Red Hot Chili Peppers

• Anthony Kiedis - vocals
• John Frusciante - guitar
• Michael 'Flea' Balzary - bass
• Chad Smith - drums
• Dave Navarro - guitar (left 1998)
• Hillel Slovak - guitar (died 1988)
• Jack Irons - drums (left 1988)

One of the few true Los Angeles bands around, the Chili Peppers were pioneering in mixing funk and hip hop ideas into a rock context,driven by the exceptional Tower Of Power/P-Funk influenced bass playing of Flea and, along with Faith No More laid a good chunk of the foundations for modern metal.

Apart from their crazy onstage nudity and antics, from the one tour where they wore only dayglo body paint with UV lighting, to the infamous naked-apart-from-socks-on-cocks mimic of The Beatles' album cover on their 'Abbey Road EP', the 'Chilis have also been known for being very much part of the hedonistic LA scene that took the life of River Phoenix(who was with Flea when he died), and have had a very rocky road to get where they are today, a saga peppered with stories of crash and burn. The loss of old schoolfriend and founder member, guitarist Hillel Slovak to a drug overdose before the fourth album was a major emotional watershed in the bands career, which led the band to clean up and subsequently produce their best work, though it brought a sad reflective alter ego to their crazy upbeat funk, best exemplified in the classic 'Under The Bridge'.

The line up named above is what could be called their classic line-up, the one that played on Mothers Milk, the album that contained their international chart hit version of the Stevie Wonder song 'Higher Ground' (which brought the band to the attention of most people in the UK), and the line-up that played on their 1991 international platinum selling album Blood Sugar Sex Magik which contained Under The Bridge and their 'anthem' 'Give It Away'... It's a big ol' story, though, and it's best to refer you to their site for a fuller picture: Official Biography.