10 Best Acoustic Hard Rock Songs

As the Red Hot Chili Peppers were set to record their 1991 masterpiece Blood Sugar Sex Magik, they had spent nearly half a decade perfecting their funk-punk flavor of hard rock music. Even when the band decided to get more emotional on songs like "Knock Me Down," the sound of the band rarely strayed from the infectious riffs that could blow your head off.

While the band's new record was pretty much the best display of their signature style, "I Could Have Lied" told a much different story. Opening with the clean guitar riff from John Frusciante, the song is incredibly downtempo with singer Anthony Kiedis pouring his heart out about his faded relationship. There are occasionally lifts in the track from some percussion and a few guitar fills, but the core of the tune lies in Kiedis's vocal and that hypnotic Frusciante lick. The song then builds to a Frusciante solo, which still stands as one of the most emotional performances he has ever performed on a Chili Peppers record.

The song is the perfect marriage of lyric and melody that captures the dread and helplessness of losing someone close to you. There may have been powerful lyrics before and after this song, but none cut to the core like this one does.