Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Stadium Arcadium, the ninth album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, came out on Warner Bros. on May 9, 2006, in the US, and it's a monster: a double album that started life as a plan for three records released six months apart. Rick Rubin produced it, and instead of trimming the fat he let the band sprawl, pulling in every flavor they'd tried over their career, from slap-happy funk to sun-bleached ballads.

What makes it work is the band's chemistry. Kiedis put the album's strength down to a band that had stopped fighting over who got the last word, with everybody chipping in more than ever, and you can hear it. John Frusciante's guitar is all over this record, weaving lush, layered lines and piercing solos. "Dani California" is a swaggering rocker, "Snow (Hey Oh)" rides a fluttering, nimble guitar figure into a soaring chorus, "Tell Me Baby" is a funky, strutting groove, and "Hump de Bump" gets down and silly.

It became the band's first number one album in the US, spun off five singles, and picked up seven Grammy nominations, winning four, including Best Rock Album; it was also up for Album of the Year. That was the most they'd ever been nominated for in what was then a 23-year career. After the tour wrapped, Frusciante left the band in July 2009, and it would be his last album with them until Unlimited Love in 2022.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.