Red Hot Chili Peppers - "What Hits!?" UPDATE V.2 1/19/01
Written: Oct 25 '99 (Updated Apr 05 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: Wide variety from early punk/funk/rock pioneers, early material.
Cons: Too much early material, slightly dated by Y2K standards.
The Bottom Line: By today's standards for the Peppers, this compilation will be sorely lacking. What Hits!? focus' mostly on the bands early career. For the casual fan, it may not satisfy.
Mr_D's Full Review: What Hits!? by Red Hot Chili Peppers
1992's so called "What Hits!?" greatest hits collection from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, remained, at least up until the recent release and success of Californication, the only Peppers compilation you would need. Notice I said only Compilation, because this collection tries to get all of the best Peppers stuff, but misses just a bit.
The disc appears to be a tribute to the band's earlier work, as the only song off of "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", arguable their best release. And that one song is the ultra-mainstream "Under the Bridge".
I have a sneaking suspicion that the Hits compilation was in development long before their success with "Under the Bridge", and they added the track and released the compilation in an attempt to expose newer listeners to the older more punk influences material.
While nowadays, the Peppers basically write rock ballads, they come from a huge punk funk base, and were really one of the pioneers of the sound.
Here's the listing:
1. Higher Ground (Cover) 2. Fight Like a Brave 3. Behind the Sun 4. Me & My Friends 5. Backwoods 6. True Men Don't Kill Coyotes 7. Fire (Cover) 8. Get up and Jump 9. Knock Me Down 10. Under the Bridge 11. Show me your Soul 12. If you Want me to Stay 13. Hollywood 14. Jungle Man 15. The Brothers Cup 16. Taste the Pain 17. Catholic School Girls Rule 18. Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky
The disc starts with "Higher Ground", the Stevie Wonder cover tune, done in only the way the Peppers can do. Funk rock power. It's a great cover actually, it's true enough to the original but with its own great spin. This is the tune that broke the band to the MTV Kids.
"Fight Like a Brave" shows a theme in Native American based songs, and also is one of their better punk based tunes. "Behind the Sun" is a slower ballad, and in general only a fair song.
"Me & My Friends" is interesting, but no matter how much I try, when I hear it, the chorus sounds like "Peeing my Pants". Therefore, that's all I can think about when I hear it. Otherwisse it's a fair song, just a little repetitive.
"Backwoods" is one of the best tunes on this compilation, and one of the best Peppers songs. It has a great mix of funk, rock, and some pretty good lyrics.
"True Men Don't Kill Coyotes" is interesting, because I can't really figure out what the title has to do with the song. Sure, that's the chorus, but none of the other lyrics seem to fall in line with it. It's got a great bass intro, and is otherwise a good song.
"Fire", a cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic, is fairly standard punk. A faster version of the song, with faster lyrics, and faster everything. Not as good as Jimi's, but not bad.
"Get up and Jump" almost has a very 80's pop sound to it, if it wasn't for the funky bass, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Peppers here and A-Ha!. A fairly bland offering.
"Knock me Down" is another of the Peppers better tunes, and I have to admit, I heard it on the radio a million times before I knew it was the Peppers, it sounds very different from what we are used to now. But it is very catchy and a good song.
Ah, "Under the Bridge", the most overplayed and misunderstood Peppers song. I'd be lying if I said I never sang along to it, but I don't worship it like some do. It's a good Peppers tune, but not their best.
"Show Me Your Soul" has a distinctive Peppers sound, little funk, little rock, little piano tossed in for added strangeness, and the chorus like vocals, and lyrucs: "I wanna know more than your brain", its actually a very good song, and one of the more fun to listen to.
"If you Want me to Stay" and "Hollywood" are both covers, and are both fair at best offerings. Though ya gotta love the total funk of "Hollywood". :)
"Jungle Man" has the Peppers groove back, with a cool sound and some cool vocals. It's along the lines of "Backwoods", though not quite as good. Still pretty cool.
"The Brothers Cup" is kind of a stretch as one of the Peppers greatest songs, clearly "Give it Away", among many others, would be far better. "Taste the Pain" starts slow, gets cool for about 10 seconds at a stretch, and then slows down again. Far too inconsistent.
"Catholic School Girls Rule" - Truer words may never have been spoken. Having dated a Catholic School girl, and can relate to this tune, and it's a cool punk affair, closest to pure punk as this compilation comes.
"Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky" is extremely interesting. Really, all the elements come out. Church choirs, funk, rock, this is like the Chili Peppers symphony, supposed to be Epic, and it really does come off that way. Not the best song, but certainly impressive in its scope.
By today's standards for the Peppers, this compilation will be sorely lacking. What Hits!? focus' mostly on the bands early career, pre-Under the Bridge, though it is included here. (I believe as an afterthought and marketing gimmick). So for the Peppers fan who doesn't want to buy each album, this is a nice summary of the early years, but lacks much of the good material post 1991. For the casual Peppers fan, you may or may not want it. No "Soul to Squeeze", no Californication tunes.
Mr_D
Note - This reivew was rewritten 1/19/01. The original follows for comparison purposes.
***
RHCP - Some Hits.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are tough to figure out. They too, were modern punk pioneers, but had their days when they were a bit confused as to the style they wanted to go with, eventually settling on the slower radio friendly ballad sound. But, before that, they were punk, punk, more punk and some funk thrown in. It was impossible to buy a Chili Peppers album and expect one sound throughout, they experimented heavily. And so is this collection. Admirably, most of the tracks are from their Punk Roots with such classics as "Catholic School Girls Rule" and "Fight Like a Brave", but also includes the more mainstream "Under the Bridge" and their popular remake of "Higher Ground". If you are into punk at all, this collection is excellent for you. Don't let the modern Chili sound throw you, these guys were once Punk to the core.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.