, Jack Sherman was fired from the group and Hillel Slovak was re-hired as he was growing tired of What is This.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers went on to record Freaky Styley in 1985 which saw more success than their debut album, but was still not getting them noticed. Martinez was dissmissed from the group and after a brief stint with Chuck Buiscuts Jack Irons was again the drummer for the Chili Peppers. They then went on to record The Uplift Mofo Party Plan in 1987. This was their first album to Billboard top 200 as it peaked at #148.

Unfortunantly this newfound success did not yield good results on the group. Hillel Slovak and Anthony Kiedis' drug use was getting out of control eventually leading to Slovak's death on June 25 1988 of a speedball overdose. Jack Irons quit the band short after saying he didn't want to be part of a band were all his friends were dying.

D.H. Peligro of the Dead Kennedys was hired as the drummer and DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight became the guitarist. Dewayne had a short tenure with the band as he was replaced by John Frusciante whom Peligro recomended. Despite the good recomendation Peligro was fired from the group because of his unreliability largely due to his drug use. After a long set of autitions Chad Smith was selected to be the drummer and The Red Hot Chili Peppers got to work on their fourth studio album. In 1989 Mothers Milk was released featuring a Stevie Wonder cover of "Higher Ground". This album found much commercial success reaching 52 on the American charts becoming the bands first gold record.

Due to their rising success The Red Hot Chili Peppers were signed by Warner Brothers and went to work on there next studio album. In 1991 Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released quickly bringing the band to stardom. This album featured "Give it Away", which won a grammy for best hard rock performance, and "Under the Bridge" which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 List.

The tour following this album brought more and more fame to the band which in turn brough more and more problems. John Frusciante was not excited about being a world famous musician as he was happier playing small gigs at bars and didn't want the pressure of playing in front of thousands. His problems with the direction of the band led him to quit in an attempt to pursue a solo career.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers took a short break from recording and began touring with othere guitarists such as Jessie Tobias and Arik Marshall. In 1995 they decided to record another album with Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction titled One Hot Minute. Despite poor reviews the album had high commercial success including their first #1 hit "My Friends".

Navarro quit the band in 1998 due to creative differences which was viewed as a mutual feeling. At this time John Frusciante was no longer playing guitar because he sold all his guitars for drug money to feed his herion addiction. Flea talked Frusciante into checking into rehab and rejoing the band. All of his guitar abilities quickly came back and The Red Hot Chili Peppers began work on their next album.

On June 8, 1999 Californication was released. Californication went on to be one of the bands most commercially successful albums to date selling over 5 million copies nation wide. The album featured three #1 hits in "Scar Tissue", "Otherside", and "Californication". "Scar Tissue" went on to win a grammy in 2000 for best rock song.

In 2002 The Red Hot Chili Peppers released their eighth studio album By the Way. This album featured more melodic tunes and less rap-driven funk tunes. It saw quick commercial success selling 700,000 copies in the first week. The album featured songs such as "Can't Stop", "By the Way", and "The Zephyr Song".

After four years of touring and the release of a greatest hits album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers once again hit the studio recording 38 songs to release three different albums which were to be released six monthes apart, but instead they decided to record a two disc C.D. containg 28 of those songs. (the remaining ten songs would later be released called B-side hits) This album, titled Stadium Arcadium, topped all their previous selling records. The album featuring "Dani California", and "Tell me Baby" went gold in the first week selling over 1.1 million copies.

-Brian Smith