Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat.
There is no other band that sounds like the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Their fusion of alternative rock, funk, punk rock and psychedelic rock is entirely unique.
But there are bands that are similar in some way, be it sound, style, or something else.
We have compiled the best of the bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers below.
Keep reading for some great music to keep you going while you wait for a new RHCP album.
Table of Contents
Bands That Sound Like Red Hot Chili Peppers
Foo Fighters
This is probably the most obvious choice.
When Nirvana ended, the drummer Dave Grohl released a whole record that he made by himself. He had kept it away from Nirvana, thinking the songs didn’t fit the band’s style.
After a huge success, the Foo Fighters were born. The name, so popular in pop culture, comes from a mispronunciation of the French word “feu”, which means fire.
Together with ‘fighters’, it then means “firefighters.” But it does not reference the men and women who rescue people from burning buildings.
The term was used in WWII by pilots to refer to unidentified flying objects. Dave Grohl thought it would stick in the minds of those who would heard it for being unusual and eye-catching.
Due to Dave’s variety of influences and experiences, the band has a specific style that in many ways resembles that of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine is arguably the most daring and direct band in history, when it comes to politics or talking about social injustices in the world.
Obviously that is no secret, but it is something that we must highlight. Few groups have seen as much success on the same scale doing this. There really are no bands like Rage Against The Machine, when it comes to raging against the machine.
In fact, their songbook is a rich pamphlet of protest, lyrically aggressive and scathing, that has elevated them as one of the most emblematic groups of the 90s.
The combo, whose members were musically educated in different hardcore punk bands, eventually got together to begin to give shape to this style that over the years would be called rap-metal.
They were also identified as funk-rock, like the RHCP. Ultimately, whatever genre it was, they had an important spirit of rebellion in their DNA.
Audioslave
Audioslave was one of the most outstanding bands of the new century. It was formed by Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford, former members of Rage Against the Machine, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden.
The band had a short, but very outstanding, career full of good stories and a lot of energy. However, after the release of three quite successful studio albums, they suddenly disbanded.
Shortly before the band’s separation, on January 22, 2007, the official announcement of Rage Against the Machine’s return for that year’s Coachella Festival had been made.
A month later, Chris Cornell made public his separation from the band through an interview on MTV. Those three albums have many songs that resemble Red Hot Chili Peppers’ songs and it’s a shame they can never play together again, due to Cornell’s tragic death.
Soundgarden
Through its successful career, the American rock band has generated a large fan base with its 6 studio albums and with the alternative projects that some of its members have (or had). Many of these sound quite a bit like the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well.
Soundgarden had not originality but style. Superior technical capacity allowed them to build bridges where they did not exist, triangulating between bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, always with uniqueness.
They created music in the fine art of molding the densest possible riffs with melody, groove, and non-judgments. And Chris Cornell, sadly not among the living anymore, was incredibly honest in his lyrics, where pessimism and existential anguish were indispensable pieces.
Pearl Jam
A clear example that we were fully immersed in the ‘grunge’ era in the early ’90s is how Pearl Jam celebrated the massive success of “Ten”.
They did not react by going on a legendary spree as Motley Crüe would have done, or bursting the real estate market as Gene Simmons would.
Instead, they were furious to discover firsthand the ravenous jaws of the recording industry at its highest levels. As a result, the spirituality of their debut gave way to aggressiveness, which explains the result of a second album as compelling as Vs.
Fundamental were the addition of the now too-forgotten Dave Abbruzzese to the drum (the best drummer the group had until the arrival of Cameron), and Brendan O’Brien to the production.
Hits like Go, the immense Animal, or the aggressive Blood benefit from this, while the group expands their sound with the funky airs of the splendid Glorified G and Rats and the percussive WMA.
Jane’s Addiction
During the 90s, an excellent band such as Jane’s Addiction stood out. They made a formidable contribution to music in a very short period of time
It was a gypsy band, that suffered three separations, due to personalities and ego conflicts between its members. Jane’s Addiction arose at a time when you had to wear a very particular outfit to ensure success, but they became big without following the trend.
Jane’s Addiction was formed in 1985 by New York creative Perry Farrell on vocals, a gifted guitarist in Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins on drums, and Eric Avery in charge of bass.
Avery, a low-key musician with lots of talent, provided excellent musical foundations with the 5 strings of his bass.
After the first breakup of the band and subsequent reunion, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers replaced Avery, bringing the RHCP style to the band. He then gave way to Martyn LeNoble. Chris Chaney has been the regular bassist of the now-Californian group since 2002.
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American group formed by John Anthony Gillis (stage name Jack White) and his one-time wife Meg White. It is a garage rock band that claimed the garage culture of the 60s, along with influences from other genres such as punk, blues, and folk-rock.
Jack White and Meg White, a sentimental couple, decided to create the group in 1997 after Jack had been playing in groups like The Dirtbombs or Goober & The Peas.
They debuted their first album in 1999. It was produced by Jack White and designer Jim Diamond, defining the musical and stylistic foundations of the project.
With the colors white and red as their insignia, their second album referred to one of the stylistic pillars of the project, the architectural movement De Stijl (2000).
The single Seven Nation Army won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song and is one of the most popular songs ever in the genre. It has already achieved a historical level.
The Offspring
The Offspring are within the Punk Rock genre, although they have also been cataloged within other styles such as Alternative Rock, Skate Punk, or Pop Punk among others.
Only two of its members remain from the original line-up: Dexter Holland (singer) and Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman (lead guitar). Todd Morse is their current bassist, who joined the band in 2019, and Pete Parada is their current drummer since 2007.
Like many other bands, their beginnings were very hard, since they did not have the backing of any record company, and they had to put the money out of their pockets to create the first songs.
Over time, they got the necessary support to carry out their albums and managed to lead the rebirth of a new wave of punk along with other bands such as Bad Religion, Green Day, Blink-182, Rancid, or NOFX, among others.
Although many have called The Offspring commercial, there is no doubt that they have made great records and great songs. Fast beats, simple lyrics, and catchy choruses have seen the band rise to stardom.
Alice In Chains
You can search the entire canon of recorded music, and you will never find a band that can do what these Seattle legends can.
The album Dirt defied all categorization. It wasn’t “grunge” per se. It wasn’t alternative either. It wasn’t even metal.
Instead, it was a heartbreaking, throaty record and a grim journey worth taking over and over again. Books could be filled with discussions of the nuances of the album.
Facelift kicked everything out, certainly, but it was with Dirt that Alice In Chains became perfect and absolutely essential for any true music fan.
Look no further than Jar of Flies or even the first acoustic EP Sap. The much underrated eponymous swan song with Staley also brims with the same kind of contagious energy.
Staley remains an icon, and there is no doubt that he would be proud of the band’s return with Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009, now with vocalist William DuVall.
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins is the band that was arguably influenced the least by old-school rock music and is one of the greatest alt-rock bands in the 90s.
Led by guitarist and songwriter Billy Corgan, they created a grounded and powerful sound from their turbulent and distorted guitars.
When the group truly achieved massive success in 1993 with Siamese Dream, they set out to legitimize heavy metal and orchestrated progressive rock.
This helped bring alternative rock even closer to the album oriented rock of the 70s, particularly in the eyes of radio broadcasters and mainstream audiences.
Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Pumpkins were able to overcome many internal problems and continue to sell their records, becoming the longest-running and most successful alternative rock band of the early 90s.
After a few years of lethargy, the band met again in 2018 to release a new album and make a subsequent tour.
Bands Like Red Hot Chili Peppers: Final Thoughts
As mentioned, there really are no bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I’m sure you noticed that none of the above bands would ever be mistaken for them.
But all of these bands do have something in common with RHCP. And for the most part, fans of RHCP tend to also be fans of most, if not all, of the groups listed above.
And if you want more content about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, we have an article breaking down the Scar Tissue lyrics meaning.
As always, please let us know in the comments below if you feel we overlooked bands that should be listed here, or if you disagree strongly with one of our choices.
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