Stadium Arcadium

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium, was originally conceived as a trilogy before being condensed into a double album (consisting in Jupiter and Mars). It was also significant for being the band’s first number one album in the U.S., as well as the last to be recorded with guitarist John Frusciante, as he left to focus on his solo career, being replaced by his friend frequent collaborator Josh Klinghoffer, and then re-joined the group again at the end of 2019.

Notably, Stadium Arcadium integrates several musical styles from throughout the band’s career, including their signature funk sound. For Frusciante, this stylistic change was mainly influenced by progressive rock group The Mars Volta, and generated him greater recognition from critics. As well as this, the writing process generated a much more collaborative relationship between bassist Flea and Frusciante.

On the album’s musical and lyrical themes, Kiedis spoke of the band’s various relationships at the time of its creation:

Love and women, pregnancies and marriages, relationship struggles – those are real and profound influences on this record. And it’s great because it wasn’t just me writing about the fact that I’m in love. It was everybody in the band. We were brimming with energy based on falling in love.

Five singles were released from the 5x Grammy Award-winning album: “Dani California,” “Tell Me Baby,” “Snow (Hey Oh),” “Desecration Smile” and “Hump de Bump”. Out-takes from the album were also released as part of a B-Sides collection, named Venus – 37 of the 38 songs recorded for the album have been released to date.

According to frontman Anthony Kiedis, the title reflected the album’s increased “variety and verve compared to its predecessors,” as each member of the group “played their part and expressed their creativity to the max.”

Graphic designer Storm Thorgerson was originally invited to create the cover artwork, providing three variants which were ultimately rejected. He later criticized the band’s final choice of artwork as being derivative and a poor representation of their colorful and endlessly inventive music.