{"id":438089,"date":"2026-01-26T07:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438089\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T07:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:09:10","slug":"the-embarrassing-song-anthony-kiedis-didnt-want-to-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438089\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cembarrassing\u201d song Anthony Kiedis didn’t want to record"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Sun 25 January 2026 18:57, UK <\/p>\n

In order to develop, bands can\u2019t continuously make the song countless times, and evolving is necessary, even if, like Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/a> frontman Anthony Kiedis, they find it to be a daunting proposition.<\/p>\n

For Kiedis, it didn\u2019t initially come naturally to open up about the deepest and darkest feelings of his mind in his work. While he had jotted down his thoughts onto a piece of paper during his darkest hour, this was for his own sanity, rather than to be used on a Red Hot Chili Peppers single for public consumption.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, for us, there was Rick Rubin on hand in the studio to point Kiedis in the right direction. A producer\u2019s job is to allow the artist they are working with to fulfil their potential and maximise the best of their collaborator. While Rubin has come under scrutiny<\/a> from many artists for his unusual methods, without him, it was a match made in heaven between him and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.<\/p>\n

Rubin first worked with them on their commercial breakthrough album Blood Sugar Sex Magick, released in 1991. Following its success, the LP naturally acted as the start of a longstanding partnership which has served both parties well over the last three decades. In total, they have worked together on nine studio albums<\/a>, with Rubin essentially becoming an honorary member of the band.<\/p>\n

At the time of recording Blood Sugar Sex Magick, Rubin and Kiedis were inseparable, helping the singer reach new creative heights. They developed a relationship that transcended music, allowing Kiedis to share the darkest and most profound elements of himself, leading to some of his best work.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>Anthony Kiedis in his pomp. (Credit: Alamy)<\/p>\n

As Kiedis felt comfortable around Rubin, he was able to show him material that he felt scared of showing to anybody else, even his bandmates, such as \u2018Under The Bridge<\/a>\u2018. Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the frontman recalled: \u201cWe were writing Blood Sugar Sex Magick, and we would spend our days together. He was a lot less busy, he wasn\u2019t a dad, and we would just hang all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI showed him sexy songs, heavy funky songs, and he was like, \u2018That\u2019s good; we can work on that. Anything else in the book?’\u201d Kiedis continued.<\/p>\n

The Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman then explained how \u2018Under The Bridge\u2019 was initially viewed as a \u201c\u2018poem that isn\u2019t a song\u201d, before recalling that he told Rubin, \u201cIt has a melody, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s for us\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Kiedis felt this song was \u201ckind of embarrassing\u201d because it was a \u201clittle sentimental\u201d and dealt with his struggles with addiction, he was eventually persuaded to perform it for Rubin.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cSo I sang him \u2018Under The Bridge\u2019, and he was like, \u2018That\u2019s your best song.\u2019 I was like, \u2018It\u2019s just a poem\u2019. (He said) \u2018Bring it to the boys, show them the song\u2019. So without Rick\u2019s push for the counter-intuitive sensitive guy song, we might never have had a chance to write that.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an interview with Newsweek in 2013, Rubin remembered events from his perspective: \u201cMy thinking was that the Chili Peppers were not limited to being a funk band with rapping. And I remember Anthony was embarrassed to show the song to the other guys in the band. But he sang it to John [Frusciante, guitarist], and John came up with his part. Then he played it for Flea [bassist], and Flea came up with his part. And it ended up being a really good song\u2014even though they didn\u2019t realise how good it was until people started responding to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that stage in his career, Kiedis believed Red Hot Chili Peppers songs needed to exist within a specific mould. However, thanks to Rubin, he could rid himself of this thought process, rip up the blueprint and express a side of himself that he once considered too vulnerable to share with fans.<\/p>\n

With \u2018Under The Bridge\u2019, which contained a beautiful sense of fragility, Kiedis also expressed himself in a three-dimensional manner. The classic song allowed listeners to truly get underneath his skin and understand him in a whole new light. However, without Rubin coaxing it out of him, it would never have seen the light of day.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Sun 25 January 2026 18:57, UK In order to develop, bands can\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[228284,64,63,134,136,228285],"class_list":["post-438089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-anthony-kiedis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-red-hot-chili-peppers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}