Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way / Californication

This group has come a long way since 1983. The first time RHCP came into my view was when they had a short clip in the 1986 film Thrashin'. Catching even the shortest glimpse of them was certainly an attention grabber. A year later a friend of my parents had come to visit and discovered that I was into heavy music. He gave me cassettes of Black Flag First Four Years, Beastie Boys Polly Wog Stew and the self titled RHCP (no cassette sleeve). This was an absolute breakthrough in my musical life. Having read about these bands in Thrasher Magazine, seen glimpses of them through all of the articles and various t-shirts seen within, now I was holding the physical artifacts. Those cassettes are still in my personal collection. Like some weird shrine to the day the music of my future had arrived. RHCP are now swarming the radio waves with hit song after hit song. Most of those can be found on these two records. It may not be the mosh pit madness of "Blackeyed Blonde" first heard in Thrashin' but these songs truly are some of the greatest songs on the radio today. 

How long, how long will I slide?