2002 December Q Magazine (197)

Jumpy, shouty Californians, half-naked but on top of their game.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

By The Way

WARNERS

On paper it shouldn’t work: lapsed funk-metallers striving for the sunshine-pop of The Beach Boys but perversely splicing it with ska, punk and visceral heavy rock. Yet, the Red Hot Chili Peppers rose above the implausibility of it all, proving that the success of 1999’s Californication could be matched, if not beaten. By The Way became the summer’s finest heavy-but-grown-up rock album and landed them a UK Top 5 hit single into the bargain.
Standout tracks: ByThe Way, Unlversally Speaking