So why is Red Hot Chili Peppers’ By The Way on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
As will sometimes happen with a band that has been with you in some form throughout much of your life, I’ve gone through periods when I would be relatively more or less interested in the music produced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Californication was released in 1999 and I recall enjoying it greatly (and still very much do). I moved to California from New York in late 1998, as it turned out, and I associate that album with my early days living in San Francisco’s East Bay.
Probably for a number of reasons, much of it having to do with changes in my own life, I don’t recall thinking much about RHCP for a solid decade or more after that point. But by the early 2010s, I want to say, I “came back” to the Chili Peppers, or perhaps they came back to me, or something.
I was a little bit older by then, and so were they. So it was that when I eventually checked out By The Way, it was the perfect time in my life to enjoy an album that shows off a band that was a little bit older and wiser, and yet still producing music at the peak of their powers.
The re-entry point is a song called “On Mercury,” which remains one of my favorite songs – not just by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but by anyone – to this day.
It’s immediately fascinating that RHCP dabbles with an upbeat ska hook with this one, but that’s only half the story: it’s meshed with a melodic yet exuberant funk/hard rock groove that threads throughout By The Way.
In short, it’s incredible and catchy and groovy and wonderful.
And then “The Zephyr Song” is one of the best pure pop/rock songs that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have ever produced. I’m tempted to call it a ballad, but it’s a little more up tempo than that: it manages to be mellow and emotional while maintaining a core energy and propulsion.
“Can’t Stop” is a great example of “classic” RHCP’s brand of funked up hard rock, punk, and metal that has evolved into a sublime, somewhat refined and mature state that I find to be (particularly at my, ahem, more advanced age versus back in the day, shall we say) quite delightful.
Some stats & info about Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, SoCal Bands, Funky Metal, Hard Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was By The Way released? 2002
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #218 out of 1,000
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ By The Way on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ By The Way that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
I’ve got myself in a masochistic hold, why don’t you let go? Shake it off just to redirect my flow, come on, let’s go.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.