These early Red Hot Chili Peppers photos will warm your heart

26 February 2023, 12:00

Flea, Chad Smith, Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 1989 MTV Awards. Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images

We celebrate the California punk rockers by looking back at their early beginnings with these throwback photos.

36 years since Red Hot Chili Peppers released their first ever studio album The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The eponymous debut - which was released on 10 August 1984 - featured the likes of Get Up and Jump, True Men Don't Kill Coyotes, Police Helicopter and a cover of Hank Williams' Why Don't You Love Me.

However, there's much more to RHCP's album and their early days than you might think. Find out more about them with the help of these nostalgic photos.

Flea, Hillel Slovak, Anthony Kiedis and Jack Irons in 1987

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Hillel Slovak, Anthony Kiedis and Jack Irons pose in 1987. Picture: Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/GettyImages

Neither Hillel Slovak or Jack Irons featured on the album. Guitarist Jack Sherman stood in for Slovak and Cliff Martinez replaced Irons on the drums.
Hillel rejoined the band in 1985 and Jack Irons returned in 1986 after Cliff Martinez resigned.
A baby-faced Flea and Kiedis stare into the camera in 1986

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea and Anthony Kiedis in 1986. Picture: Lisa Haun/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Flea and Anthony Kiedis are in fact the band's only original or current members to feature on the first album.
RHCP with alternate drummer Cliff Martinez

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Feal, Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak and Cliff Martinez. Picture: Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Cliff Martinez played with the Chili Peppers off and from 1983-1986. He featured on The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984), Freaky Stylee (1985) and The Abbey Road E.P. (1988).
He also has songwriting credits on the band's 1987 album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
Flea proves his life-long love of the LA Lakers in 1986

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Picture: Lisa Haun/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Flea has had a life-long obsession with the LA Lakers and has performed at their of games. Here he is with a positively cherubic appearance posing with a Lakers shirt back in '86.
The original Red Hot Chili Peppers line-up in 1986

Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Ritz in New York, December 12, 198. Picture: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

The band didn't actually release their first two albums The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Freaky Stylee in the UK, so when they came to tour this side of the pond in 1988, they released a taste of their previous music in The Abbey Road E.P.
The only new song on this was a cover of Jimi Hendrix's Fire.
Kiedis and Slovak pose during a soundcheck in 1986

Anthony Kiedis and original Chilis guitarist Hillel Slovak pictured during a soundcheck before a sold-out performance at the Ritz, New York, New York, December 12, 1986. Picture: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

Hillel Slovak's tenure in the band sadly wasn't to last, as he tragically died due to a heroin overdose on 25 June 1988.
Hugely affected by the shock of his death, Jack Irons then left the band soon after.
He was replaced by D. H Peligro, who was then replaced by long-standing classic drummer Chad Smith.