BSSM is my favorite album by them, but a lot of the reason for that is because it was the first one I heard and it was pretty much the soundtrack to my high school career.

So I'd say nostalgia plays a part.

Well I guess it depends on where you started. Of course it was the first RHCP album I've heard which I guess makes it the sentimental favorite.

I still don't know how any RHCP fan could think it is bad. I hate that whenever a band is finally able to get good production for their records, purists freak out.

LOL. My opinion of it has nothing to do with the production or being a purist and it's not like it was their first album with good production anyway. It's as simple as this: I loved their first four albums and thought all the fun and punkiness that I loved the Chili Peppers for were basically absent from BSSM. I can clearly remember the first time I listened to that album, when it very first came out, and how disappointed I was by it. I really wanted to like it but I didn't.

'mother's milk' had equivalent production.

in retrospect BSSM is the point where they started changing into a commercial band. 2 of the 3 ballads became singles, the punk/funk that defined their early style was either dulled or dialed in. at the time i loved it, i wore out the cassette then i wore out the cd, but today i have a hard time listening to more than about a half dozen of the tracks on that disc. i still highly recommend it to new listeners, especially those only familiar with their later work. overall though, it's very middle of the pack.

Whatever, Mother's Milk is up there for sure, but I'm not as big on the pre-Froosh stuff.

BSSM is the point where they started doing more mainstream stuff, like ballads, but that might be one of the things I love about it because it's the best of both their trademark styles.

I will agree with this too. I didn't then and don't know rate it all that much. It has a few good songs but for once Rick Rubin's production blunted an edge of a band instead of sharpening it.

i see where your coming from but that also seems to be the divide between most of the people who were familiar with the band before 'under the bridge' see it differently.

personally i did like the growth at the time. in retrospect though i don't think much of BSSM has aged well. they got caught up in the whole new CD thing back in 91 and packed it with a bunch of filler to ultra stuff all 72 possible minutes on the disc. breaking the girl / i could have lied / naked in the rain / the greeting song / they're red hot - could all have been omitted.

righteous and the wicked is still two tons of awesome though :bowdown:

The ballads are definitely one of the things I dislike about that album. Also the fact that they overall moved in a direction that sounded almost classic rock-ish to me.

i actually enjoyed Breaking the Girl, but Under the Bridge is overrated imo. and I Could Have Lied? ****ing sucks

i agree with They're Red Hot and I Could have Lied, but the others are some of my favorites on there

yeah i like the greeting song and naked in the rain too. so long as i'm playing guitar along to the tracks and not paying any attention at all to the verbal diarrhea over top of the groove. they would have made for great b-sides. instead of 4 versions of give it away and a stooges cover.