There aren’t too many artists who would be willing to change their sound on their eighth album. Even more to the point, there aren’t many who would risk such a change knowing it could provoke not just a strong audience reaction, but intense internal conflict within the group itself. And yet, two decades on, By The Way still stands tall as one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ – and modern rock’s – most acclaimed records to date. The year was 2001, and fresh off the back of the epic 16-month long Californication world tour and high on confidence off of their most successful album to date, the Los Angeles-based four-piece – Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and John Frusciante – headed to Chateau Marmont, where they set up on the quiet seventh floor to begin penning ideas for what ...