 Tom Moon of Rolling Stone felt the song " revealed new dimensions . The rhythm section displays a growing curiosity about studio texture and nuance " . David Fricke of Rolling Stone said " Under the Bridge " is a " stark and uncommonly pensive ballad " , commenting that the song " drop @-@ kicked the band into the Top 10 " . 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 . 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 ' " . Nick Griffiths ( Select ) described the song as " all mellow strumming and thoughtfully shallow vocals , though it 's almost exonerated by a shrill unexpectedly choral middle eight . " Amy Hanson of Allmusic 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 " . 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 " . 
