Unitron
For the longest time I wasn't even familiar with much of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' pre-alt rock stardom days apart from a few songs. The ballad of Under the Bridge from the band's classic Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik album catapulted the band into the mainstream and perhaps that drove them further and further away from their super funky origins with each passing album.
I love Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik, but lately I'd say I prefer most of the band's first four albums. In the 80's, it seems as if each of their albums were pretty different from each other, and their self-titled debut is the strangest of them all. I'd describe it as a funk rock/post-punk hybrid, with the occasional metal riff or unexpected atmospheric rock excursion. They probably were coming from a post-punk background, similar to Faith No More's beginnings. Many post-punk and new wave bands were no strangers to funk, these bands just took it to new levels.
The songwriting isn't quite at its peak like with the next four albums, but there's definitely some of the band's strongest songs within. True Men Don't Kill Coyotes, Buckle Down, Get Up and Jump, the heavy proto-funk metal Green Heaven, and the brisk punky Police Helicopter are my favorites. True Men Don't Kill Coyotes is the closest to post-punk/new wave and would not sound out of place on an early Talking Heads album. Grand Pappy Du Plenty is an atmospheric post-rock finale, and I think it surprisingly fits in as a closer to the raw yet surreal atmosphere that the album creates.
While the pure funk rock of Freaky Styley and glam funk metal Mother's Milk are my favorites from the Chili Peppers, the band's debut is an excellent and interesting start.