10 Songs That Are Darker Than You Realize
6. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
It's not exactly all that hard to screw up Red Hot Chili Peppers lyrics. As far as the pseudo rapping style that Anthony Kiedis employs is concerned, most of the lyrics end up being about getting messed up in Southern California and...well...the scenic wonders that happen in Southern California. In the midst of all that though, have we ever entertained the idea that California might be the problem here?
Yeah, for all of the tourism ads the Peppers have indirectly written for their state over the years, Californication almost reads as a cautionary tale of why not to go to the Sunshine State. Though most of the lyrics don't really have any connotation with each other (what with the first born unicorn and hardcore softporn), each individual line tries to point out another flaw in the fabric of Hollywood, from the psychic spies trying to drain you of your creativity to the business side of the city selling you on the dream before stomping on your ambitions.
In essence, Californication is a look at the California that Hollywood tries to keep under wraps, where fortune and fame can be stripped away just as fast as it came to you. In this version of Hollywood, it's all good....until it isn't...then it's absolutely horrible.