10 Perfect Rock Albums That Everyone Hated Making
8. Mother's Milk - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Looking back on the entire discography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mother's Milk is the moment where these funky monks transformed into the band that we know today. While their three previous albums with the likes of Hillel Slovak definitely had their larger than life vibe, the inclusion of John Frusciante brought a new sense of melody that was a lot more forceful than what we were used to. This was definitely a heavier album than what had come before, and chances are that is the very reason why the band didn't like recording it.
Long before Rick Rubin became the unofficial 5th member of the Peppers, producer Michael Beinhorn clashed a lot with Frusciante in the studio, pushing for a guitar sound that was a lot more metallic than what we were used to from the Chili Peppers. In between the funky stuff they were known for like their cover of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground, we also have the raw insanity of Flea on Nobody Weird Like Me or jacking up the speed of Jimi Hendrix's Fire to the point of delirium.
As much as the band might not have had that much fun going back and forth with Beinhorn, the heaviness may have been what hooked some fairweather fans into the band, which they would then explore a little bit further when they went in to make One Hot Minute after John had quit the band. Even though the Peppers are far from a hard rock band, they do have a shocking amount of chops when they go for something a little more gritty.