"He sang it to me and I thought it was beautiful. But he was emphatic: 'No, this isn't what we do!'" The story of the classic song Red Hot Chili Peppers didn't want to record and its unexpected impact on Middle America

Red Hot Chili Peppers clowning around in a urinal in Japan.

You had to give them credit – the Red Hot Chili Peppers were crafty buggers. Having spent the seven years since their formation in 1984 funking up a semi-metallic storm across four albums, the Hollywood four-piece had convinced most of us that they were only interested in sex, funk, hardcore punk and getting their dicks out in public. And we believed them, too.

Singer Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante (who had joined for 1989's Mother's Milk, replacing the deceased Hillel Slovak), drummer Chad Smith (who took over from Jack Irons around the same time) and bassist Michael 'Flea' Balzary kicked up a mighty racket on record and on stage, strutting arrogantly around the stages of America, naked apart from football socks covering their tackle.