Chrome Helper eating a TON of cpu

I am using osx 10.9.4 (mavericks). When I run any website that streams media on google chrome (youtube, soundcloud, etc.), the fan goes crazy. I open activity monitor and a process called 'google chrome helper' will use up to 95% cpu usage during this time. I'll close the website and google chrome helper will go down to about 10%. Is there any way to disable this?

I have tried changing the plugin settings to 'click to play,' I have no extensions running, and I have tried switching browsers... I have the same problem with safari, opera, and firefox.

What to do? I just want to be able to watch videos and listen to music without my fan running at top speed... it's quite annoying.

This is a long standing problem that apparently has something to do with Chrome's extensions/plugins. Given how far back these complaints go, it seems Google is in no rush to fix it. Here's one tip someone posted in Apple's forums:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5572267

Basically, you have to go into Chrome's settings and enable the "Click to Play" option so that plugins don't load automatically.

EDIT: More to read:
What Is Google Chrome Helper, and Why Is It Hogging My CPU Cycles? | WIRED

See if any of those sites have non-Flash based alternatives. YouTube, for instance has an HTML5 powered version of their player (see here).