Is the Best Chili Peppers Album Californication? It’s 25 Now

Released on June 8, 1999, Californication is the biggest Red Hot Chili Peppers album. But is it the best Chili Peppers album? "Wait, Adam 12, how can you say it's the band's biggest album?" Well, it's gone 7x Platinum in the United States. "But Adam 12, Blood Sugar Sex Magik also went 7x Platinum!" Wait a minute, who are you? And why are you arguing with me? Yes, both Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication have surpassed the 7,000,000 mark in U.S. sales. But Californication has moved more units worldwide, so it gets the edge as being the "biggest" album. But what about "best?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr_uHJPUlO8&pp=ygUicmVkIGhvdCBjaGlsaSBwZXBwZXJzIGdpdmUgaXQgYXdheQ%3D%3D The Best Chili Peppers Album: It's Gotta Be From the '90s Given the way the Chili Peppers owned MTV and the radio airwaves for the entirety of the '90s, it's wild that they only had three proper studio releases during the decade. Blood Sugar Sex Magik in '91, One Hot Minute in '95, and Californication in '99. I love One Hot Minute, but it was just that: one hot minute in the band's timeline. The Dave Navarro experiment was fun, but ultimately failed. So that leaves us with the two RHCP albums that bookended their strongest decade as a band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmyuJZH3RAc&pp=ygUccmVkIGhvdCBjaGlsaSBwZXBwZXJzIHdhcnBlZA%3D%3D The Best Chili Peppers Album: Which One Will "Get On Top?" When I ranked the Beastie Boys catalog, I gave Ill Communication the edge over Check Your Head, arguing the former slightly improved and expanded on the latter. Can the same reasoning be applied here? Not really, I'm afraid. What RHCP did in '91 was hit their stride...and their peak. By '99, they were still red hot, but retreading their earlier work. So I'd say Blood Sugar Sex Majik is their best album. But Californication is still worth revisiting, so let's "road trip(pin')" back.