10 Underrated Hard Rock Songs Of The 2000s

After John Frusciante left the Red Hot Chili Peppers, things started to look pretty dire for a while. Once their album One Hot Minute met a deaf ear and Anthony Kiedis started to get back into the hard drug lifestyle, the course correction of Californication felt like a godsend. Though the more celebrated parts of this album deserve their just due, it's a crime that Parallel Universe didn't end up being a bigger hit.

It almost strange seeing something like this fit among the more mellow side of the record though. Across some of the single cuts like the title track and Otherside, this is a much more hard-edged tune, at least for the chorus. As the song starts out, Frusciante's muted guitars lead us along before full-on slamming into the chorus, with Kiedis playing up the more hard-edged atmosphere around him. Above all, this shows an excellent use of push and pull in a song, as each movement seems to be teetering with each other, trying its hardest to ebb and flow with the rest of the track.

On the other hand, this would prove to be only a little departure from the Peppers' usual formula, with this and Around the World being the only two major hard rock songs across the rest of the record. Still though, it's better to have one kickass Chili Peppers tune than none at all.