Top Five Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs Pre-"Under the Bridge"

By MATTHEW SINGER

“True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes,” Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984)
Less funk-punk than tribal new-wave, the lone highlight of the Chili Peppers’ first outing finds Anthony Kiedis embodying the collective spirit of the “kay-yotes” displaced from the Hollywood Hills, gnashing his vocals in a way he hasn’t done since.
“Hollywood (Africa),”
Freaky Styley
(1985)
On their second album, produced by George Clinton, the Chili Peppers don’t just deliver a respectable cover of the Meters’ slow-cooker “Africa” but practically take ownership of it.
“Behind the Sun,”
Uplift Mofo Party Plan
(1987)
An appropriately sun-splashed, psychedelic love note to the environment, the song is the first indication the band was conscious of the world beyond their sock-covered phalluses.
“Taste the Pain,”
Mother’s Milk
(1989)
This swirling mass of psyche-funk guitars and arena-size drums, from the album now seen as the bridge toward the maturer pastures of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, is the biggest tipoff the group was finally ready for prime time.
“Show Me Your Soul,”
Pretty Woman Soundtrack
(1990)
Over jazzy cocktail piano and Flea’s staccato pop-locking bassline, Kiedis spits some good game (possibly at Julia Roberts?), claiming to be a “sentimental gentleman” who wants “to know more than your brain.” He still sounds like a total skeezer, but at least he’s not just waving his junk around like he used to.

SEE IT: Red Hot Chili Peppers play the Rose Garden Arena, 1 N Center Court St., on Wednesday, Nov. 14. 7:30 pm. $39.50-$55.50. All ages.

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