The popular — yet polarizing — Red Hot Chili Peppers plays Seattle on Friday — seattletimes.com

Few rock bands are as popular or as polarizing as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who stop by KeyArena on Friday, March 17. On one hand: six Grammys, tens of millions of records sold, a Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2012 and countless 14-year-olds asking their guitar teachers to show them the intro to “Under The Bridge.” On the other: the fact that, to a certain kind of listener, the Chili Peppers is something of a punchline. The band isn’t self-evidently awful — that’s Nickelback, a group whose wretchedness is on par with “bacon is good” in terms of basic internet opinions — but its tuneful funk/alternative-rock pastiche has always been puzzling in its mass appeal.

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