"Knock Me Down" is a song by the funk rock

Funk rock

Funk rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience , Eric Burdon and War, Trapeze, Parliament-Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest. The 1990s were known for acts...

 band Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

 from their fourth studio album, Mother's Milk

Mother's Milk

Mother's Milk is the fourth studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 16, 1989, on EMI America Records. It was the first album to feature the band's most well-known lineup...

(1989). The track was released as the album's first single and depicts a negativity towards the stereotypically egotistic lifestyle of a typical rock-star and was considered to be disavowing of drugs. "Knock Me Down" became the band's first hit by peaking at number six on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

.

Vocalist Anthony Kiedis

Anthony Kiedis

Anthony Kiedis is an American vocalist/lyricist, and occasional actor best known as the lead vocalist of the Grammy-winning American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his mother before moving, shortly before his 12th birthday, to Hollywood,...

 and guitarist John Frusciante

John Frusciante

John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...

 sing the lyrics simultaneously, but the track was mixed in such a way that Frusciante's vocals are more prevalent than Kiedis'. The original, longer version of this song is featured on the bonus Mother's Milk CD, which contains additional verses and an extended bridge. In this version, Kiedis' vocals are mixed to appear more prominent.

In 1988, former guitarist Hillel Slovak

Hillel Slovak

Hillel Slovak ‏ was an Israeli-American musician best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...

 died of a heroin overdose. The song serves as a tribute to Slovak; according to Kiedis, "it was a song that described what it was like to be a drug addict, to have that ego and to think you were impenetrable and impervious to the forces of nature and life. But it was also a love song for Hillel."

The single contains two b-side songs that were at the time unreleased. "Millionaires Against Hunger" was recorded during the 1985 Freaky Styley

Freaky Styley

Freaky Styley is the second studio album by American funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 16, 1985 on EMI America. The album name holds its origins in a commonly used phrase in the 80's to describe anything as being "freaky styley". Freaky Styley marks founding guitarist Hillel...

 sessions and "Show Me Your Soul

Show Me Your Soul

"Show Me Your Soul" is a song by the funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers that was originally written and recorded in for the band's 1989 album Mother's Milk although it was left off the album. "Show Me Your Soul" first appeared on the "Knock Me Down" and "Taste the Pain" singles as a B-side, and...

", a outtake from the Mother's Milk sessions. "Show Me Your Soul would be released as a single in 1990 and included on the Pretty Woman

Pretty Woman

Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...

 soundtrack.

The guitar riff of the song "Knock Me Down" was based on the song "Miss You" by The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

. "Knock Me Down" is a playable track on Guitar Hero: On Tour.

The track has not been performed live since 1990. Group photographer Tony Woolliscroft once requested it at a private studio rehearsal many years later. Frusciante launched into the opening chords but Kiedis refused.

Music video

The video featured actor Alex Winter

Alex Winter

Alexander Ross "Alex" Winter is an English-born American actor, film director, and film writer, best known for his role as Bill S. Preston Esq. in the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey...

, and was directed by Drew Carolan, who also directed the video for "Higher Ground."

Track listings

CD single (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Millionaires Against Hunger" (Previously Unreleased) – 3:28
3. "Fire" – 2:03

CD version 2 and 12" single (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Punk Rock Classic" – 1:47
3. "Magic Johnson" – 2:57
4. "Special Secret Song Inside" – 3:16

7" single (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Punk Rock Classic" – 1:47
3. "Pretty Little Ditty" – 1:37

7" version 2 (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Punk Rock Classic" – 1:47
3. "Pretty Little Ditty" – 1:37

7" version 3 (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Show Me Your Soul
   Show Me Your Soul
   "Show Me Your Soul" is a song by the funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers that was originally written and recorded in for the band's 1989 album Mother's Milk although it was left off the album. "Show Me Your Soul" first appeared on the "Knock Me Down" and "Taste the Pain" singles as a B-side, and...
   
   " (Previously Unreleased) – 4:22

7" version 4 (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Punk Rock Classic" – 1:47
3. "Magic Johnson" – 2:57
4. "Special Secret Song Inside" – 3:16

12" single (1989)

1. "Knock Me Down" – 3:44
2. "Millionaires Against Hunger" (Previously Unreleased) – 3:28
3. "Fire" – 2:03
4. "Punk Rock Classic" – 1:47