10 Close Calls In Rock History

For most of the late '80s, it looked like the Red Hot Chili Peppers would continue to be the world's greatest underground rock band until the end of time. After all, with live shows that feature the band members playing in only socks and having punk/funk lyrics in the age of glam, there was no chance for them to hit the primetime any time soon. Once the alternative revolution kicked in though, the Chilis were superstars...and short one guitar player.

Although John Frusciante was finally making money touring around the world, he was never one for the rock star lifestyle, wanting to be in an underground band for the rest of his life. Just after Frusciante quit the band in the middle of the tour, the Chilis had the horrible idea of posting an ad for a new guitarist in LA Weekly, where they got a lot of fanboys wanting to jam with them.

Though they eventually settled with Jane's Addiction's Dave Navarro for the album One Hot Minute, there was a serious discussion to bring in Buckethead, whose virtuosic playing sounds like the polar opposite of the Chilis' tight groove. While this certainly would have been an interesting road to go down, there's no real chance of having the mastermind behind Jordan perform a song like Give It Away for the rest of his life.