10 Rock Songs That Were Written As A Joke
9. Out in LA - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Most of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ best songs seem to come from a place of fun. As much as Anthony Kiedis can wear his heart on his sleeve when he wants to, songs like Dani California always lay down a nice funky vibe for everyone to get down on whenever they blast on the stereo. For all of the heartfelt stuff though, the Peppers’ life actually began as a bit of a joke.
Before they were even known as the Peppers, Flea and guitarist Hillel Slovak were messing around with a few riffs when they convinced their buddy Tony to come up with a rap verse for the song. Calling it Out in LA, this would become the first true Red Hot Chili Peppers song, eventually finding its way onto their first record and one of the more celebrated early songs they wrote.
Even after they wrote it, this still wasn’t really meant to be taken all that seriously, down to the fact that their first performance of this song was played to just a handful of friends at a bar just for the hell of it. This wasn’t a gig either, this was just one song that the band played before they left for the night and the promoter actually asked them to come back for a few more performances. For as dumb an origin as this whole thing started as, sometimes some of the best ideas can end up coming from the strangest of places.