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Stadium Arcadium

Stadium Arcadium is the ninth studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was a double-album released on May 5, 2006, on Warner Bros. Records.[1] It produced five singles: "Dani California", "Tell Me Baby", "Snow (Hey Oh)", "Desecration Smile" and "Hump de Bump", along with the band's first fan-made music video, for the song "Charlie". In the United States, Stadium Arcadium became the band's first number-one album. Stadium Arcadium was originally scheduled to be a trilogy of albums each released six months apart, but was eventually condensed into a double album.[2]

Stadium Arcadium

May 5, 2006 (2006-05-05)

September 2004 – December 2005

The Mansion, Los Angeles

122:19

The album was praised for integrating musical styles from several aspects of the band's career.[3][4] The album gained the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 2007 including an award for Best Rock Album and one for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. Winning four out of seven Grammy Awards,[5] it was the most nominations that the band had garnered in their (at the time) 23 year career. Rolling Stone has included the album on its list of Best Albums of the 2000s.[6] Kiedis attributed the album's success to less abrasive dynamics within the band, saying that the band's "chemistry, when it comes to writing, is better than ever. There was always a struggle to dominate lyrically. But we are now confident enough in who we are, so everybody feels more comfortable contributing more and more valuable, quality stuff."[7]


After the culmination of the Stadium Arcadium tour, guitarist John Frusciante left the band in July 2009. It was his last album with the band until the release of Unlimited Love in 2022, more than a decade later.

Background[edit]

After the release of the band's previous album, By the Way, the Red Hot Chili Peppers embarked on a world tour, from July 2002 to a mid-June 2004 date at London's Hyde Park.[8] The band later appeared at the 2004 Democratic National Convention[9] and at Rock am Ring to tie up their tour in support of By the Way. The band then settled down to begin recording its next album in September 2004 with producer Rick Rubin, with whom the band had recorded its previous four albums.[10]


The formation and recording of Stadium Arcadium took place at "The Mansion" where the Peppers had recorded their 1991 breakthrough Blood Sugar Sex Magik.[11] Given the house's reputation for being "haunted," guitarist John Frusciante recalled that he felt "there were beings of higher intelligence controlling what I was doing, and I didn’t know how to talk about it or explain it...it was very clear to me that the music was coming from somewhere other than me."[12] However, Kiedis noted that during the recording process of the album "everybody was in a good mood. There was very little tension, very little anxiety, very little weirdness going on and every day we showed up to this funky room in the Valley, and everyone felt more comfortable than ever bringing in their ideas."[13] The band originally wanted to create an "old-fashioned Meet the Beatles-like record", and to keep the number of songs down to about 12, to make "a small, digestible piece of art."[10] They ended up writing 28 new songs, with Rubin producing all tracks.

Commercial performance[edit]

Stadium Arcadium sold 442,000 copies in the United States in its first week and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 making it the band's first number one debut in their career.[24] In its second week, the album remained at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 157,000 copies (down 65 percent).[25] In Canada, the double album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 64,000 copies in its first week.[26]


"Dani California" spent fourteen weeks at number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and is one of three songs in the history of the chart to debut at number one.[27][28]

Cover art[edit]

Artist Storm Thorgerson, known for providing seminal album artwork for numerous bands including Pink Floyd, T. Rex, Audioslave, The Mars Volta, and Muse, was asked to create the cover art for Stadium Arcadium. Thorgerson provided at least three possible covers for the album, however, his ideas were ultimately rejected and a simple cover featuring yellow "Superman" lettering and a blue background with planets was used instead.


The inside artwork of the album featured a band portrait, another band portrait recreating the classic cover of the Odds & Sods by the Who as well as images of the band floating and on fire.

 â€“ lead vocals

Anthony Kiedis

 â€“ guitars, backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, mellotron

John Frusciante

 â€“ bass guitar, trumpet

Flea

 - drums, percussion

Chad Smith

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[44]


Red Hot Chili Peppers


Additional musicians


Recording personnel


Additional personnel

at Discogs (list of releases)

Stadium Arcadium

which includes thoughts on the new album.

15 minute video interview with John Frusciante