33 Things You Should Know About Red Hot Chili Peppers

           

6. They could have been "Spigot Blister and the Chest Pimps."
Kiedis and co. went through several awful names (the La Leyenda Tweakers, Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, the aforementioned Pimps) before finally settling on RHCP. "It's an American tradition, like Louis Armstrong and the Red Hot Five," he explains. "There was a time in the '90s when it seemed childish and fanciful, but today I like it."

7. Cock sock: Like a speedball, without the pesky dying!
The band debuted its infamous socks-on-dicks routine at L.A. strip joint The Kit Kat Club. "The first time you wear a sock onstage, it's like a drug," says Kiedis. "Like you're floating a few feet off the ground, in this vortex of netherworld." Smith, meanwhile, has a tip for those at home: "The key is to get it around the balls. People don't realize that."

8. Never, ever, let them order pizza.
In the fall of '83, the band enlisted Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill to produce its first album, but hated the "bubblegum pop" sound he was going for. "We were such street-punk little fuckers," says Kiedis. "One night Flea took a shit in a pizza box and presented it to Andy in the control room. To his credit, Andy remained fairly unflappable."

9. Don't mess with Anthony's mama.
When the Peppers played Grand Rapids on their first tour, the local newspaper ran a review headlined, "If I Had a Son Like That, I'd Shoot Him" — prompting an outraged letter from Kiedis's mom. "She completely had my back," Kiedis says. "Moms are the shit."

10. George Clinton took them fishing in his backyard.
As longtime P-Funk fans, the band was thrilled when George Clinton agreed to produce its second record — and even more thrilled when he let the boys crash at his Detroit estate. "We were all expecting this bigger-than-life funk superhero," Kiedis says. "Instead he was like, 'You see that lake out there? Let's catch breakfast!'"