Chad Smith, Flea, and Frusciante are all outstanding musicians, so whether someone thinks the RHCP are good often depends on their opinion of Kiedis, the archetypal Hollywood ‘lost boy’ who was palling around with his failed-actor, drug-dealer father from age 12. The sort of sad, poignant character Kiedis represents and the weirdness of the milieu he developed out of in LA is less recognizable culturally now, and his persona is interpreted, maybe because of social media, as a specific sort or performance or affectation that misplaces its origin. However, if LA from the 80s or 90s is a place you have a passing acquaintance with or just occupied space in your imagination the music can be evocative of what at the time was the seat of our cultural imagination but also a place with a lot of sadness, depravity, and desperation. I’d also add Kiedis’ persona was less off putting then because culturally there wasn’t an implicit cultural demand for affirmation and people misshapen by the sorts of contingencies Kiedis was made less of an imposition and as a result were much more sympathetic.