Red Hot Chili Peppers Go Full ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ on New Song ‘Poster Child’

The Red Hot Chili Peppers go full “We Didn’t Start the Fire” on their new song, “Poster Child,” from their upcoming album, Unlimited Love, out April 1 via Warner Records.

The track boasts some classic Chili Peppers instrumentals, with returning guitarist John Frusciante’s funk riffs flitting over Flea and Chad Smith’s effortlessly groovy backbone. With his always dexterous vocals, Anthony Kiedis takes a psych-tinged jaunt through the history of pop music and culture in a way that’s very reminiscent of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” or R.E.M.’s “It’s The End of the World as We Know It” (“The Seventies were such a win, singing the Led Zeppelin/Lizzy lookin’ mighty thin, the Thompson’s had another twin,” is just a taste).

The Red Hot Chili Peppers also released an eye-popping animated music video for “Poster Child,” although for now, it’s only available to watch on the band’s Facebook page. The clip was directed by Julien Calemard and Thami Nabil. 

“Poster Child” marks the second offering from Unlimited Love, following “Black Summer.” Unlimited Love will be the Chili Peppers’ 12th studio album, following 2016’s The Getaway, though it’s notably their first with Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium. The band also reunited with producer Rick Rubin, with whom they last worked in 2011.