20. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlUKcNNmywk Over to something a little more restrained than the hard rock of Audioslave, although from the likes of album opener Around The World you'd be inclined to make a comparison based on how intense the latter's intro is. To this day the utilisation of melodic-genius John Frusciante is a dividing factor among some fans of the band, with latest release I'm With You barely registering on their collective psyche due to his exclusion back in 2011. However with Californication he was firing on all cylinders, composing sumptuously gorgeous solos on Scar Tissue, subdued note selection on Porcelain and unabashed funk that sizzles and bursts in the likes of I Like Dirt. The whole album is tied together masterfully by the iconic staccato-delivery of Anthony Kiedis and the legendary bass-tones of Michael 'Flea' Balzary, culminating in the title track going on to be one of the biggest rock anthems of all time. For many of the albums on here its a certain set of songs that are just so ultimately defining they provide a window into putting the entire album on and breathing in a full body of work rather than a single track. Californication (the song) is one such song, as although thousands would pick up the album based off the likes of that or Scar Tissue's single success, the effortlessly sublime way The Chilis construct their songs only really came out when you took the time to let the whole album wash over you. It's impossible to get sick of: Californication. It just has to be doesn't it? Although many site a song being overplayed as some fault of it being incredibly well put together in the first place, every time you hear that perfectly mood-setting intro, Frusciante's weaving guitar lines producing that solo as Kiedis' vocals ride atop Flea's basslines all knowing exactly where and when to eb and flow... it's something truly special.