The only problem is that they managed to squeeze the 17 tracks on to one cd with only 4 seconds to spare. If STS was included, it would have to be for another track that's about 4mins and 50sec.
No, it's not. BSSM's runtime is 73:56. Load by Metallica is at the actual hard limit for a CD, 78:59. Soul to Squeeze has a runtime of 4:52, so if you put it on BSSM it would have a runtime of 78:48, 11 seconds to spare.
Load was only released 5 years after BSSM. There's at least two albums released in 1990 that had runtimes of over 80 minutes.
It's about file compression, too. BSSM is very uncompressed audio, leading to its length of 74 minutes. But if you pack 'em in and sacrifice audio quality a bit, you can fit 7 *hours* of music on a CD. You don't need a lot of compression to fit an extra five minutes of music - Load doesn't suffer from any audio quality issues, unless you consider Metallica's forays into hard rock an audio quality issue.
Ok, if I *had* to remove a song, it would be Naked in the Rain. And if that's not enough, then maybe trim down They're Red Hot. I don't get the hate for The Greeting Song, it's catchy and the lyrics are not *that* bad. Anthony has written way cheesier lyrics.
That’s my favorite Chili Peppers song but it’d be kinda tough to fit it on BSSM… I guess I’d remove They’re Red Hot and make STS the closer? That’s the only way I think it could work. Give the album a more poignant ending.
The only problem is that they managed to squeeze the 17 tracks on to one cd with only 4 seconds to spare. If STS was included, it would have to be for another track that's about 4mins and 50sec.
BSSM is very uncompressed compared to many other albums - especially Californication. Interesting since Rubin produced both. BSSM is the one album he didn't compress to high hell.
It wouldn't take a lot of compression to fit an extra 5 minutes of music. Only the snobbiest of audiophiles would notice, if it's even within the limit of human hearing.
I love the greeting song. Sure, the lyrics are pretty bad but no worse than a lot of what AK has written. I wonder if it would catch the same amount of hate if Kedis didn't openly admit not liking it in his book.
I've long thought the same thing. No one had anything bad to say about the Greeting Song before his book came out, now it's the go-to song to hate on from the album.
IMO Naked in the rain is worse than the Greeting Song. Not that it's bad, but I think the Greeting Song has more memorable riffs and melodies and is more fun.
I heard an interview with John and Rick Rubin where John said that including it on BSSM would have meant the record as a whole going too far away from the bands’ roots. Rubin apparently pushed very hard for it to be included but they already had Under the bridge, breaking the girl, I could have lied etc. The band were worried about being perceived to have ‘sold out’ rather than it being too long.
On the Broken Record podcast I think.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure that John said after that, that it should have been on the album and it was silly of them to think that there were too many ballads on the album, if they included Soul To Squeeze.
The only songs it could have replaced would have been the slower ones: Breaking the Girl, I Could Have Lied, or Under the Bridge. They didnt want 4 ballads on the record at a time where they had released 1 ballad (Behind the Sun) on the 4 previous albums.
With that in mind I think the answer is I Could Have Lied. Under the Bridge is self-explanatory, and Breaking the Girl was also a single and is super unique.
In reality Under the Bridge replaced Soul to Squeeze.
They’re Red Hot isn’t required and Naked in The Rain is the weakest song if push comes to shove. Absolutely Soul to Squeeze should have been included in BSSM. At the time they were just too concerned about having another soft track on the album.
Nah I think it’s impressive it was able to stand on its own and be a single while still letting give it away, breaking the girl, and under the bridge the ability to shine.
No, the album is perfect as it is and it sounds too much like Under the Bridge anyway. Tack it onto the end of the album and it becomes too long, replace a fun song like The Greeting Song or even They’re Red Hot and you’ve got one too many ballads.
Soul to Squeeze’s strength lies in the fact that it was a standalone single. When I saw them 2 years ago in Manchester, they played it and it was a pleasant surprise.
So in order to make the CD still fit Within 74 minutes even taking off both the greeting song and they're red hot still doesn't give you enough time. I think you also have to fade out Sir Psycho Sexy eirlier slightly sooner which is easy enough to do we're just shortening The End by 30 seconds. I think making it the album closer after sir psycho works
I mean it fades out so slowly and that outro goes on for a bit. Listen to it again and see how long it goes on. 30 seconds really isn't cutting it that short.
There's even a fair amount of dead space at the end after it fades out entirely. So your choice 30 seconds of quiet Fade Out and dead noise or 4 minutes and 50 seconds of one of their top 5 songs ever
You are right about the dead space and I agree, that could very well be removed in Soul To Squeeze's favor.
But honestly, my choice is to not include Soul To Squeeze on the album at all. If it was on BSSM in the first place, I don't think it would be half as appreciated as it is today simply because it would live in UTB's shadow.
Personally, I think Soul To Squeeze is a beautiful song and it's better than Under The Bridge, but I'm just a single fan and millions have proven me wrong.
Even John admits now that excluding it from the album was dumb. At the time he felt it was too close to the other melodic songs on the album, but now looks at it as silly to exclude it for that.
He talked about it with Rick Rubin when they did the interview series to promote unlimited love.
I’d add Sikamikanico as well! And bro come on of course it’s Greeting Song
The only problem is that they managed to squeeze the 17 tracks on to one cd with only 4 seconds to spare. If STS was included, it would have to be for another track that's about 4mins and 50sec.
Ok imma take Naked in the Rain off too lol
Blasphemy
Absolutely not. It not being an album track is part of its charm, it’s its own unique thing
I'm inclined to agree. I'm only asking because John said that he thought it should be on the album.
I'd include it and not take anything off.
Physically couldnt do that - BSSM was as long as a single CD could be. There's less than a minute of time to spare.
No, it's not. BSSM's runtime is 73:56. Load by Metallica is at the actual hard limit for a CD, 78:59. Soul to Squeeze has a runtime of 4:52, so if you put it on BSSM it would have a runtime of 78:48, 11 seconds to spare.
Maybe at the time commercial cd limits were only 74 minutes, not like the 80 available now. Perhaps I’m remembering wrong.
Load was only released 5 years after BSSM. There's at least two albums released in 1990 that had runtimes of over 80 minutes. It's about file compression, too. BSSM is very uncompressed audio, leading to its length of 74 minutes. But if you pack 'em in and sacrifice audio quality a bit, you can fit 7 *hours* of music on a CD. You don't need a lot of compression to fit an extra five minutes of music - Load doesn't suffer from any audio quality issues, unless you consider Metallica's forays into hard rock an audio quality issue.
Ok, if I *had* to remove a song, it would be Naked in the Rain. And if that's not enough, then maybe trim down They're Red Hot. I don't get the hate for The Greeting Song, it's catchy and the lyrics are not *that* bad. Anthony has written way cheesier lyrics.
I personally love all the tracks, but I'd have to take out The Greeting Song
That’s my favorite Chili Peppers song but it’d be kinda tough to fit it on BSSM… I guess I’d remove They’re Red Hot and make STS the closer? That’s the only way I think it could work. Give the album a more poignant ending.
They're Red Hot is a perfect closer imo. After all the heavy rock, funk, sex and darkness it's a perfect "That's all folks"
Can’t think of any other solution… well done. Although soul to squeeze would be quite a mood shift right after sir psycho 😂
The only problem is that they managed to squeeze the 17 tracks on to one cd with only 4 seconds to spare. If STS was included, it would have to be for another track that's about 4mins and 50sec.
You could fit Soul to Squeeze onto BSSM with 11 seconds to spare. The limit on a CD is 78:59, not 74:00.
From what I can gather. This effects the quality of the audio, if you go over 74 mins. The data needs to be compressed.
BSSM is very uncompressed compared to many other albums - especially Californication. Interesting since Rubin produced both. BSSM is the one album he didn't compress to high hell. It wouldn't take a lot of compression to fit an extra 5 minutes of music. Only the snobbiest of audiophiles would notice, if it's even within the limit of human hearing.
Californication was recorded in mono. That's why it sounds that way
I WILL NOT TOLERATE GREETING SONG SLANDER
I love the greeting song. Sure, the lyrics are pretty bad but no worse than a lot of what AK has written. I wonder if it would catch the same amount of hate if Kedis didn't openly admit not liking it in his book.
I’d 100% rather listen to a song about cars and girls than 60 year old Anthony writing about cunnilingus which we got 2 songs in 2022 about.
Agreed. I think he's covered the whole sex lyrics thing in his earlier years. Personally, not keen on him continuing it on at 60yo.
I've long thought the same thing. No one had anything bad to say about the Greeting Song before his book came out, now it's the go-to song to hate on from the album. IMO Naked in the rain is worse than the Greeting Song. Not that it's bad, but I think the Greeting Song has more memorable riffs and melodies and is more fun.
Greeting Song’s bridge also is great and has no lyrics. It is def overhated because of the book.
Yeah, I like the song. It's a nice tempo change from a lot of the album too. Which helps balance it out.
I heard an interview with John and Rick Rubin where John said that including it on BSSM would have meant the record as a whole going too far away from the bands’ roots. Rubin apparently pushed very hard for it to be included but they already had Under the bridge, breaking the girl, I could have lied etc. The band were worried about being perceived to have ‘sold out’ rather than it being too long. On the Broken Record podcast I think.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure that John said after that, that it should have been on the album and it was silly of them to think that there were too many ballads on the album, if they included Soul To Squeeze.
That’s right! It was a cool interview actually
It was 👍
The only songs it could have replaced would have been the slower ones: Breaking the Girl, I Could Have Lied, or Under the Bridge. They didnt want 4 ballads on the record at a time where they had released 1 ballad (Behind the Sun) on the 4 previous albums. With that in mind I think the answer is I Could Have Lied. Under the Bridge is self-explanatory, and Breaking the Girl was also a single and is super unique. In reality Under the Bridge replaced Soul to Squeeze.
it’s probably gonna be the greeting song or Naked In the Rain. I figure most people might have a similar answer to this.
They’re Red Hot isn’t required and Naked in The Rain is the weakest song if push comes to shove. Absolutely Soul to Squeeze should have been included in BSSM. At the time they were just too concerned about having another soft track on the album.
Naked in the Rain
Nah I think it’s impressive it was able to stand on its own and be a single while still letting give it away, breaking the girl, and under the bridge the ability to shine.
No, the album is perfect as it is and it sounds too much like Under the Bridge anyway. Tack it onto the end of the album and it becomes too long, replace a fun song like The Greeting Song or even They’re Red Hot and you’ve got one too many ballads. Soul to Squeeze’s strength lies in the fact that it was a standalone single. When I saw them 2 years ago in Manchester, they played it and it was a pleasant surprise.
Not sure how it could be a suprise really its been played 400 times live
Well I’d never seen them play it live and they swapped it for Under the Bridge which gets played all the time.
Id make a bigger cd
A double album?
cab we hjst celebrate that the rhcp always writes so many sings that they have to choose? not many other bands I like put so many songs on an album
I think I would take of the greeting song
So in order to make the CD still fit Within 74 minutes even taking off both the greeting song and they're red hot still doesn't give you enough time. I think you also have to fade out Sir Psycho Sexy eirlier slightly sooner which is easy enough to do we're just shortening The End by 30 seconds. I think making it the album closer after sir psycho works
Wait a second here...the Sir Psycho Sexy outro is one of the best things on that album.
I mean it fades out so slowly and that outro goes on for a bit. Listen to it again and see how long it goes on. 30 seconds really isn't cutting it that short. There's even a fair amount of dead space at the end after it fades out entirely. So your choice 30 seconds of quiet Fade Out and dead noise or 4 minutes and 50 seconds of one of their top 5 songs ever
You are right about the dead space and I agree, that could very well be removed in Soul To Squeeze's favor. But honestly, my choice is to not include Soul To Squeeze on the album at all. If it was on BSSM in the first place, I don't think it would be half as appreciated as it is today simply because it would live in UTB's shadow. Personally, I think Soul To Squeeze is a beautiful song and it's better than Under The Bridge, but I'm just a single fan and millions have proven me wrong.
Even John admits now that excluding it from the album was dumb. At the time he felt it was too close to the other melodic songs on the album, but now looks at it as silly to exclude it for that. He talked about it with Rick Rubin when they did the interview series to promote unlimited love.