Didn’t I just go over a song that I had heard so many times that I didn’t know what to say about it, and ended up going through theories and hypotheses about why the song became so great?  Well, 1992 was a banner year for this trope.

“Under The Bridge” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Pop
#2 peak (June 6, 1992)
#8 year-end, 26 weeks on chart

Modern Rock
#6 peak (May 2, 1992)
#11 year-end, 17 weeks on chart

Mainstream Rock
#2 peak (May 16-July 4, 1992)
#8 year-end, 20 weeks on chart

UK
#26 peak (March 14, 1992)

Yet again, we have reached a song where I don’t know what to say.  “Under The Bridge” is a great song… but everyone knows that it’s a great song.  It’s gotten to the point where I sometimes wonder if I truly do love this song. But sometimes, you have to look at things objectively.  There was a time, believe it or not, where I considered knocking this song down several spots, with the argument that I didn’t truly consider this song one of my favorites of 1992.  Then to quote Eminem and Dr. Dre, my conscience came into play.

CONSCIENCE: “Why isn’t Red Hot Chili Peppers higher on your list?” 
DOCTOR: “Um, well, I don’t know if I truly love the song.”
CONSCIENCE: “Then what RHCP song do you like better?”
DOCTOR: “I don’t think I like another RHCP song better… ‘Under The Bridge’ is my favorite RHCP song.  It’s just… I’m a grunge and Britpop guy.  I don’t have much room for funk rock.”
CONSCIENCE: “Well then, do you think ‘Californiacation’ is better than ‘Under The Bridge?’”
DOCTOR: “No, I don’t.  It’s a great song, just not as special as ‘Under The Bridge.’”
CONSCIENCE: “How about ‘Dani California?’”
DOCTOR: “No.  Good song, but not as unique and not as strong lyrically.”
CONSCIENCE: “’Can’t Stop?’”
DOCTOR: “Oh, heck no!”
CONSCIENCE: “Then you will put ‘Under The Bridge’ high on your top ten list.”
DOCTOR: “Yes, conscience.”

So, um, yeah.  While there is a way for me to say “’November Rain,’ everyone’s favorite song from 1992, is not one of the ten best rock songs of the year,” there was absolutely no way I was going to get away with snubbing “Under The Bridge” from the list.  In a way, it’s hard for me to go nuts for this song anymore, because like “Friday I’m In Love,” it’s a song that feels less like a song and more like it’s part of my DNA.  But like with “One,” while “Under The Bridge” may not be a song I go out of my way to hear much anymore, I know enough about music to know that it’s a great song.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers have tons of big songs in their discography, with their two biggest being this one and “Californication,” both of which will likely surpass 1 billion Spotify plays in the not too distant future.  But I am convinced that not only is “Under The Bridge” Red Hot Chili Peppers’s signature song, it is their best song.

I remember exactly where I was.  It was my junior year at Binghamton University, during the middle of my reign as a DJ.  During the winter I was goofing off with my guitar, to the point that I randomly decided to start playing “Poker Face” and “What Does The Fox Say?”  Then one night in my dorm suite, I suddenly broke out of the stupidest phase of my guitar playing days when I stumbled across the arpeggiated D chord that begins the song.  I didn’t even realize it was a D chord since John Frusciante plays the alternate version, with his fingers stretching from the second to fifth frets.  In an era where I was avoiding sheet music as much as possible and learning songs by ear, I was too obsessed with playing the song correctly to understand what chord it was.  But it is here where my adventure to understand why “Under The Bridge” is such an amazing song begins.  

As the tormented genius on the axe, John Frusciante tends to be a bit overlooked with Flea, one of the most acclaimed bassists of all time, playing on the other side of the stage.  But that doesn’t mean Frusciante was any less talented.  Just listen to his guitar playing on “Under The Bridge,” where the arpeggiated opening leads into the primary Emaj7-B-C#m-G#-A chord progression.  Every part of it is just so beautiful and pretty.  The way the guitar rings throughout the intro, not very much but just enough so those notes at the top of the range stand out.  The way they suddenly transition to the main chord progression.  The unbelievably gorgeous final Emaj7 chord that ends each verse.  It doesn’t work if you play the standard Emaj7 chord on the open E string.  It has to be from the 7^th-9^th frets. Almost standing out as much as Frusciante’s guitar work is not Flea, the obvious pick in the band, but drummer Chad Smith.  His drumming on the verses and choruses may be one of the greatest examples of rim hits in music history.  By hitting the rims of his drums, Smith stands out with out destroying the song outright by just bashing the snare.  Even a simple standard hit would’ve messed up Frusciante’s guitar work.  Before this song, Red Hot Chili Peppers were known for wild funk jams like “Give It Away” and their cover of “Higher Ground.”  Who knew they had this in them?

“Under The Bridge” may sound pretty, but it’s an ugly tale of coming to a crossroads after overcoming drug addiction.  Kiedis was addicted to drugs until the suicide of bandmate Hillel Slovak, and a subsequent visit to his grave and a visit to rehab scared him straight.  Three years later when the band was in the studio in the early stages of recording Blood Sugar Sex Magic, he walked past Flea and John Frusciante and saw them smoking pot together.  Struggling with feelings of loneliness and alienation due to his withdrawal from drugs, his breakup with actress Ione Skye, and using his declination of Frusciante’s blunt as a symbol of their declining friendship, he began writing a poem.  Kiedis did not want the song to be on the album, but then producer Rick Rubin discovered Kiedis’s book of poetry and demanded the poem be turned into a song.  Considering Rubin knew something about making hit records – he had produced Slayer’s Reign In Blood and Beastie Boys’s Licensed To Ill – listening to him would be a pretty good idea.

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry

With Kiedis taken away from his girlfriend, his vices, and most recently his bandmates, Kiedis lived isolated from everyone except the city he lived in.  He used the streets of Los Angeles as solace, as the only place that understood him.  While it’s easy to blame the feelings of isolation on drug withdrawal, the more I look at this song, the more it sounds like it’s about the decline of his relationship with Frusciante.  When Frusciante joined the band as an 18 year old prodigy to replace Slovak, he and Kiedis were inseparable.   But fighing a drug battle he would eventually lose when he relapsed in 1994, Kiedis wanted nothing more than to avoid the drug-induced lifestyle Frusciante was himself falling into.  By the time Blood Sugar Sex Magik blew up and went diamond, the two were having arguments about how big the band was getting, which eventually caused Frusciante to abruptly leave the band in 1992.  He was no longer the partner, or the friend.  The city replaced the guitarist.

(Under the bridge downtown)
Is where I drew some blood
(Under the bridge downtown)
I could not get enough
(Under the bridge downtown)
Forgot about my love
(Under the bridge downtown)
I gave my life away

The outro lyrics are based on Kiedis’s worst moment as a drug addict, when he went under a bridge in Los Angeles in order to buy more drugs from a gang.  In order to get drugs from said gang, Kiedis claimed he was married to one of the gang members’s sister.  He was an absolute car wreck at this moment.  This, logicially, should be the song’s darkest moment, the moment where everything falls apart.  The moment where the verses continue, the final chorus comes on, and the song quietly fades out.  Or the song suddenly becomes violently distorted as the song falls into oblivion.  But no.

The key changes to from E to A minor, the guitars suddenly switch from crying strumming to sunlight-driven chords, and a rag-tag choir assembled by John Frusciante’s mother Gail sing to the heavens.  And then we get the true understanding of the outro to “Under The Bridge.”  Kiedis may have hit an all-time low, but he will rise above this.  He will overcome drugs.  He will reach a higher place.  We have come to my final understanding as to why “Under The Bridge” is a great song.  It is not wallowing in self-pity.  It is saying to the world how Kiedis will become a new man.  I did mention earlier that Kiedis would eventually relapse in 1994, but he eventually did defeat drugs for good.  As of writing, he hasn’t touched drugs in over 20 years.  “Under The Bridge” provided Kiedis with a premonition.

With the best opening guitar riff of the year (excluding the song that isn’t eligible) and a lyrical sentiment that provides the listener with reason for hope even in the darkest moments, “Under The Bridge” is a stunning song.  When I started writing this, I felt like I was obligated to put the song this high.  Now I’m wondering just as much as you are as to what could possibly top it.

UP NEXT: Before we reveal what could possibly be better than “Under The Bridge,” let’s go through some very deserving honorable mentions.

SOURCES

Chords taken from Ultimate Guitar: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/red-hot-chili-peppers/under-the-bridge-chords-703476.

Kiedis, Anthony, and Larry Sloman. Scar Tissue. Hyperion, 2004. Print. Pg. 265-266. 28 August 2022. Information gathered from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Bridge.

Fricke, David. “The Naked Truth.” Rolling Stone 25 June 1992. Web. 3 September 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20071013081112/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/redhotchilipeppers/articles/story/5938432/the_naked_truth.

“Under The Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers.” Songfacts 2022. Web. 3 September 2022 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/red-hot-chili-peppers/under-the-bridge.

Key from Blood Sugar Sex Magik Guitar Recorded Versions. Information gathered from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Bridge.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from Discogs

Photo of Red Hot Chili Peppers from Los Angeles Times