Stadium Arcadium

For the song with the same name, see Stadium Arcadium (song).

Untitled

Stadium Arcadium (2006) is the ninth studio album by alternative-funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

According to an interview with frontman Anthony Kiedis in New Musical Express, Stadium Arcadium was originally scheduled to be a trilogy of albums each released six months apart, but was condensed into one 28 track double album (the first in the band's career so far), and the remaining 10 tracks would be released as b-sides.

It was released in May of 2006. Over one million copies of the album were sold within the same month of release in Europe. The title has gone gold or platinum in 16 countries across Europe, and has sold over 7 million copies total worldwide to date, making it the best selling album of 2006. Rolling Stone named Stadium Arcadium the second best album of 2006 and Billboard named it the 8th best album of the year.

The album was leaked as early as April 30 2006, prompting Flea to post a complaint in his online journal Fleamail. Some charged that it was a publicity stunt.

The album was nominated for seven Grammy Awards in 2007: Album of the Year, Best Short Form Music Video ("Dani California"), Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song ("Dani California"), Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal ("Dani California"), Best Boxed Set or Special Limited Edition Package, and Producer of the Year (Rick Rubin), all of which it won except for Album of the Year and Best Short Music Video. Stadium Arcadium has gone on to become the band's most nominated album of their 24-year career.

Background

The band has said in many interviews that the album is written mostly about people coming together because of music, which the title track sums up, while several songs focus directly on love. It has also been quoted as a return to the band's distinct funk-rock style.

The song "Dani California" is about the death and demise of "Dani", the same character from their hit singles "By the Way" and "Californication". "Dani", according to Kiedis, is a representation of every girl that he has come across in his life. The album's last song "Death of a Martian" was also an ode to Flea's dog Martian, a Mastiff, who died during the album's recording.

Similar to Californication, Vlado Meller's mastering of Stadium Arcadium features a heavy use of audio compression. However, the vinyl versions of Stadium Arcadium have been mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray at AcousTech from the 30 ips analog master tapes, "the mixes are all powerful, very dynamic, tuneful, exciting and quite high fidelity sounding."

Singles

• The first single, "Dani California," premiered on radio stations worldwide on April 3 2006, and has been very successful in both rock and pop markets becoming one of the band's most successful singles to date topping many charts worldwide and reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which was the band's second highest charting single in the United States in their career, next to "Under the Bridge" which reached number 2 in 1992. The video leaked onto the internet on April 1, and was officially released to music television stations worldwide over the subsequent days.
• "Tell Me Baby" was the second single and video was released on July 17, 2006. The song didn't show the success of "Dani California," but it did reach number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, their 10th song to do so.
• "Snow ((Hey Oh))" was released on November 20, 2006. It would be the band's third single and video released and would also top the Modern Rock Chart and also make chart history by becoming the Peppers eleventh single to top that chart. The song proved to be much more successful than "Tell Me Baby" on many charts.
• On February 12, 2007 the band released the fourth single, "Desecration Smile." The single and video was an international release only, charting on several European charts.
• "Hump de Bump" was slated as a US, Canada, and Australia only single to be released in March 2007, but after the release of the video over the internet, the band was given lots of positive feedback and the song release was pushed to April 7, 2007 and was released as a worldwide single on May 10, 2007.

Critical reaction

"Stadium Arcadium" has been met with generally favorable reviews, with Rolling Stone stating it the band's best album yet and rating it 4/5 and Q magazine said it was one of the year's best albums and rated it 5/5 whilst All Music Guide called it over-produced and self-indulgent and thus gave it 3.5/5. Either way, the album has been generally quite well received by critics (with an average vote of 73/100 ) and fans alike and was a great commercial success, selling over 7 million copies worldwide to date and its first three singles reaching #1 (and staying there for at least 4 weeks) on the US Modern Rock chart.

Track listing

Disc one: Jupiter

1. "Dani California" – 4:42
2. "Snow ((Hey Oh))" – 5:35
3. "Charlie" – 4:37
4. "Stadium Arcadium" – 5:15
5. "Hump de Bump" – 3:33
6. "She's Only 18" – 3:25
7. "Slow Cheetah" – 5:19
8. "Torture Me" – 3:44
9. "Strip My Mind" – 4:19
10. "Especially in Michigan" – 4:00
11. "Warlocks" – 3:24
12. "C'mon Girl" – 3:48
13. "Wet Sand" – 5:09
14. "Hey" – 5:39

Disc two: Mars

1. "Desecration Smile" – 5:02
2. "Tell Me Baby" – 4:07
3. "Hard to Concentrate" – 4:02
4. "21st Century" – 4:22
5. "She Looks to Me" – 4:06
6. "Readymade" – 4:30
7. "If" – 2:52
8. "Make You Feel Better" – 3:51
9. "Animal Bar" – 5:25
10. "So Much I" – 3:44
11. "Storm in a Teacup" – 3:45
12. "We Believe" – 3:36
13. "Turn It Again" – 6:06
14. "Death of a Martian" – 4:24

B-sides, outtakes and non-album tracks

Song	Length	Release(s)
"Million Miles of Water"	4:06	B-side of "Dani California"
"Whatever We Want"	4:48	B-side of "Dani California"
"Lately"	2:55	B-side of "Dani California"
"A Certain Someone"	2:25	B-side of "Tell Me Baby"
"Mercy Mercy"	4:01	B-side of "Tell Me Baby"
"Funny Face"	4:46	B-side of "Snow ((Hey Oh))"
"I'll Be Your Domino"	3:57	B-side of "Snow ((Hey Oh))"
"Joe"	3:54	B-side of "Desecration Smile" and "Hump de Bump"
"Save This Lady"	4:17	B-side of "Desecration Smile" and "Hump de Bump"

Notable guest musicians

The late soul musician Billy Preston played the clavinet on "Warlocks", and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta performed the guitar solo for "Especially In Michigan". Both Flea and Frusciante previously worked with Rodriguez-Lopez on The Mars Volta albums De-loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute. Frusciante would later play guitar on nearly every track on their album Amputechture.

Credits

• Anthony Kiedis – vocals
• John Frusciante – guitar, backing vocals
• Flea – bass, backing vocals
• Chad Smith – drums
• Billy Preston – clavinet on "Warlocks"
• Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – guitar solo on "Especially in Michigan"
• Emily Kokal – chorus vocals on "Desecration Smile"
• Brad Warnaar – french horn on "Stadium Arcadium"
• Richard Dodd – cello on "She Looks to Me"
• Natalie Baber, Mylissa Hoffman, Alexis Izenstark, Spencer Izenstark, Dylan Lerner, Kyle Lerner, Gabrielle Mosbe, Monique Mosbe, Sophia Mosbe, Isabella Shmelev, Landen Starman, Wyatt Starkman – chorus vocals on "We Believe"
• Michael Bolger – trombone on "Turn It Again"
• Paulinho Da Costa and Lenny Castro – additional percussion
• Rick Rubin – producer
• Gus Van Sant – photography
• Shane Jackson – assistant photography

Chart performance

Album

After 52 weeks the album has sold an estimated total of 7 million worldwide, debuting at number 1 in most parts of the world (over 27 countries ). Stadium Arcadium became the Red Hot Chili Peppers' first album to debut atop The Billboard 200 after selling 442,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week. The band's previous best week was the debut of By the Way, which yielded 282,000 copies and a debut at number two on the Billboard 200. Stadium Arcadium recently went double platinum in the United States. Stadium Arcadium is their most successful album in the United States since Californication.

Chart (2006)	Peak position	Sales	First week sales
Australia	1 (3 weeks)
Austria	1 (7 weeks)
Argentina	1 (2 weeks)
Belgium International albums	1
Brazil	8
Canada	1 (2 weeks)	263,000+	64,000
Croatia	1 (4 weeks)
Czech Republic	1 (1 weeks)
Cyprus International albums	1
Denmark	1 (3 weeks)
European albums	1 (7 weeks)
Finland	1 (1 weeks)
France	1 (1 weeks)	196,500+	39,000
Germany	1 (5 weeks)
Greece International	1 (5 weeks)
Hungary	2
Ireland	1 (5 weeks)
Iceland	2
Israel	1
Italy M&D	1 (6 weeks)	320,680
Japan	1	457,086	139,447
Korea	1
Mexico	1
Netherlands	1 (5 weeks)
New Zealand	1 (3 weeks)
Norway	1
Poland	1
Slovenia	1
South Africa	1
Spain	2
Sweden	1 (2 weeks)
Switzerland	1 (5 weeks)
UK	1 (3 weeks)	750,000+	202,499
U.S. Billboard 200	1 (2 weeks)	2,108,000	442,489
Worldwide chart	1 (4 weeks)	6.845.000–7.358.375	1,108,000–1,191,100

• Sales data aren't shipments and are a different thing of certification (gold and platinum)
• 1° of best sellers albums released in 2006 during 2006 Worldwide
• 1° of best sellers albums released in 2006 to date Worldwide
• 2° of best sellers albums during 2006 Worldwide (so comprensive also of 2005 albums, #1 is James Blunt - Back to Bedlam).
• 1° in Year-End Chart in Austria and Switzerland, 1° in Year-End International chart about album released in 2006 in Austria, Switzerland, New Zealand, Belgium Vlaanderen, Germany and Worldwide.
• Sales site - Total Worldwide Sales : 6.845.000 (last update April 8 2007)

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Main- stream Rock	UK Top 40
2006	"Dani California"	6	1	1	2
2006	"Tell Me Baby"	50	1	8	16
2007	"Snow ((Hey Oh))"	22	1	3	16
2007	"Desecration Smile"	-	-	-	27
2007	"Hump de Bump"	-	8	27	41

External links

• 15 minute video interview with John Frusciante which includes thoughts on the new album.
• Stadium Arcadium Fan Site