This song is mainly about the dark side of Hollywood that lies underneath the glossy surface. The band might love the city of Los Angeles, but they saw firsthand the effects the Hollywood lifestyle has on its inhabitants and the rest of the world.

The song, particularly John Frusciante’s guitar work, sounds different from the rest of the album. That is because the band originally planned to scrap the song because they couldn’t find the music to match Kiedis' lyrics, but Anthony encouraged Frusciante to get creative because he knew they could be dealing with a great song. From his autobiography Scar Tissue:

“I showed "Californication” to John, and he loved the lyrics and started writing some music. But for some reason, even though there was a perfect song in there, we couldn’t find it. We tried ten different arrangements and ten different choruses, and nothing ever worked. All these other songs were pouring out of us. We’d been working for a few weeks when someone started playing an ultra-sparse riff that sounded like nothing we’d ever done before. As soon as I heard it, I knew it was our new song."

The music video features the band as characters in a fake video game, exploring California and often seeing the bad things going on behind the scenes.

This song was one of their biggest hits, peaking at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Modern and Mainstream Rock charts, and, according to Flea, “Californication is the best record the Chili Peppers have ever made.”

Supporting Kiedis' statements on his autobiography Scar Tissue, an “alternate version” of Californication leaked onto the internet, an early demo from the Californication sessions.