10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Albums
6. One Hot Minute
This one will definitely raise some eyebrows. Dismissed by the band themselves, with only Pea being performed after Frusciante’s return and Aeroplane making an appearance on the Getaway Tour with Klinghoffer on guitar, One Hot Minute is sorely overlooked. In particular, Frusciante’s many acolytes and superfans will dismiss this album as missing the chemistry present in the band's other work.
However, when relistened to in full, One Hot Minute is arguably the band's most cohesive work, with songs blending and slowly transitioning into one another, as well as their most unique, with the textural, effects-laden guitar work of Jane's Addiction superstar Dave Navarro lending a psychedelic, atmospheric mood to the record. Coffee Shop and Aeroplane belong up there in any RHCP greatest hits, as well as tender odes to Kurt Cobain and River Phoenix in Tearjerker and Transcending.
The guitar work is beautiful throughout the album, mixing heaviness and subtlety, Flea lays down some wonderful basslines, and Keidis continues his development into a fully fledged singer. It may be divisive, but relisten to the album in full and see if you don’t find yourself wrapped up in its gloomy, brooding '90s atmosphere.