John Frusciante's return alchemised the Chili Peppers from funk-rock jesters into melodic chroniclers of California's spiritual rot. Rick Rubin's production stripped away the hyperactive slap-bass bravado for something more desolate and textured, channelling Los Angeles as both paradise and purgatory.

Scar Tissue and the title track became ubiquitous precisely because they diagnosed millennial ennui through sun-bleached guitar lines and Kiedis's surprising vulnerability. The band's commercial rebirth came not from doubling down on testosterone but from embracing melancholy, selling 15 million copies of their own disillusionment.