Stadium Arcadium (studio album)
by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Shortlisted for album of the year at the 2007 Grammys. The winner was Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks

Some really good songs on here, but also the precise moment when the Chili Peppers lost the capacity to edit themselves. Not only does Stadium Arcadium fall into the classic double album trap of having way too many filler songs, but the songs themselves are often too long. Dani California starts great, but overstays its welcome, especially after years of radio saturation. Snow (Hey Oh) is another great song that would have been even better if they'd lopped off the last minute. And I've always hated the title track, which is really just a watered down Californication Part II, and goes on FOREVER.

From VictorVale 01/07/2023 11:24

Guitarra inspiradíssima, mas meio cansativo!

From thirstyDog 08/27/2022 19:48

I can't imagine listening to a rhcp album for a full hour, let alone two. But still, these tracks are remarkably consistent. The sheer number of good tracks outweigh the handful of duds.
I just can't believe this band made a two hour long album. Wth.

Usually I can't stand to listen to a whole album by these guys. I dig their singles, but even they can get bloated by about two minutes each, and many of their other songs have that same problem to me. So a double album by them stretching 28 tracks sounded extremely daunting, but this is by far my favorite of their stuff. Is it bloated? Sure, but when each track offers a completely unique flavor to the last with surprisingly little in the way of "filler tracks" (especially when compared to, say, everything past track 6 on Californication), it deserves to be long.

It can be very poppy so I'm giving it time to settle before I give it anything higher than an 80, but that's not a bad thing -- the coolest thing about this one is it showcases aspects of the band from several points in their career. They may be at their poppiest on some cuts, but they're also at their funkiest in several albums on others, and they handle (and sometimes mix) both approaches extremely well.

This is their best album if it is around 12 tracks long or cut down to an hour long run time. There are so many fantastic songs on here that are probably my favourite RHCP songs ever made. The performances are outstanding on these tracks, especially the guitar which is just phenomenal. It is the best they have ever sounded on a guitar on any of their albums. The vocal is very strong and add the brilliant drumming and you get around 12 top quality cuts. However, you then have all the filler tracks which are so unnecessary and repetitive and by the 2 hour mark I am desperate for it to end. Unfortunately, they do not have the quality to keep us entertained for such a long period of time and this album really suffers for it. Overall, these are some of my all time favourite RHCP songs but they are let down by the bloated nature of the album and lack of consistency.

I normally don't like double albums as they are hard to listen to in one go, but this one has so many brilliant tracks on it so the time flies by. My favourites are Desecration Smile, Hey, Animal Bar and Charlie (Dani California and Snow are also excellent but they were overplayed during my childhood so I don't have the same affection towards them). Not many weak tracks which is very impressive given just how many there are, but the two weakest I'd say are Strip My Mind and Death of A Martian.

Probably my favorite 'Chilli Peppers' record but not a particularly consistant one. Way too many average or weak tracks and it's just impossible to listen to in one sitting, zero reason for this being a 2 hour long album. That being said, I still really like this one and has ton of reply value, just wished they cut it in half and took the 14 best songs on the album and released the rest on some compilation.

Best song(s): "Dani California" "Snow" "She's Only 18" "Slow Cheetah" "Strip My Mind" "Desecration Smile"

This is an underrated Peppers album. I can see why because it came out late in their career, and it's a double album - people never really know how to digest those. But to me this is their best album. There are no filler tracks, I don't care what anyone says, and this is some of Frusciante's most experimental guitar work. I think they can ride the funk thing too much at times, but this is the exact opposite of that. Grade A songwriting, with one of the best modern drummers, bassists, and guitarists all in one band. Listen to this album!

From Boltzmann 01/09/2020 09:13

As someone who isn't scared of a bit pop, I can enjoy this album just fine. Do I think this album changed something on the musical spectrum? No. I think this is already way better than you can expect from a band that has been going on for literal decades.