Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of alternative rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk rock and psychedelic rock. When played live, their music incorporates elements of jam band due to the improvised nature of many of their performances. Currently, the band consists of founding members vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea (Michael Peter Balzary), longtime drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the best-selling bands of all time with over 80 million records sold worldwide, they have been nominated for sixteen Grammy Awards, of which they have won six, and are the most successful band in alternative rock radio history, currently holding the records for most number-one singles (13), most cumulative weeks at number one (85) and most top-ten songs (25) on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. In 2012, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The band's original lineup, originally named Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, featured guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons, alongside Kiedis and Flea. Because of commitments to other bands, Slovak and Irons did not play on the band's 1984 self-titled debut album. Slovak performed on the second and third albums, Freaky Styley (1985) and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), the latter of which marked the only time that all four original members had appeared on a full-length album. Slovak died of a drug overdose on June 25, 1988; his death devastated Irons, who immediately left the band, which considered breaking up but chose to move on. After temporary replacements on guitar and drums, Frusciante and Smith were hired. The lineup of Flea, Kiedis, Frusciante, and Smith was the longest-lasting and recorded five studio albums beginning with Mother's Milk (1989). In 1990, the group signed with Warner Bros. Records and recorded their fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) under producer Rick Rubin. It became the band's first major commercial success, but Frusciante grew uncomfortable with the band's popularity and left abruptly in 1992 in the middle of the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour.
After two temporary guitarists, Dave Navarro joined the group in 1993 and played on their sixth studio album, One Hot Minute (1995). Although commercially successful, the album failed to match the critical or popular acclaim of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, selling less than half as much as its predecessor. Navarro was fired from the band in 1998, and then-recently rehabilitated Frusciante rejoined Red Hot Chili Peppers that same year at Flea's request. The reunited quartet returned to the studio to record Californication (1999), which became the band's biggest commercial success with 16 million copies sold worldwide. This lineup also recorded Red Hot Chili Peppers' next two albums, By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006), their first number-one album in America. After a world tour in support of Stadium Arcadium, the group went on an extended hiatus. Frusciante announced he was amicably leaving the band in 2009 to focus on his solo career, and was replaced by Josh Klinghoffer, who had worked both as a sideman for the band on their Stadium Arcadium tour and on Frusciante's solo projects. Klinghoffer appeared on two albums with Red Hot Chili Peppers, I'm with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016), before leaving the band in 2019 and Frusciante rejoined once again.
