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What Hits!? | 
 enlarge | Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Label: Capitol
Category: Music
Buy New: $11.98
New (72) Used (166) Collectible (4) from $0.01
Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 13344
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 94762
UPC: 077779476220
EAN: 0077779476220
ASIN: B000002UWW
Publication Date: 2002
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wonder, Stevie | | • | Fight Like a Brave | | • | Behind the Sun - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beinhorn, Michael | | • | Me & My Friends | | • | Backwoods | | • | True Men Don't Kill Coyotes | | • | Fire - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hendrix, Jimi | | • | Get Up and Jump | | • | Knock Me Down - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Red Hot Chili Peppe | | • | Under the Bridge | | • | Show Me Your Soul | | • | If You Want Me to Stay - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stewart, Sylvester | | • | Hollywood - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Meters | | • | Jungle Man | | • | The Brothers Cup | | • | Taste the Pain | | • | Catholic School Girls Rule | | • | Johnny, Kick a Hole in the Sky |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
An overview of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' formative 1984 to 1989 stint with EMI Records, What Hits? contains plenty of hits, including their first truly huge success, "Under the Bridge," from their 1991 debut on Warner Bros., Blood Sugar Sex Magic. Other highlights here, including 1990's "Show Me Your Soul" (which proves the band learned plenty from working with George Clinton on 1985's Freaky Styley), their superb cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," and the feel-good funk of "Behind the Sun," show the Peppers paved the way for a school of alt bands who melded funk with rock riffs. There are plenty other less-celebrated moments from the Peppers' early days that shine on their own, and only a few self-indulgent clunkers (what drove them to such a dismal performance of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire"?). This collection will suffice for the casual fan who needs a quick intro to the Peppers' history. --Lorry Fleming
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Busting out the `hits' in style August 20, 2008
Ah, early Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea's throbbing bass line; punchy drumming that's right on cue from Chad Smith; angular guitar work by Hillel Balzary; and the fluent, speedy rap style of Anthony Kiedis. For a band that's been through so much self-imposed heartache throughout its career, the Red Hot Chili Peppers sure wrote lots of fun, optimistic tunes early on. Songs like Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," "Me and My Friends" and "Fight Like a Brave" are positively life affirming and full of an unbridled energy that can't be feigned. Even today when it's played live, for instance, "Me and My Friends" is a raucous riot that practically blows the crowd back two feet with each perfectly enunciated word during the chorus. Displaying their diversity, however, the RHCP boys were as equally adept early in their career at writing and playing laid-back, melodic fare such as "Behind the Sun" (a great summer tune) and soulful tracks like "If You Want Me to Stay" and "Hollywood."
Mostly, though, "What Hits!?" is a splendid, stylish array of some of RHCP's best, most fast-and-furious cuts from the early days. From the dance-worthy "Backwoods" on down, "What Hits!?" is filled with one hyper sing-along after another. In fact, this happily caffeinated CD is so naively vibrant and energetic that the one true "hit" on the album, the overplayed "Under the Bridge," seems somewhat out of place. More at home on the CD are tunes like "Get Up and Jump," "Jungle Man," "The Brothers Cup" and "Catholic School Girls Rule," all of which sound as if, before being perfected in a recording studio, they were finely honed in a basement at someone's high school party or at an after-hours frat party. Saving the best for last, like a great concert encore, "Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky" properly closes out the CD.
I didn't used to dig and respect these guys as much as I do now. RHCP is one of those rare bands who never lost its fans when it completely expanded its sound as time moved along. If anything, RHCP gained fans over the years. The band developed from unique and innovative funk-rock and the slap-happy rapping style of Kiedis to a more layered sound, more guitar-oriented and way more textured, complex and melodic. Though there's something very "underground 1980s L.A." about all these songs, there is also a sense of some massive, bubbling potential and of eventually breaking out -- on the band's own terms.
Old Chili Peppers = Awesome July 29, 2008
If you don't want to slap down the money for all of the Chili Peppers' older cds, this is a great alternative for hearing all of their great old Mr. Bungle-like music.
GREAT COLLECTION May 25, 2008
Great collection of early stuff , if your a true fan this is for you , highly recommended.
 Good summary of their old stuff March 30, 2007
I don't listen to it as much as their newer stuff but its still pretty good. BSSM is still their best.
 A Patchy Look At Their Patchy Begginings November 21, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
These days, most people are surprised to hear that I am a Chili Peppers fan. "What? They're a modern band. Aren't you always saying you hate 90s and 00s bands? You're full of it," they say. At that point, I have introduce them to this particular compilation.
What Hits!? chronicles (in a non-chronological manner) the band's efforts from 1984 to 1991. Bam! See? They were making stuff in the 80s. Now, that's not to say that this era's output was at part with the material from, say, Californication. Rather than giving us sprawling epics filled with many 'a memorable song, their early days gave birth to half-baked LPs that had both gold and dross. This collection attempts to catch the highlights from their early days.
First, we get two tracks from the band's extremly patchy eponymous debut. "Get Up and Jump" is a repetitive bouncy funk number played at a fast tempo. "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes" is an okay track that's totally in thrall to Andy Gill's hollow production. That first album essentially follows the templates set by these two tracks. Some are funky (but unfocused) while others are strange and suffer from really awkward production values. Overall, its good that we didn't get too much from that CD.
Next, we get five tracks from 1985's Freaky Styley."If You Want Me to Stay" is a Sly Stone cover that's pure lazy funk. "The Brother's Cup" is a similar sort of treat, and the a reworked cover of The Meters' "Africa" (entitled "Hollywood") also boasts this laid-back approach. George Clinton did a fine job in disciplining and then relaxing the band's funky sensibilities. The piss-poor "Catholic School Girls Rule" is also included, though. This is the kind of senseless filler that tends to cloud the early albums. Horrible. I would've prefered more lazy funk. A track like "Yerte The Turtle" would've been perfect.
Then, we get 4 tracks from 1987's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. This is my least favourite album because it melds fast and trebly guitars with rock sensibilties that collide with the slow funk of old. The end result of this crash isn't pretty.
We also get a track from The Abbey Road EP. It's a cover of Hendrix's "Fire." And yes, it is absolute garbage.
Next, we get 4 songs off 1989's Mother's Milk. This album sees the funk come back at double speed. It also brings Frusciante to the fore for the first time. Although he hates it now, the guitar sound here is rockin' (almost metal!) and strong (in constrast to the puny ones on the 87 album). The most famous of these tracks, "Higher Ground," best illustrates the marvellous combianation of metal guitars with a funky rhythm section.
We then get a rarity off the Pretty Woman soundtrack: 1990's "Show Me Your Soul." This could've been on Freaky Styley and that's why I love it. Very classy, funky and occassionally macabre. A winner!
Lastly, we conclude with a track from Blood Sugar Sex Magik ("Under the Bridge").
Overall, this set does a good job at showing us the band's early days. However, by doing that, it exposes the fact that the earlier RHCP incarnations weren't the tight funk-rockers of today. This collection serves a susbtitute for their early patchy works. Those who don't feel like investing in those discs can just buy this in order to get a glimpse of the evolution that the RHCP had to go through before becoming the superstars of the 90s and 00s.
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