Under the Bridge

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“Under the Bridge”
Single by Red Hot Chili Peppers from the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik
B-side	"Sikamikanico" "Search and Destroy" "Soul to Squeeze" "Fela's Cock" (1994 re-issue)
Released	March 13, 1992
Format	CD, 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl
Recorded	April – June 1991 at The Mansion in Los Angeles, California
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	4:24
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante, Flea, Chad Smith
Producer	Rick Rubin
Red Hot Chili Peppers singles chronology
"Give It Away" (1991) "Under the Bridge" (1992) "Suck My Kiss" (1992)

"Under the Bridge" is a song by the American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on March 13, 1992 as the second single from the group's fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The lyrics were written as a means for vocalist Anthony Kiedis to express a feeling of loneliness and despondency, and as a reflection on narcotics and how they impacted his life. Kiedis initially did not feel "Under the Bridge" would fit into the Chili Peppers' repertoire, and was reluctant to show it to his band mates until producer Rick Rubin implored him to do so. The rest of the band was receptive to the lyrics and wrote the music to accompany Kiedis' words.

"Under the Bridge" became a critical and commercial success. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later certified platinum by the RIAA; "Under the Bridge" allowed the Red Hot Chili Peppers to enter the mainstream. The single's success was widened with the release of its accompanying video, which was put into heavy rotation on music television channels. It won the "Viewer's Choice Award" and "Breakthrough Video" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. The success of "Under the Bridge" led in part to the departure of guitarist John Frusciante, who preferred the band to remain underground.

"Under the Bridge" has remained an inspiration to other artists and became a seminal component of the alternative rock movement of the early- and mid-1990s. David Fricke of Rolling Stone said the song "unexpectedly drop-kicked the band into the Top 10",^[1] while Philip Booth of The Tampa Tribune commented that it was a "pretty, undulating, [and] by-now omnipresent single."^[2]

[edit] Origins and recording

During the production of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, producer Rick Rubin visited singer Anthony Kiedis at his home regularly to review the material he had written.^[3] He found a poem titled "Under the Bridge" while flipping through Kiedis' notebook and instantly took an interest in the poignant lyrics. Rubin suggested Kiedis show it to the rest of the band: "I thought it was beautiful. I said 'We've got to do this'."^[1][4][5] Kiedis was exceedingly reluctant as he felt the poem was too emotional and did not fit the Chili Peppers' style.^[6] After singing the poem to guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea, Kiedis recalls that they "got up and walked over to their instruments and started finding the beat and guitar chords to match it".^[6] Frusciante chose the chords he played in the introduction to balance out the depressing nature of the lyrics, saying "my brain interpreted it as being a really sad song so I thought if the lyrics are really sad like that I should write some chords that are happier".^[7]

Frusciante and Kiedis worked on the song for the next several days until they felt it was complete. "Under the Bridge" was among the few tracks written and completed prior to the band moving into The Mansion, in which they recorded the album.^[6] After the song was recorded, Rubin felt the grand and epic outro would benefit from a large group of singers. Frusciante's mother, Gail, sang in a choir and brought her friends to sing.^[8]

[edit] Lyrics and meaning

"Under the Bridge" was primarily written during a period of time when Kiedis was distraught and emotionally drained. Despite the sobriety he had maintained for roughly three years, Kiedis began to harbor feelings of intense loneliness; Frusciante and Flea had distanced themselves from the vocalist extensively. The two smoked marijuana together on a daily basis throughout the majority of the album's composition, decisively ignoring and disregarding Kiedis. This caused Kiedis to feel that Frusciante was "no longer in [his] world".^[5] Driving home after rehearsal in April 1991, Kiedis felt a profound sense of loss—his best friend, in some form, resented him. He was instantly reminded of a similar situation involving previous girlfriend Ione Skye, with whom he had a long relationship. At the time the two were dating, Kiedis was seriously addicted to heroin and cocaine, amalgamating the two to form speedballs, which resulted in him spending weeks at a time locked in motel rooms. Such feelings, coupled with memories of Skye and his prior drug use, led to emotional distress: "the loneliness that I was feeling triggered memories of my time with Ione and how I'd had this beautiful angel of a girl who was willing to give me all of her love, and instead of embracing that, I was downtown with fucking gangsters shooting speedballs under a bridge".^[5]

Kiedis also realized the fundamental role the city of Los Angeles played in his life, and how integral its environment was to his happiness: "I felt an unspoken bond between me and my city. I'd spent so much time wandering through the streets of L.A. and hiking through the Hollywood Hills that I sensed there was a nonhuman entity, maybe the spirit of the hills and the city, who had me in her sights and was looking after me." Feeling like he was a recluse within his own band, Kiedis' love for Los Angeles made him believe that the city was his only companion.^[1][5] The line "Sometimes I feel like/My only friend/Is the city I live in/The City of Angels/Lonely as I am/Together we cry" shows a direct link to Kiedis' isolation and sense of susceptibility. In spite of this, he saw the depression as being far better than his life as a drug addict and adopted optimistic philosophies: "no matter how sad or lonely I got, things were a million percent better than they were two years earlier when I was using drugs all the time. There was no comparison".^[1] This ideology gave birth to the chorus of the song, "I don't ever want to feel/Like I did that day/Take me to the place I love"; the place he loves being his fellow band mates, friends and family.^[1][9]

One of the most notable verses in the song discuss the harsh effects of drugs, their ability to successfully disintegrate many of Kiedis' past relationships, and how significantly it impacted his happiness.^[10] The verse is based on Kiedis' own experience in downtown Los Angeles when he was attempting to purchase drugs. He and his drug dealer entered a gang territory under a bridge in order to receive the narcotics; to be permitted inside, however, Kiedis was forced to pretend one of the gang members' sister was his fiancée. He successfully acquired the drugs, but ultimately felt life was pathetic due to the level he was willing to go to in order to do so. The integral verse, which illustrates the process of going under the bridge and shooting heroin, represents a point in Kiedis' life which he considers to be the worst.^[1][10] Because of this, the vocalist refuses to acknowledge the location of the bridge, though he notes that it is in the downtown Los Angeles area.^[1]

[edit] Composition

 Sample:

"Under the Bridge"

Sample of "Under the Bridge" that contrasts the minimalist ideology employed by Frusciante in the intro with the grand final verse sang by Kiedis and a choir.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

"Under the Bridge" is in 4/4 time in D major.^[11] It begins with Frusciante's playing of a moderately slow intro that the guitarist said drew heavily on the 1971 David Bowie song "Andy Warhol".^[12] "Under the Bridge" marks an important shift in style for Kiedis, who had spent most of his career singing rapidly due to his limited ability to reach high notes. When he begins to sing, the guitar part becomes more rapid until it reaches an E major seven chord that halts the song; the silence is broken by closed hi-hat and wood block struck at a moderately fast beat.^[11] The E major seven chord is a technique that Frusciante borrowed from British guitarist Marc Bolan of the glam rock band T.Rex, who initially wrote it for the song "Rip Off"; Frusciante lightheartedly noted that "I ripped off a song called 'Rip Off'. I thought that was interesting."^[12]

The song continues with another verse and subsequent chorus, when the bass finally enters. After this, the song jumps into a verse that once again uses an E major seven chord prior to the start of the chorus. The second chorus transitions into a different verse, where drummer Chad Smith begins to play the drums, and Kiedis sings "Take me all the way/Yeah/Yeah-e-yeah/Oh no, no". A choir, whose presence was added to make the ending sound more epic, sings "Under the bridge downtown", in which Kiedis sings "Is where I drew some blood/I could not get enough/Forgot about my love/I gave my life away" in between.^[8] As the choir, Kiedis and drums stop, Frusciante plays the outro until the song ends.

[edit] Release, success and acclaim

"Give It Away" was released as the first single off Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Warner Bros. Records;^[13] the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks in late 1991.^[14] Due to the success of "Give it Away", the band did not foresee "Under the Bridge" being equally viable. Warner Bros. sent representatives to a Chili Peppers' concert in order to figure out what would ultimately be the next single. When Frusciante began playing "Under the Bridge", Kiedis missed his cue and the entire audience began singing the song instead. Kiedis was initially "mortified that I had fucked up in front of Warner's people ... I apologized for fucking up but they said 'Fucking up? Are you kidding me? When every single kid at the show sings a song, that's our next single".^[15] "Under the Bridge", as such, was selected to be Blood Sugar Sex Magik's second single. By March 1992, "Under the Bridge" had exploded, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.^[15] "Under the Bridge" spent a total of twenty-six cumulative weeks on the chart.^[16] The single has also been certified platinum by the RIAA.^[17]

Like Blood Sugar Sex Magik, critical response to "Under the Bridge" was universally positive. Tom Moon of Rolling Stone felt the song "revealed new dimensions. The rhythm section displays a growing curiosity about studio texture and nuance".^[18] David Fricke of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said "Under the Bridge" is a "stark and uncommonly pensive ballad", commenting that the song "drop-kicked the band into the Top 10".^[19] Philip Booth of The Tampa Tribune believed the single was "undulating [and] omnipresent" not only in the alternative rock genre, but pop music as a whole.^[19] Ben DiPietro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch praised the record as a whole, but was most impressed by Chili Peppers' shift from exclusive hard rock to adding more moderately paced tracks: "there's still plenty of sonic funk to bang heads to, but the best tracks are the slower ones such as 'Under the Bridge'".^[20] Amy Hanson of All Music Guide noted that the song has "become an integral part of the 1990s alterna-landscape, and remains one of the purest diamonds that sparkle amongst the rough-hewn and rich funk chasms that dominate the Peppers’ own oeuvre".^[21] She went on to praise "Under the Bridge" for being a "poignant sentiment that is self evident among the simple guitar which cradles the introductory verse, and the sense of fragility that is only doubled by the still down-tempo choral crescendo".^[21]

"Under the Bridge" has been included in many publications' "Best of" lists. In 2002, Kerrang! placed the song at number six on their list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time".^[22] Q ranked the song number 180 on their compilation of the "1001 Best Songs, Ever".^[23] Life included "Under the Bridge" in the compilation "40 Years of Rock & Roll, 5 Songs Per Year 1952–1991", with the year being 1991.^[24] Pause and Play included the song in their unordered list of the "10 Songs of the 90's";^[25] and the song ranked twelfth in VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s".^[26] Rolling Stone and MTV compiled a list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs Since The Beatles" in 2000, with "Under the Bridge" coming in fifty-fourth.^[27]

[edit] Music video

Frusciante standing on a pedestal with inverted superimposed images behind him in the music video for "Under the Bridge"

The music video for "Under the Bridge" was directed by Gus Van Sant, who is credited for photographing the band during their stay at The Mansion, as well as the art direction for Blood Sugar Sex Magik.^[28] Van Sant knew Flea due to the bassist's role in his 1991 film My Own Private Idaho.^[7] The members of the band respected Van Sant both as a person and an artist, and were elated when he agreed to direct the video for "Under the Bridge".^[29] Flea credits the video as "the thing that really made us break through the mainstream of American and worldwide pop culture".^[7]

The video was shot in two separate locations: the streets of Los Angeles and a studio soundstage. It begins with John Frusciante standing alone on a pedestal wearing a red and white striped collard shirt; brown khaki pants; brown shoes; and a purple, green and multicolored pom-pom hat with white stitched wolves in the middle while playing a 1962 Ocean Turquoise Fender Jaguar behind the backdrop of a desert and an inverted cloudy sky. His shadow is projected on the left and right of where he stands. Although Frusciante's attire is abstract, it was his girlfriend of the time, Toni Oswald, who arbitrarily selected clothes for him to wear that day. Frusciante remembers Van Sant's surprised, though favorable, reaction: "when I got [to the studio] Gus Van Sant was just looking at me and going 'God I'm so glad you wore that hat. I'm so glad you wore that shirt. Oh! Those pants are so great I'm so glad you wore those'".^[7] The video marks a significant shift in Frusciante's on-camera behavior; he no longer wished to jump around fervently as he had done in the band's prior music videos.^[7]

Once Kiedis begins to sing and appears on camera he is bathed in purple light with blue fluorescent stars as a backdrop with a frame of clouds surrounding him. As the camera pans closer to his face, an image of the skyline of Los Angeles is superimposed from his chin, downwards. Flea and drummer Chad Smith are then placed into the image while playing their instruments. Van Sant wanted superimposing to be a notable component in the overall theme of the video; he originally got the idea from a previous project he worked on with novelist William Burroughs.^[7] The scenes in the studio are coupled with scenes of Kiedis walking the streets of LA, wearing a white T-shirt with "To Hell And Back" printed on the front; as he walks, the camera focuses on various people. This, according to Kiedis, was vital; he felt the studio portion alone would not convey enough emotion: "the first time we shot [the video] it was all in a studio and that didn't seem to capture everything we needed to capture. It needed more; it needed to be combined with an outdoor, streets-of-Los-Angeles thing".^[7] Towards the end, Kiedis is seen running down the Los Angeles River in slow motion; the background is a shot of an atomic bomb exploding. The video ends with various superimposed images of the band, and then finally Frusciante once again playing alone on a pedestal—this time with an inverted shot of the ocean as the sky.

The "Under the Bridge" video was placed on heavy rotation by MTV.^[30] At the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards the Red Hot Chili Peppers led the nominations, which included the categories of "Best Video", "Best Group", and "Best Direction".^[31][32] "Under the Bridge" won the group "Breakthrough Video" and "Viewers Choice Best Video"; the band's video for "Give It Away" won "Best Art Direction".^[32] The video ranked eighth best in a poll dictated by the readers of the Chicago Tribune called "The Best and Worst of '92".^[33]

[edit] Live performances

 Sample:

"Under the Bridge"

Sample of a live version of "Under the Bridge" from the band's performance on June 25, 2004 in Hyde Park, London. In concert, guitarist John Frusciante provides the backing vocals of "Under the bridge downtown", replacing the choir that is used on the studio version of the song.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Due to the song's widespread success, it has become indispensable to the band's live set-lists.^[34] Unlike several of the Chili Peppers' other songs, "Under the Bridge" is not interpreted in a different manner than what is on the record—the track is performed, aside from being played acoustically, the same as it appears on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Kiedis is, however, notorious for being incapable of achieving several high notes in live performances;^[34][35] Chad Smith affirmed this in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1992: "not to take away from Anthony, but he's not the greatest singer in the world."^[1] The New York Times columnist Kelefa Sanneh commented that while the Chili Peppers are instrumentally impeccable, Kiedis remains "the band's greatest weakness."^[35] "Under the Bridge" has, therefore, suffered from his inability. Kiedis himself notes that he can make mistakes, at times forgetting or rearranging song lyrics in the verses.^[36] The live quality of the song was also compromised when, in 1992, John Frusciante began to feel resentment towards the popularity it was receiving. He would play convoluted intros, purposefully throwing Kiedis off.^[36] The most notable incident of such was during a televised performance on the highly rated program Saturday Night Live on February 22, 1992. Kiedis said it "felt like I was getting stabbed in the back and hung out to dry in front of all of America while [Frusciante] was off in a corner in the shadow, playing some dissonant out-of-tune experiment."^[36] The guitarist used a distortion pedal for the ending verse and screamed inaudibly into the microphone when providing backup vocals, both of which were not originally planned nor typical of live performances.^[37] Regardless, sales of Blood Sugar Sex Magik skyrocketed following the show.^[36]

Kiedis has gone through a variety of phases of interest in playing "Under the Bridge" live. The vocalist has, at times, felt distanced from the song's lyrics and occasionally even resented singing it if he felt significant emotional detachment.^[38] In the past few years, however, Kiedis has experienced a revival in interest: "Although there have been times when I was over ['Under the Bridge'], I've rediscovered it and now I feel close to it and it still has power, and life, and purpose as a song."^[38] Frusciante believed the flexibility of "Under the Bridge" has contributed to its success: "A lot of the time that is one of the ingredients of a hit; you can hear it over and over and it will still always mean new things, but you do go through cycles."^[38] During the period when Frusciante had quit the band from 1992 to 1998, Dave Navarro was his replacement. Flea believes the reason "Under the Bridge" has had a recent revival in relevancy is due to Frusciante's return and presence; he finds the fact that all four original members who wrote the track being together is vital.^[39]

"Under the Bridge" was played at the 1999 Woodstock Festival, which the Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined. As such, they were the final act to perform; attempts at distributing candles that were to be lit during "Under the Bridge" backfired. The crowd, which was already disorderly, created a bonfire. Lighthearted foul-play escalated into violence when several women who had been crowd surfing and moshing were raped and nearby property was looted and destroyed.^{[40][41][42][43]} Other notable performances were at Slane Castle in August 2003 to 80,000 attendees;^[44] and in 2004 at London's Hyde Park over the course of three days, in which an estimated 250,000 people attended.^[45] Released as the band's first live album, the event became the highest grossing concert at a single venue in history, with a total revenue of $17.1 million.^[45] "Under the Bridge" is also performed on the Chili Peppers' concert video Off the Map released in 2001, and their exclusive iTunes Originals set-list in 2006.

[edit] Cover versions

"Under the Bridge" has been covered several times since its release in 1992.^[46] The song was first transcribed in 1994 by the a cappella group The Flying Pickets from their debut album The Original Flying Pickets: Volume 1. Notable jazz musician Frank Bennett covered the song by fusing elements of big bands and bebop in his 1996 album Five O'Clock Shadow. Hip hop artist Mos Def included the beginning verse of "Under the Bridge" in the song "Brooklyn", from his 1999 record Black on Both Sides. He, however, changed the line "the city I live in, the City of Angels", which refers to Los Angeles, to "the city I live in is beautiful Brooklyn" in order to match it with his song's premise.^[47] Tony Hadley covered the song on his 1995 album Obsession. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has modified "Under the Bridge" at several concerts—they perform various rock pieces combined into a single orchestral ensemble, often including the Chili Peppers' 1992 hit.^[46]

Alternative hip hop band Gym Class Heroes performed "Under the Bridge" on the 2006 assemblage Punk Goes '90s, an album that compiled popular rock songs from the 1990s being covered by contemporary artists.^[46] Gym Class Heroes continued to play "Under the Bridge" during their tour; lead singer Travis McCoy has said it is "a timeless song. It's one of those songs you hear and are like 'Damn did this shit just come out?'."^[48] The most successful cover version of "Under the Bridge" was released in 2001 by the pop band All Saints, with the single reaching number one in the UK. The cover removed the final verse of the song that discusses drug use.^[49] The Chili Peppers were, however, displeased with this version; Kiedis felt the cover was poorly recreated and, with the omission of the final verse, it lost all personal significance.^[50] The 1993 "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Bedrock Anthem", is part parody of "Under the Bridge" and "Give It Away". Yankovic's satire includes an intro similar to that of "Under the Bridge".

[edit] Track list

[edit] Chart history

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Apter, Jeff (2004). Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-381-4. 
• Kiedis, Anthony; Sloman, Larry (2004). Scar Tissue. Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0101-0.