10 Rock Bands That Got Better With Age
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers
When the first incarnation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed out of the California underground, there was always a part of you that wondered whether it was all a joke or not. For all of the manic energy and wild grooves they may have gotten into onstage, there was always a sort of tongue in cheek humor to the whole thing that kept fans coming back for more. Underneath all of those socks-only shows though, the band was hurting, and it took a long time for them to tap into that kind of pain.
Ever since losing Hillel Slovak, the band soldiered on with John Frusciante as their guitarist, creating songs that were a lot more informed by their personal lives, with Anthony Kiedis writing a tribute to his years lost to heroin on Under the Bridge. After a few years of losing John to his own struggles with addiction, the Peppers' seemed to create some of their best work almost 2 decades after forming, with Californication and By the Way feeling like a ray of sunshine from the first few moments that they come on.
Even though that funky fresh good time might still be present every now and again in the band's music, they have a lot more experience to draw on for some of the introspective stuff. It may have been a rough journey getting here, but the only way to tap into real pain is when you have the kind of scars to sing about.