Under the Bridge

During the production of the Red Hot Chili Peppers's 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, producer Rick Rubin regularly visited singer Anthony Kiedis to review his new material. He found a poem titled "Under the Bridge" in Kiedis's notebook and took an interest in the poignant lyrics. Rubin suggested that Kiedis show it to the rest of the band: "I thought it was beautiful. I said, 'We've got to do this.'" Kiedis was reluctant, as he felt the poem was too emotional and did not fit the Chili Peppers's style. After singing the poem to guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith, they "got up and walked over to their instruments and started finding the beat and guitar chords to match it". Frusciante and Kiedis worked on the song for several days. It was one of the few tracks completed prior to the band moving into the Mansion, where they recorded the album. Lyrics Kiedis wrote many of the lyrics during a period of depression. After struggling with heroin and cocaine addiction, he had been sober for roughly three years. He felt that this had distanced him from his bandmates, who continued to use cannabis together; Kiedis felt that Frusciante was "no longer in [his] world". The verse recounts his experience entering gang territory under a bridge to purchase drugs; to gain access, Kiedis pretended that a sister of one of the gang members was his fiancée. Kiedis wrote that this was one of his lowest moments, as it demonstrated the level to which he was willing to sink for his addiction. however, this contradicts Kiedis's assertion that the bridge was under a freeway. Other possible locations include the Belmont Tunnel about half a mile from MacArthur Park, and the overpass where Interstate Highway 10 (the Santa Monica Freeway) crosses Hoover Street close to downtown L.A. ==Composition==

"Under the Bridge" is performed in time in the key of E major. The intro changes between D and F major chords before the first verse moves into E. The bridge and ending modulate to A minor. The song marked a shift in style for Kiedis, who had spent most of his career singing rapidly due to his limited range. The song begins with Frusciante playing a slow introduction he said drew from the 1967 Jimi Hendrix song "Little Wing". As Kiedis begins to sing, the guitar playing becomes more rapid until it reaches an E major seventh chord that halts the song; the silence is broken by drummer Chad Smith's closed hi-hat and cross stick struck at a fast tempo. Frusciante borrowed the E major seventh chord technique from British guitarist Marc Bolan of the glam rock band T. Rex, who used it in the song "Rip Off" from the 1971 album Electric Warrior. "Under the Bridge" continues with another verse and chorus, when the bass enters. After the next verse an E major seven chord again marks a break before the start of the chorus. The second chorus transitions into a different verse, where Smith begins to play the drums, and Kiedis sings "Take me all the way/Yeah/Yeah-e-yeah/Oh no, no." After Kiedis cues "One time," a choir sings "Under the bridge downtown" and Kiedis sings "Is where I drew some blood/I could not get enough/Forgot about my love/I gave my life away" in between. As the choir, Kiedis and drums stop, Frusciante and Flea play the ending. ==Release==

The first single from Blood Sugar Sex Magik was "Give It Away", which reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart on October 26, 1991. The band did not expect "Under the Bridge" to be as successful, but understood its commercial potential. Warner Bros. Records sent representatives to a Chili Peppers concert to determine which song should be the next single. When Frusciante began playing "Under the Bridge", Kiedis missed his cue and the 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'." "Under the Bridge" was released in February 1992 in Australia and on March 2, 1992, in the United Kingdom. Journalist Jeff Apter noted that it "was the bona fide, across-all-formats radio hit that the band had been working towards for seven years". It spent 26 cumulative weeks on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single has been certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. == Reception ==

Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song a score of four out of five and named it Pick of the Week in April 1994, writing that "it is the Peppers' most endearing and commercial track. A great radio record which deserves a second bite at the Top 20." Upon the 1991 release, Parry Gettelman from Orlando Sentinel described it as "an interesting Hendrix-Prince-Zep hybrid that has a lovely bass line (and none of Flea's increasingly predictable popping)." Nick Griffiths of Select dismissed it as "all mellow strumming and thoughtfully shallow vocals, though it's almost exonerated by a shrill unexpectedly choral middle eight". Reviewing the album, Ben DiPietro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch was impressed by the Chili Peppers' incorporation of slower tracks, especially "Under the Bridge". David Fricke of Rolling Stone said that it was a "stark and uncommonly pensive ballad" that "drop-kicked the band into the Top 10". Another Rolling Stone editor, Tom Moon, felt that the song "revealed new dimensions. The rhythm section displays a growing curiosity about studio texture and nuance." Mark Frith from Smash Hits gave it five out of five, writing, "A classic. Far from being their usual in-yer-face energetic rap, "Under the Bridge" is a tender, thoughtful and quite sad tale of loneliness, the sort of thing that Pearl Jam would do if they forgot to ask their ten friends to play their guitars really loudly. Moody and brilliant." Philip Booth of The Tampa Tribune said it was "undulating [and] omnipresent" not only in alternative rock but pop music generally. According to Amy Hanson of AllMusic, it became "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". She praised "Under the Bridge" as 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". ==Live performances==

"Under the Bridge" is frequently performed in concert. Unlike several of the Chili Peppers' other songs, "Under the Bridge" is not interpreted in a different manner than what is on the record—aside from being played acoustically, the track is performed 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; he has noted that he sometimes forgets or rearranges song lyrics in the verses. After its release, the song would be included in virtually all concerts; Frusciante, however, began to resent the song's popularity and would play convoluted intros, purposefully throwing Kiedis off. At times Kiedis has also resented singing the song, especially during instances when he felt distanced from the song's lyrics. Recently, 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." "Under the Bridge" was played at the 1999 Woodstock Festival, which the Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined; they were the final act to perform. Attempts at distributing candles that were to be lit during the song backfired when the crowd, which was already disorderly, instead 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. Other notable performances were at Slane Castle in August 2003 to 80,000 attendees; and in 2004 at London's Hyde Park, in which, over the course of three days, an estimated 250,000 people were in attendance. 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. "Under the Bridge" is also performed on the Chili Peppers' concert video Off the Map released in 2001, and on an exclusive performance for iTunes in 2006. During the band's 2006 Stadium Arcadium World Tour, the band for the first time decided to drop the song from some of the setlists in favor of "I Could Have Lied" or "Soul to Squeeze". This continued on the band's 2016–17 The Getaway World Tour and 2022-2023's Global Stadium Tour. Red Hot Chili Peppers performed the song on January 30, 2025 at Kia Forum in Inglewood, California for FireAid to help with relief efforts for the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. ==Legacy==

"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". Q ranked the song number 180 on their compilation of the "1001 Best Songs, Ever". Life included "Under the Bridge" in the compilation "40 Years of Rock & Roll, 5 Songs Per Year 1952–1991", with the year being 1991. Pause and Play included the song in their unordered list of the "10 Songs of the 90's"; and the song ranked fifteenth in VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s". 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. "Under the Bridge" was also ranked No. 98 in the list of Rolling Stone "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" and ranked No. 328 on their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2021, Kerrang ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, and in 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the song number seven on their list of the 40 greatest Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. "Under the Bridge" helped the Red Hot Chili Peppers enter the mainstream. David Fricke of Rolling Stone said that the song "unexpectedly drop-kicked the band into the Top 10", while Philip Booth of The Tampa Tribune commented that it was a "pretty, undulating, [and] by-now omnipresent single." ==Music video==

The accompanying music video for "Under the Bridge" was directed by Gus Van Sant, who photographed the band during their stay at the Mansion and provided the art direction for Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Van Sant knew Flea due to his role in Van Sant's 1991 film My Own Private Idaho. Flea credited the video as "the thing that really made us break through the mainstream of American and worldwide pop culture". 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". "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". ==Track listings==

• US cassette single (1992) • "Under the Bridge" (album version) – 4:24 • "The Righteous & the Wicked" (album version) – 4:05 • UK 7-inch single (1992) :A. "Under the Bridge" (LP version) – 4:34 :B. "Give It Away" (single mix) – 4:46 • UK 12-inch single (1992) :A1. "Under the Bridge" (LP version) – 4:34 :A2. "Search and Destroy" – 3:39 :B1. "Soul to Squeeze" – 4:50 :B2. "Sikamikanico" – 3:25 • German CD single (1992) • "Under the Bridge" (LP version) – 4:34 • "Sikamikanico" – 3:25 • "Give It Away" (12-inch mix) – 6:02 • "Give It Away" (Rasta Mix) – 6:47 • European 7-inch single (1992) :A. "Under the Bridge" – 4:34 :B. "Sikamikanico" – 3:25 • UK limited-edition CD single (1994) • "Under the Bridge" – 4:34 • "Sikamikanico" – 3:25 • "Suck My Kiss" (live) – 3:45 • "Search and Destroy" – 3:39 • UK maxi-single (1994) • "Under the Bridge" – 4:24 • "Fela's Cock" – 5:10 • "I Could Have Lied" (live) – 4:33 • "Give It Away" (in progress) – 4:37 • UK limited-edition 7-inch blue vinyl (1994) :A. "Under the Bridge" – 4:34 :B. "Suck My Kiss" (live) – 3:45 ==Personnel==

Red Hot Chili Peppers • Anthony Kiedis – vocals • John Frusciante – guitar • Flea – bass • Chad Smith – drums Additional musicians • Gail Frusciante and her friends – choir vocals • Brendan O'Brien – Hammond B-3 Organ ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications==

The English girl group All Saints released a cover of "Under the Bridge" as the third single from their debut album, All Saints (1997). In the UK and Australia, it was issued as a double A-side with a cover of the 1974 Labelle song "Lady Marmalade". It became All Saints' second number-one single on the UK singles chart. He said: "It was kind of funny, they looked so pretty and clean, it looked like they didn't know what they were singing about". Richard Hawley played guitar on the cover. Reception British magazine Music Week gave the cover version a positive review, writing, "The soulful foursome weave their R&B spell around this classic Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Samples of the original [...] are included and this rendition loses none of the emotion." Music video Both videos were shot as a set and cost £500,000 to make. The videos took four months of production before release. The girls chose to perform their own stunts in the video, and at one point Natalie Appleton was knocked over by an explosion, although she remained unhurt. Track listings and formats Personnel Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications Release history ==See also==