Chili Peppers remain Red Hot decades later

Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem weren’t supposed to last.

Formed in the early 1980s at Los Angeles’s Fairfax High School by friends Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons and Michael Peter Balzary, the quartet was put together as a one-off punk/funk jam band. Guitarist Slovak and drummer Irons were already in a serious group called, What is This?

Including future Queens of the Stone Age member Alain Johannes, What is This? had a deal with MCA Records and a solid following in Southern California.

But Tony Flow and Co. featuring What is This? roadie and crowdpumper Kiedis on lead vocals/raps went over really well at their debut. So much so, they were asked back.

Changing its name to Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1983, the band meshed with L.A. crowds and headed into the studio to drop its self-titled debut in ’84.

In its 34-year existence, the Red Hot Chili Peppers has certainly been through some major personal downs. But the band’s sales trajectory since the tedious monotone ballad Under the Bridge somehow hit No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 has been almost entirely up.

Californication (1999), By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006) all cranked out multiple top-10 singles. And one thing that the Red Hot Chili Peppers can’t be faulted for is putting on a mediocre show. Looking over set lists from the Getaway World Tour, the band barely looks back any farther in its catalogue than Californication. But the uptempo new material is all getting good reception in reviews and — duh — you just know they’ll throw in Give it Away and Suck My Kiss.