Songfacts®:

• RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer explained in a video interview with Los Angeles radio station KROQ that the creation of the song started with Flea's bass line: "[We were] crouched on our knees in Flea's basement. He started [mouths bass riff] and I just started doing those wacky medley chords. We were taking hikes up Los Feliz by Griffith Park, talking about how excited we would be if we saw a band start [mouths same bass riff] and just break out into the biggest disco party you could imagine. And we did."
• This was originally written and recorded under the working title, "Disco Sabbath."
• The Chili Peppers have turned down most approaches for their songs to be used in commercials. However they agreed to the appearance of "Monarchy of Roses" in a 2011 Japanese car ad for the Nissan Elgrand.
• The (mostly) black-and-white video was directed by Marc Klasfeld, who was also responsible for the visual for "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie." It was inspired by the artwork of Raymond Pettibon, who is name checked in the lyrics ("The calicos of Pettibon where cultures come to clash."). The LA artist has contributed album art for bands like Black Flag, Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth and is the brother of Black Flag guitarist, Greg Ginn. Initially, Pettibon was a bass player in his brother's group when it was known by the name Panic.