50 Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs Never Released As Singles That Every Fan Must Hear

2. Venice Queen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPTBq18shxo Album: By The Way (2002) During his troubles with drug addiction, Kiedis met a woman named Gloria Scott who had previously been an addict herself and since become a counsellor for others fighting their addictions, and Scott became a long-time friend and confidant of Kiedis, and friend to the other band members. The band even bought Gloria a house in Venice Beach, California, "because she was always about the ocean, but she'd lived inland in Venice for thirty years." They hired a nurse and paid for Gloria's treatments but her cancer had been caught too late for the doctors to be of much help, so Gloria "faded away" peacefully in her home overlooking the ocean, after 22 years of sobriety, with just enough time to hear a final goodbye from Kiedis. Venice Queen was written as a tribute to Gloria Scott, composed lyrically before any of the music came together, and remains a "masterpiece" of its own time (so called by Pop Matters' Kimberly Mack), with Frusciante's backing vocals to Kiedis' final ode to Gloria being described as "hauntingly beautiful", while Kiedis spells out the name "G-L-O-R-I-A". The song is a beautiful tribute to the woman who had such a great effect on Kiedis and the band as a whole, and this message is conveyed through the song even when not taking into account the lyrics, where Kiedis wishes her "A kiss goodbye before you leave / G-L-O-R-I-A is love, my friend."

1. Wet Sand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDz3r-wZjuA Album: Stadium Arcadium (2006) Wet Sand's title is reportedly one of the last, or at least latest, contributions that John Frusciante made to the band, as the name was allegedly going to be used by Frusciante for a solo song before Kiedis heard it and loved it so much that Frusciante insisted on the band having it, along with the line "You don't form in the wet sand", saying "It seemed more of a Chili Pepper song". The song is, according to Kiedis, "about a complicated, dysfunctional woman I've fallen in love with", telling her "You're the best I know ... I'd like to get to know you a little better, baby/And God knows that I really tried". Again, the song laments the differences between Kiedis and the woman he loves, as she doesn't "form in the wet sand" beside him, perhaps not committing to him as he would want, as his "shadow side so amplified/Keeps coming back dissatisfied." Like most Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, the lyrics leave the listener with lots of room for different interpretations. However Wet Sand definitely conveys its sad, loving message through the harmony of its lyrics and music, with the song combining the mellow tone of the Chili Peppers' later years with their heavier beginnings (signified in the final part of the song and Frusciante's beautiful guitar solo), demonstrating the band to both be writing and performing truly in conjunction with each other. It's a welcome change as opposed to some of their earlier records such as One Hot Minute's dark Navarro influence or Flea's noted displeasure with the disproportionately high influence of Frusciante on the songwriting of By The Way. It is this harmony, as well as the song showing each band member at their best, along with the powerful emotion laced in every different, crescendoing section of Wet Sand that earns it the top place on this list, with the song considered by many fans to be one of the band's best songs to date, let alone the best unreleased as a single. Did I miss out or misplace any of your favourite Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, or do you think some included didn't deserve their place? Let us know and discuss this in the comments.