gotta step into the Bungle / RHCP thing here for some quick clarification.
the initial beef stemmed from the similarities between Keidis and Patton's
physical styles in their videos. compare Higher Ground and Epic. long hair, no shirt, monkey dancing.
HG (embedding disabled) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZat5TbRO3A
and now FNM's Epic -
YouTube - Faith No More - Epic Music Video
there are obvious similarities. apparently the initial tiff that came about because of these videos were eventually smoothed out. then there are rumours about issues between a woman and the guys and... yeah not touching that.
then there's also the fact that Patton and the guys from Bungle considered the Chili Peppers to be compatriots of sorts in a new musical mission to spastically freak the funk out of the mainstream. again obvious similarities between the groups initial offerings. Patton and Bungle definitely soured on the Peppers as they garnered more mainstream attention, not so much because they weren't getting any but likely because they remembered a track called 'Nevermind'.
YouTube - Red Hot Chili Peppers- Nevermind
as for the California / Californication thing apparently Bungle had been planning on using the latter term for their 3rd album as well, but where Warner Brothers was hoping (and received) a commercial return to BSSM popularity they sided with the Peppers in the dispute for the album name.
at this point in the game Patton wasn't exactly shy about speaking his mind about a band he used to see as peers who were now acting like prima donnas. the european festival dates proved his point, but to claim that Bungle went the way of the dodo because of the Chili Peppers completely ignores the fact that Mike Patton and Trey Spruance had emerged as two very dominating personalities within the course of the group and apparently could barely stand working together during the production of California.
also the Bungle spoofs of the Peppers are one of the only things Patton has participated in that honestly disappointed me. what was the point of sinking to that level? from everything i've read they never had a problem with the Hillel Slovak era of the band so why trivialize him?