Red Hot Chili Peppers | “Under The Bridge”

ART OF SONG
“Under The Bridge”
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1991 | Warner Bros.

Some well-known bands stick around for decades because they luxuriate in their superior talent, consistently crafting classic albums, with perhaps the occasional miss, and sounding excellent live. Others manage to maintain their audience despite their minimal talent by relying on marketing shtick guided by the dictations of actuaries. And still others hang around by routinely creating decent, but forgettable music that hovers in a lasting homeostasis of earnest mediocrity. The Red Hot Chili Peppers generally find themselves in this final category, releasing with commendable regularity albums that carry on their identity, which, to their credit, they have never sold out on, but that fail to deliver any indelible mark. That said, in their career, they have once managed to push beyond their limitations and produce a truly memorable album: 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik. And since the album’s release, “Under The Bridge” has remained one of its best tracks, providing an example of the lyrical gloss that makes Blood Sugar Sex Magik shine.

With it, the band revels in a type of storytelling, discussing heroin addiction and its former control over the lives (and, in the case of founding member Hillel Slovak, death) of certain band members. Anthony Keidis abandons his usual frenetic masculinity in favor of a nuanced handling of the lyrics. The rest of the musicians follow suit, holding back from stepping too heavily on the Alpha pedal, and instead exploring the melancholic depth and tone that give the track resonance. While this song is certainly a rare gem for the Chili Peppers, it secures their position as a respect-worthy group. After all, what beautiful song, regardless of who has created it, isn’t a rare gem?

by Alicia Dreilinger

http://www.redhotchilipeppers.com/