By the way

This article covers the music album. For the song of the same name, see By the Way (song) . For By the way as an expression of the net jargon for “by the way, by the way” see list of abbreviations (net jargon) #B .

By the way
Studio album by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Publication (s)	July 8, 2002
Label (s)	Warner Music
Format (s)	CD, LP
Genre (s)	Alternative rock
Title (number)	16
running time	66:38
occupation	Singing : Anthony Kiedis Guitar , backing vocals : John Frusciante Electric bass , backing vocals : Flea Drums : Chad Smith
production	Rick Rubin
Studio (s)	November 2001 - May 2002, Cello Studios, Chateau Marmont / Los Angeles, USA
chronology Californication (1999) By the way Arcadium Stadium (2006)
Single releases June 10, 2002 By the way 17th August 2002 The Zephyr Song January 24, 2003 Can't stop May 19, 2003 Dosed July 15, 2003 Universally speaking

By the Way is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers . It was released in German-speaking countries on July 8, 2002 on WEA Records (a subsidiary of Warner Music ).

Compared to the previous album Californication , the songs tend to be more pop-heavy , melodic and thoughtful. The guitarist John Frusciante set new standards in the rock scene with his melodic chord playing. He often created spherical sounds with fancy effect devices (so-called "effect pedals"). On the other hand, the album met with a greater degree of rejection in the fan base, as it distanced itself stylistically from the funk rock for which the Red Hot Chili Peppers were known.

Emergence

Michael Balzary (2005)

Work on the album began in the fall of 2001, following the world tour for the album Californication . According to the band, the creation and writing processes often took place at home, but sometimes the band members also met in the studio's rehearsal room. Kiedis described the time in his autobiography as relaxed and the writing of the songs as relatively easy. The guitarist John Frusciante , who returned to the band in 1998, worked with great motivation on the new album and for this reason, together with singer Anthony Kiedis , played a decisive role in most parts of the album. However, this led Michael Balzary , bassist for the band, to the feeling that he was not needed. For this reason there was a dispute between Frusciante and Balzary, which threatened to burst the recordings for the album. However, the dispute was settled and work continued.

At an early stage of the work, the band chose Rick Rubin as producer. However, he was not satisfied with the harder style of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and suggested going back to the original funk rock. This proposal was accepted by the band and so, inspired by the Beatles and the Beach Boys, a more harmonious style emerged, for which Frusciante was mainly responsible.

The recordings took place between November 2001 and May 2002 in the Cello Studios and the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles .

Musical style

Guitar riff from Can't Stop audio sample ^{? / i}

In contrast to the previous album Californication , in which many accents were still set on the funk rock typical of the band , By the Way is characterized by more melodic alternative rock . With this, the band is moving further and further away from the heavier guitar sound that was heard on One Hot Minute , for example .

The biggest change compared to the previous albums can be heard while playing the guitar. Frusciante himself was mainly responsible for creating the guitar riffs, but he also worked with Balzary in some cases. Compared to the previous albums, the result was a more emotional sound. According to Frusciante, he was inspired by musicians such as Vini Reilly and John McGeoch . The use of different effects and layered guitar parts were also new for the Frusciantes style.

The singing has also changed. Kiedis, who has only abstained from alcohol and drugs since 2000, deals with more serious and thoughtful topics in his texts. The titles This Is the Place and Don't Forget Me are about his drug abuse and what the drugs made of him. The song This Is the Place mentions that he missed the funeral of his fellow musician and friend Hillel Slovak due to his drug use . The title Venice Queen is dedicated to his drug therapist Gloria Scott, who died shortly after Kiedis' successful withdrawal. The songs By the Way , I Could Die for You , Dosed and Warm Tape are about being in love. Kiedis was inspired by his girlfriend at the time.

publication

After the studio recordings were completed, the Warner Music label began to intensively promote the album. The internet was chosen as the medium. The aim was to reduce the number of illegal downloads. On June 21, 2002, the label started an action in which a new song from the album was released as a stream every day for one day. A total of over 150 providers such as MTV , VH1 , iTunes and AOL took part . The latter named By the Way "Album of the Month" and published exclusive live videos, competitions and interviews for free to watch on the occasion. In addition, AOL Music was the first provider to offer the single By the Way in advance for a fee-based download.

The album itself was released on CD and record in German-speaking countries and Great Britain on July 8, 2002, and one day later in the USA.

Artwork

Cover of By the Way
Julian Schnabel , 2002
Link to the picture (please note copyrights )

All photos and illustrations on the album were created by the American painter and photographer Julian Schnabel . Schnabel's daughter Stella, who was in a relationship with John Frusciante at the time, served as a model . According to Frusciante, Schnabel offered his help, whereupon the band sent him the raw material for some songs. He was able to convince the band with his suggestions because, according to the band, he met their taste exactly.

Most of the photos inside the booklet show objects such as plants, stars or unrecognizable objects that appear to be in the dirt. The text of By the Way was handwritten in pink by Anthony Kiedis in the booklet. Among other things, the drawing of a goat's head can be seen.

Reviews

Overall, By the Way received positive to mixed reviews from its critics . Metacritic averaged 70% from a total of 21 professional reviews. This resulted in the rating "Generally favorable" (German: "Basically positive").

Laut.de is enthusiastic about the album and awarded the maximum score of 5 stars. Critic Martin Mengele thinks that all of the 16 songs are likely to be hit and will be remembered for longer. John Frusciantes guitar technique is particularly emphasized by him. On the other hand, he criticizes the fact that some songs are a bit too sappy and the recording technique, which was already heavily criticized at Californication .

The otherwise rather critical Q Magazine sees it similarly and also awards full marks. The sound of the album is called a fantastic recording, the songs of which are full of surprises and wonders.

Daniel Gerhardt from Plattentests.de also praises the album and says that the Red Hot Chili Peppers can still build on their early days. He especially likes the singing and the penchant for melodic sounds. He awards 8 out of 10 points in the final bill.

Zac Johnson awards 4 out of 5 stars at Allmusic and writes that the band has still not lost their basic principles. Johnson describes the music as a bit softer than on the previous albums. He praises the choruses, but he finds the verses a bit boring and predictable.

The BBC rates the album rather neutrally. Critic Daniel Pike says that the band has let its emotional side play and thus appears more adult. On the other hand, some previous elements of the Red Hot Chili Peppers have been lost as a result.

Charts

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

By the way   DE 1 07/22/2002 (52 weeks)   AT 1 07/21/2002 (20 weeks)   CH 1 07/21/2002 (51 weeks)   UK 1 07/20/2002 (82 weeks)   US 2 07/27/2002 (60 weeks)

Singles

By the way   DE 22nd 07/08/2002 (13 weeks)   AT 7th 07/07/2002 (19 weeks)   CH 8th 07/07/2002 (20 weeks)   UK 2 07/13/2002 (10 weeks)   US 34 08/24/2002 (20 weeks) The Zephyr Song   DE 65 04/11/2002 (3 weeks)   CH 100 11/10/2002 (1 week)   UK 11 11/02/2002 (10 weeks)   US 49 11/23/2002 (14 weeks) Can't stop   DE 48 03/03/2003 (13 weeks)   AT 65 03/09/2003 (6 weeks)   CH 39 03/02/2003 (11 weeks)   UK 22nd 02/22/2003 (6 weeks)   US 57 03/15/2003 (20 weeks) Universally speaking   UK 27 06/28/2003 (4 weeks)

Measured by the chart positions, By the Way was the band's most successful album up to that point. Over 286,000 albums were sold in the first week after it was released. In the USA the album reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and also in France the album reached number 2. In the charts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Australia and New Zealand reached the album in each case the top position.

The first single By the Way debuted at number 7 in the UK and stayed in the charts for 10 weeks. In Germany the single reached number 22, in Austria number 7, in Switzerland number 8 and in the USA number 34. This made By the Way the most successful single on the album.

The Zephyr Song , the second single, was not commercially successful with the exception of Great Britain (11th).

The third single Can't Stop was 22nd in the UK and in the UK. The song came in 39th in Switzerland, 65th in Austria, 48th in Germany and 57th in the USA.

Universally Speaking , single number four, only hit the charts in Great Britain at number 27.

In the German annual charts of 2002 the album took 8th place, in Austria it even reached 6th place in the annual hit parade.

Track list

All songs were written by John Frusciante , Michael Balzary , Chad Smith and Anthony Kiedis .

#	title	length
1.	By the way	3:37
2.	Universally speaking	4:16
3.	This is the place	4:17
4th	Dosed	5:11
5.	Don't Forget Me	4:37
6th	The Zephyr Song	3:51
7th	Can't stop	4:29
8th.	I could die for you	3:12
9.	Midnight	4:55
10.	Throw Away Your Television	3:44
11.	Cabron	3:38
12.	Tear	5:17
13.	On Mercury	3:27
14th	Minor thing	3:37
15th	Warm tape	4:16
16.	Venice Queen	6:07

Japanese edition

#	title	length
17th	Time	3:47

iTunes Edition

#	title	length
17th	Runaway	4:30
18th	Bicycle Song	3:23

Awards

• Top 20 best albums between 1986 and 2006 ( Q Magazine )
  • 16th place
• Top 100 Best Guitar Songs (Q Magazine)
  • 30th place (for Can't Stop)
• Ultimate Music Collection (Q Magazine)
• The 100 best albums since fall 1994 ( Rolling Stone )
  • 71st place
• The 500 best albums of all time (Rolling Stone)
  • 304th place

Sales figures and awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	platinum	40,000
Australia (ARIA)	5 × platinum	350,000
Belgium (BEA)	gold	(15,000)
Brazil (PMB)	2 × platinum	250,000
Denmark (IFPI)	platinum	(50,000)
Germany (BVMI)	5 × gold	(750,000)
Europe (IFPI)	3 × platinum	3,000,000
Finland (IFPI)	platinum	(30,000)
France (SNEP)	platinum	(300,000)
Greece (IFPI)	platinum	(30,000)
Hong Kong (IFPI / HKRIA)	platinum	20,000
Japan (RIAJ)	2 × platinum	400,000
Canada (MC)	2 × platinum	200,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	2 × platinum	30,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	platinum	(80,000)
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	(30,000)
Poland (ZPAV)	gold	(35,000)
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	(60,000)
Switzerland (IFPI)	2 × platinum	(80,000)
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	(100,000)
Hungary (MAHASZ)	gold	(10,000)
United States (RIAA)	2 × platinum	2,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	7 × platinum	(2,100,000)
All in all	4 × gold 35 × platinum	6,440,000

Main article: Red Hot Chili Peppers / Music Sales Awards

Involved

The following people were directly involved in the creation of the album:

• Anthony Kiedis : vocals
• John Frusciante : electric guitar, backing vocals
• Flea : electric bass, backing vocals
• Chad Smith : drums
• Rick Rubin : producer
• Jim Scott: mix, sound engineer
• Marc Mann: orchestral arrangement, conductor
• Julian Schnabel : Artwork
• Vladimir Meller: Mastering
• Dave Lee: guitar technician
• Lindsay Chase: Production coordination
• Ryan Hewitt: sound engineer
• Ethan Mates: sound engineer
• Jason Wormer: sound engineer

tour

The Red Hot Chili Peppers at a concert in Stockholm

After the album was released, the subsequent tour threatened to collapse, as there was another dispute between John Frusciante and Flea . Only a long, private conversation was able to resolve the differences and save the tour. The two are said to have meditated together to end the disputes. The promotion tour for the new album could thus begin in time. The band gave their first concert on Ellis Island , where they played eight songs from By the Way in front of a selected audience. The New York Post later referred to this gig as "one of the gig of the year". The venue was chosen because of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , and all proceeds went to aid projects for those affected. After the album was released, the band immediately embarked on a world tour to market the album. The tour started in Europe , but in between the band also performed at music festivals in North America and Asia . The performances in Europe lasted until February 2003, on May 1, 2003 the band played the first concerts in North America. The concerts ended on June 21st, after which the band initially took a little break. On August 23, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played in front of 80,000 spectators in Slane Castle, Ireland . The performance was released on November 18, 2003 as a live DVD Live at Slane Castle . The tour then continued with concerts in Asia and Australia . In June 2004 the Red Hot Chili Peppers were preparing for three concerts in London's Hyde Park . A total of 258,000 tickets were sold for the three concerts, which corresponds to 86,000 spectators per concert. The sold-out concerts took place on June 19th, 20th and 25th and were largely praised by both fans and critics. The three concerts grossed approximately $ 17,000,000, making  it the most successful concert at a venue in terms of gross income. Due to this great success, the band released Live in Hyde Park, the first live album in the band's history. The CD contains recordings of the three concerts and was released on July 26, 2004 in Europe, Australia, Japan and New Zealand . On August 3, 2004 the album was also released in the USA . In the further course of 2004 the tour continued, among other things, the band played at the Congress of the Democratic Party . With a few more concerts (including at Rock am Ring ) the group ended their world tour in summer 2004.

literature

• Anthony Kiedis: Scar Tissue . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-3-462-03483-7 .
• Rob Fitzpatrick: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Give It Away . Buhmann & Haeseler, 2004, ISBN 3-927638-19-6 .

Web links

• By The Way on MusicBrainz
• Information and criticism on allmusic.com (English)
• Criticism on laut.de
• Review on bbc.co.uk (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Martin Mengele: 16 hit rations that will not only last this summer . On: laut.de, accessed on September 11th
2. ↑ Publications of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. On: warnermusic.de. Retrieved September 11, 2011
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Anthony Kiedis: Scar Tissue Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-3-462-03483-7 , p. 454 ff.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Brendan Mullen: The Red Hot Chili Peppers: An Oral / Visual History . It Books, New York 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-135191-4 , p. 210
5. ↑ Information on By the Way on discogs.com (English). Retrieved June 17, 2012
6. ↑ Interview with John Frusciante of Total Guitar Magazine. On: free.fr (English). Retrieved September 28, 2011
7. ↑ Anthony Kiedis: Scar Tissue Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-3-462-03483-7 , p. 433
8. ^ ^{A b} Jeff Apter: Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story. Omnibus Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84449-381-4 , p. 346
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Daniel Pike: Review on bbc.co.uk (English), November 28, 2002. Retrieved September 11, 2011
10. ↑ Julian Schnabel's biography at the Internet Movie Database
11. ↑ ^{a b} booklet of the album
12. ↑ By the Way in nndb (English)
13. ↑ Kerrang! Yearbook 2002, p. 24
14. ↑ ^{a b} Review on metacritic.com (English). Retrieved September 11, 2011
15. ↑ Q Magazine No. 8, 2002, p. 181
16. ^ Daniel Gerhardt: Red Alert . On: plattentests.de. Retrieved September 11, 2011
17. ^ Zac Johnson: Review on allmusic.com (English). Retrieved September 11, 2011
18. ↑ ^{a b c d} Red Hot Chili Peppers in the German charts
19. ↑ ^{a b c d} Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Austrian charts
20. ↑ ^{a b c d} Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Swiss charts
21. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} By the Way in the Official UK Charts (English)
22. ↑ ^{a b c d} Red Hot Chili Peppers in the US charts
23. ↑ Chris Harris: Red Hot Chili Peppers Cruise To First Billboard # 1 Debut. From: mtv.com (English), May 17, 2006. Retrieved September 11, 2011
24. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the French charts
25. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Dutch charts
26. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Swedish charts
27. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Finnish charts
28. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Norwegian charts
29. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Danish charts
30. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Italian charts
31. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Australian charts
32. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers in the New Zealand charts
33. ^ Austrian annual hit parade 2002. On: austriancharts.at. Retrieved September 11, 2011
34. ^ Title list from By the Way. On: mtv.com (English). Retrieved September 20, 2011
35. ↑ ^{a b} Lists of Q Magazine. On: rocklistmusic.co.uk (English). Retrieved September 12, 2011
36. ↑ Q Magazine's Ultimate Music Collection. On: rocklistmusic.co.uk (English). Retrieved September 12, 2011
37. ↑ The 100 best albums since autumn 1994. On: poplist.de. Accessed September 12th
38. ↑ The 500 best albums of all time. On: poplist.de. Retrieved September 12, 2011
39. ↑ Credits from By the Way. On: allmusic.com (English). Retrieved September 27, 2011
40. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mullen 2010. p. 210
41. ↑ Q Magazine, 5/2006, p. 85
42. ↑ ^{a b c} Jeff Apter: Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story. Omnibus Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84449-381-4 , p. 347
43. ↑ Red Hot Chili Peppers plot first US dates behind By the Way. ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: modernrock.com/ (English)  
44. ↑ ^{a b} Live at Slane Castle. At: ultimate-guitar.com (English). Retrieved September 20, 2011
45. ↑ ^{a b} Live at Slane Castle. ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: play.com (English). Retrieved September 20, 2011  
46. ↑ Live at Slane Castle. On: allmusic.com (English). Retrieved September 20, 2011
47. ↑ ^{a b c} Red Hot Chili Peppers set world record at london Hyde Park. ( Memento of July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) On RHCPNews.com (English), July 14, 2004. Retrieved September 20, 2011
48. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Schuh: Only hell is hotter! On: laut.de. Retrieved September 20, 2011
49. ↑ ^{a b} Live in Hyde Park. ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: allmusic.com (English). Retrieved September 20, 2011  
50. ↑ Discography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. On: billboard.com (English). Retrieved September 20, 2011
51. ↑ Chili Peppers spice up convention. ( Memento of July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) On: RHCPNews.com (English), July 30, 2004. Retrieved September 20, 2011
52. ↑ Rock am Ring 2004. On: ringrocker.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011