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List Price: $6.93 | | Label: Capitol
Salesrank: 7993
Released: September 29, 1992 |
| Our Price: $2.47 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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What Hits!? Track Listing:
1. Higher Ground
2. Fight Like a Brave
3. Behind the Sun
4. Me & My Friends
5. Backwoods
6. True Men Don't Kill Coyotes
7. Fire
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. Brothers Cup
16. Taste the Pain
17. Catholic School Girls Rule
18. Johnny, Kick a Hole in the Sky
Editorial Review:
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
What Hits!? Reviews:
Striking while the chili was hot 
2009-04-14 - Rightly joked about by some critics at the time of its release as being a terribly commercial move, the Chilis have here released (or their record company did more like) a veritable feast of their career up to this point.
And that statement is really the crux of the matter. This came out after the hugely successful Blood Sugar Sex Magic and was designed to cash in on that. It also served the very useful purpose of introducing newcomers to the fact that this was a band that had a history, a cataloge to explore if you cared to. With numbers reaching back to their earlier days this is probably a great buy for anybody new to the RHCP or those younger people who only know the latter stuff. This way you can get the hits and other salient tracks of the funk rockers early days without having to wade through their at times less successful attempts to communicate via psychadelic funk wattage.
Of course there are some reasons not to bother with this handy single CD platter. These being that the band later morphed into something different. So here you ge the condensed version of their first incarnation. But not a brilliant intro to their greater body of work and it also must be borne in mind that there is a later double disc best of available and an accompanying video of clips etc for that. And so while I am happy to give this hastily assembled but valid release four stars the prospective buyer should weigh up his/her options before parting with their cash.
Hot Pepper's 
2009-04-04 - This is a great collection of the RHCP's earlier material that people are not as familiar with (most of the songs are from before they broke really big with some hits, from when I started listening to them.) Great rock/funk combinations and interesting takes on songs such as Fire and Higher Ground, which was probably the track that started making them big. It is a different sound than later things such as Californication, but still great.
Eary Red Hot Chilli Peppers 
2008-11-30 - If you want a cd with really funky red hot chilli peppers then this cds for you, good band this cd is a little on the funky side though....
Busting out the `hits' in style
2008-08-20 - 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. When played live even today, 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 a crazy after-hours shindig. 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, becoming 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
2008-07-29 - 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.
