10 Legendary Rock Bands That Got Darker Over Time

The mission statement behind the Red Hot Chili Peppers from day one was always about keeping the good times rolling. Even if you couldn't really understand what Anthony Kiedis was getting at a lot of the time, the music behind him always made for a funky vibe that made it impossible not to jam with whenever it came on. As life goes on though, we lose friends along the way, and the Peppers weren't going to sugarcoat anything for us.

While the first major blow was the death of Hillel Slovak, things didn't really get dark until One Hot Minute, when the rest of the band started to relapse on hard drugs. After notching up hits like Give It Away, this was a major change of pace, seeing the band go full metal on songs like Warped and taking on heavy topics like religion on Shallow Be Thy Game.

Things should have been on the right track once John Frusciante came back into the band though, right? Wrong. Even when they were on firmer ground, they still had demons they needed to get out of their system, and Californication gives a pretty grim picture of where they were, like Anthony Kiedis talking about his dependence on drugs going too far on Otherside and Scar Tissue. Much like the title would suggest, these guys have scars, and they aren't afraid to hold themselves accountable for what they've done.