Hyper Funk Beats Anti-War

The Red Hot Chili Pepper's new CD, "Stadium Arcadium" opened at number one on the charts, far outpacing Neil Young's "Living With War."

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Funk-rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers topped the U.S. charts for the first time in its 22-year history on Wednesday, while Neil Young's tirade against President Bush failed to do much for his sales.

The veteran Canadian rocker's "Living With War" opened at No. 15 with sales of 60,000 units in the week ended May 14, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. His last album, "Prairie Wind," started at No. 11 last September with 72,000 copies sold its first week.

The Chili Peppers' two-disc set, "Stadium Arcadium," opened with sales of 442,500 copies, a record for the Los Angeles-based quartet.

Its previous best was 282,000 for its last studio release, "By The Way," which opened at No. 2 in 2002. The band's biggest commercial success was the 1999 album "Californication," with sales of 5.3 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

So even Bush hatred couldn't bring people to buy many copies of Neil's new album (which is musically excellent). I guess everyone's waiting for the Moby anti-war album...or not.

My review on Stadium Arcadium will be coming soon. My better half bought it the first day it was out. To foreshadow, let's say it's real good and Californicationesque.