Red Hot Chili Peppers (originally Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem) were formed after what was supposed to be a one time performance in 1983 by Fairfax High School alumni Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass), Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Jack Irons (drums) and Hillel Slovak (guitar). Later in that same year, after becoming a popular draw in the Los Angeles rock scene, Red Hot Chili Peppers secured a deal with EMI. Eric Vollero was the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers for three months until john fruciante returned from rehab. Irons and Slovak viewed the band as a side project, and left the Red Hot Chili Peppers shortly before their self-titled debut to focus on their original band which blew according to Slovak, What Is This?. Red Hot Chili Peppers, the band's 1984 debut album, was recorded with replacement members Jack Sherman on guitar and Cliff Martinéz on drums. Produced by Gang of Four's Andy Gill, the album did not achieve success. The ensuing tour did not fare much better, with internal fighting between Sherman, Kiedis, and Flea resulting in Sherman's departure, and Hillel Slovak returning.

Parliament-Funkadelic's George Clinton was hired to produce their second album, 1985's Freaky Styley. Martinéz was fired from the band soon after the release of the album, allowing the return of original drummer Jack Irons in early 1986. During this time, drug problems started to become prevalent with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. At one point Anthony Kiedis left the band due to his heroin addiction, only to rejoin after getting clean. Hillel was also using heroin but managed to keep himself together and stay in the band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Their next album, which entered the Billboard Top 200, was 1988's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. It was produced by Michael Beinhorn. This was the only album to feature the four original members of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The band Red Hot Chili Peppers temporarily employed Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro and former P-Funk guitarist DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight, before replacing them with Chad Smith and John Frusciante to record their next album. Mother's Milk was released in August 1989, and gave the band Red Hot Chili Peppers their first top modern rock hits with their tribute ballad to Slovak, "Knock Me Down", and their cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". The Red Hot Chili Peppers album reached #52 on the American album charts, the best chart position the band Red Hot Chili Peppers had attained thus far.

In 1990, the group Red Hot Chili Peppers switched labels to Warner Brothers Records. Rick Rubin was hired to produce their fifth album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which would go on to sell seven million copies in the United States alone. The Red Hot Chili Peppers album contained the singles "Give it Away" which won a Grammy award in 1992 for "Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal", "Breaking the Girl", "Suck My Kiss", and "Under the Bridge", a poignant and popular ballad that helped widen the band's audience. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was listed at number 310 on the Rolling Stone magazine list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and in 1992 it climbed all the way to # 3 on the U.S. album charts almost a year after its release.

Success and drug addiction were taking their toll on Frusciante, who abruptly quit the band Red Hot Chili Peppers during the BSSM tour in May of 1992. After the band headlined Lollapalooza festival in 1992 with replacement guitarist Arik Marshall, and briefly with Jesse Tobias of the California based band Mother Tongue in 1993, former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro was brought in as a temporary member.

Dave Navarro first appeared with the band Red Hot Chili Peppers at Woodstock 1994, and a year later appeared on the album One Hot Minute. The album featured the familiar blend of funk, metal, jazz, but this time showed increased hard rock and psychedelic influences.

In 1998, John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis made amends after both completing drug rehab. The Red Hot Chili Peppers reformed with their Mothers Milk line-up to release 1999's, Californication. It became a massive success, outselling Blood Sugar Sex Magik and introducing them to a new generation of fans. It is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' best selling album to date with 15 millions units sold.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers album peaked at #3 in USA and produced three more modern rock hits: the Grammy-winning "Scar Tissue", "Otherside" and "Californication". It also made it onto the modern rock charts with "Around the World", "Road Trippin'" (UK single), and "Parallel Universe", which broke the Top 40 modern rock charts despite not being released as a single. Compared to their previous albums, Californication contains few rap-driven songs. The band Red Hot Chili Peppers went on a tour which lasted nearly two years and featured some of their largest shows, including a Moscow performance in front of 200,000 people and a performance at the controversial Woodstock 1999 festival. At Woodstock 99, the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed Fire by Jimi Hendrix as a tribute to the late rocker who performed at the original Woodstock. The choice of song also held a certain irony, since their set had been interrupted when one of the delay towers of the PA system started burning. In 2001, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their first concert DVD, Off The Map which was directed by longtime friend, Dick Rude, who also directed the music videos for Catholic School Girls Rule and Universally Speaking.

The band Red Hot Chili Peppers returned to the studio in early 2001 and released By the Way over a year later, on July 9, 2002. The Red Hot Chili Peppers album, at the time, was their most noteworthy chart debut, emerging at #2 and producing hit singles such as: "By the Way", "The Zephyr Song" , "Can't Stop", "Dosed", and "Universally Speaking" which was only released in Europe as a single and video.

In 2006, the Red Hot Chili Peppers completed their ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium. Although 38 songs were created with the intention to be released as 3 mini-albums spaced six months apart it was released in May 2006 as a 28-track double album. It was their first album to debut at #1 on the US charts, where it stayed for two weeks, and debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart and 25 other countries as well. The record's first single "Dani California," was the Red Hot Chili Pepper's fastest-selling single, topping the Modern Rock chart in the US, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching #2 in the UK.In addition to "Dani California", "Tell Me Baby" reached Billboard's hot modern rock tracks in early July.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers recently finished touring in Europe, as one out of several legs of the year-and-a-half to two year long international world tour that they are undertaking in support of Stadium Arcadium. One of the many legs on this tour will be the Red Hot Chili Peppers' touring the United States with Gnarls Barkley from mid January to March 2007. The Red Hot Chili Peppers also toured with The Mars Volta during the first U.S. leg of their tour from early August to early November 2006. Other legs on this world tour so far include stops in Europe from mid April to mid July 2006 as well as the previously mentioned 2nd European leg of the tour from November to mid-December of the same year and in Japan and Australia from mid-late March to mid April 2007.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers won at the MTV Europe Music Awards for Best Album and won two American Music Awards for Favorite Band, Duo or Group and Alternative Music.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have recently been nominated for Billboard Music Awards in the categories of modern rock artist of the year, modern rock single of the year (Dani California), rock single of the year (Dani California), and rock album of the year. They also picked up six nominations in the 2007 Grammys.

One Hot Minute (1995)
Warped
Aeroplane
Deep Kick
My Friends
Coffee Shop
Pea
One Big Mob
Walkabout
Tearjerker
One Hot Minute
Falling Into Grace
Shallow Be Thy Game
Transcending

Californication (1999)
Around The World
Parallel Universe
Scar Tissue
Otherside
Get On Top
Californication
Easily
Porcelain
Emit Remmus
I Like Dirt
This Velvet Glove
Savior
Purple Stain
Right On Time
Road Trippin'

Californication (Australasian Release), Disc 2 (1999)
Gong Li
How Strong
Instrumental #2

By The Way (2002)
By The Way
Universally Speaking
This Is The Place
Dosed
Don't Forget Me
The Zephyr Song
Can't Stop
I Could Die For You
Midnight
Throw Away Your Television
Cabron
Tear
On Mercury
Minor Thing
Warm Tape
Venice Queen

Greatest Hits (2003)
Under The Bridge
Give It Away
Californication
Scar Tissue
Soul To Squeeze
Otherside
Suck My Kiss
By The Way
Parallel Universe
Breaking The Girl
My Friends
Higher Ground
Universally Speaking
Road Trippin'
Fortune Faded
Save The Population

Live in Hyde Park, Disc 1 (2004)
Intro
Can't Stop
Around The World
Scar Tissue
By The Way
Fortune Faded
I Feel Love
Otherside
Easily
Universally Speaking
Get On Top
Brandy
Don't Forget Me
Rolling Sly Stone

Live in Hyde Park, Disc 2 (2004)
Throw Away Your Television
Leverage Of Space
Purple Stain
The Zephyr Song
Californication
Right On Time
Parallel Universe
Drum Homage Medley
Under The Bridge
Black Cross
Flea's Trumpet Treated by John
Give It Away

Stadium Arcadium (2006)
Disc 1: Jupiter
Dani California
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Charlie
Stadium Arcadium
Hump de Bump
She's Only 18
Slow Cheetah
Torture Me
Strip My Mind
Especially in Michigan
Warlocks
C'mon Girl
Wet Sand
Hey

Disc 2: Mars
Desecration Smile
Tell Me Baby
Hard to Concentrate
21st Century
She Looks to Me
Readymade
If
Make You Feel Better
Animal Bar
So Much I
Storm in a Teacup
We Believe
Turn It Again
Death of a Martian