It's really hard for me to pick a "best" RHCP album. Should I go with the more hard-rock oriented Californication, or maybe the more calm and full of ballads By The Way, maybe I should go for the all around Stadium Arcadium, or maybe I should stick with the good ol days with Blood Sugar Sex Magik. I probably wouldn't pick any of the other albums, but truth is, every album is unique, it's immersed in it's own style. But there's a reason why By the Way is the only music album I actually own in physical format. It has some kind of magic to it, I can understand when people complain that's too calm for RHCP, and to a degree I can agree. Though, there's always Throw Away Your Television to give the album it's funky feeling.
There's a lot of softer bands that I enjoy like Coldplay, U2, Snow Patrol... And BTW incorporates a lot of this in the album, being a much more calm experience, but at the same time it's still very RHCPish and I love that mix. There's lots of great songs here to be discovered, not just the titular By The Way. You have Dosed, This is the Place, Throw Away Your Television, Venice Queen, Warm Tape, Cabron, The Zephyr Song... It's just a great album all around, and I'm proud to actually own it!