10 Classic Songs That Weren't Supposed To Be Hits
8. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
No one was really expecting Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers to really blow up like it did. Though the production values had certainly gone up since their more punk rock days, the inclusion of Rick Rubin as the producer at least showed that they were heading in a more mainstream direction. At the same time, the big "ballad" of the record actually turned into a song completely by accident.
During one of the band's off-days, Rubin went to Anthony Kiedis' house to pick his brain for what ideas he had for lyrics. When looking through most of Kiedis' journals, he came across a poem that he had written regarding the past problems he had had with drugs. While Kiedis wrote it off as just a personal song, Rubin encouraged him to present it to the rest of the guys to see if it had any potential.
Once pairing it with the silky smooth guitars of John Frusciante, the melody coming out of Kiedis was a pure extension of his raw pain, which would become the foundation for Under the Bridge.
Instead of just a passing slower cut, this became one of the most popular alt-rock songs of the modern age, beating out Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit at the MTV Music Awards. Although you might not like being exposed that much, sometimes that kind of pain resonates with a lot of people.