Ongoing History Daily: Flea’s $200 studio job
Back in 1989, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were doing okay, but were nowhere near as big as they would become. Flea had time to take studio gigs to make a little extra money. One of the jobs he accepted was to play bass on the Young MC song, “Bust a Move.”
He wrote the bassline, which pretty much is the foundation of the whole thing as its major melody. The song took off, selling millions and reaching number one on the singles charts. Did Flea get a songwriting credit? Nope.
He was paid a grand total $200 for his contributions. He was pretty bitter about the whole thing for a while, but it all worked out. Flea’s not exactly hurting for cash anymore. Still, he says he learned from the experience and says he hasn’t been ripped off since.
