Did the Red Hot Chili Peppers lose there energy?

The new stuff just seems so flat

Yep. They matured, got older. But I wouldn't say their new stuff is flat. I think their new stuff is great. In fact, Stadium Arcadium—what a stupid name!—has 28 songs, and I think all of them are great.

the only song i cared for was the Stevie Wonder cover of Higher Ground. all of the rest sounds flat to me.

They've definately mellowed out, but I really dig their current sound. It works really well.

It is ok. The stuff with Hillel Slovak had tons of energy. Even the material with John Frusciante was high energy also. Seems like once John got off all the drugs and he rejoined the band, they went really mellow, even more poppier than the earlier stuff

I have to wonder how much of their "current mellower" sound has to do with the HUGE success of the song "Under The Bridge"...up until radio and MTV glommed onto that tune...they were a force to be reckoned with..nealy every single released snce then has been mid-tempo to say the least

(same thing happened to GOO GOO DOLLS....lots of folks don't know they ever did anything other tan ballads)

Shiney wrote:

I have to wonder how much of their "current mellower" sound has to do with the HUGE success of the song "Under The Bridge"...up until radio and MTV glommed onto that tune...they were a force to be reckoned with..nealy every single released snce then has been mid-tempo to say the least

(same thing happened to GOO GOO DOLLS....lots of folks don't know they ever did anything other tan ballads)

Sugar Ray is the classic example of this. The first two albums are excellent, especially Lemonade & Brownies. THe follow-up had "Fly." HUGE hit! The next three albums were acoustic. Pffft.

As for RHCP, they've always had mellow stuff on their albums.

Yeah. Their early stuff was all over the place. Their new stuff is kinda boring.

They losit after Blood Sugar Sex Magik, technical riffs were gone and the sound became pretty bland. The new album is the best they've had since.