"Under the Bridge" is a song by the American rock band Red Hot Chili
Peppers, released in 1992 as the second single from the group's fifth
studio album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote the
lyrics to express feelings of loneliness and despondency, and to reflect
on the impact of narcotics on his life. He was reluctant to show his
band mates the lyrics, which were more emotional than the Chili Peppers'
usual style, but producer Rick Rubin insisted. The band was receptive,
and wrote the music. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot
100 and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of
America. The accompanying video was frequently played on music
television channels, and won the Viewer's Choice and Breakthrough Video
awards at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. The band's growing popularity
overwhelmed guitarist John Frusciante, who temporarily left them the
same year. The song is now considered a standard of the alternative rock
movement of the early and mid-1990s, and has been cited as an
inspiration by many artists.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Bridge>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
835:
In the Sweet Dew Incident, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty
conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot
was foiled.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Dew_Incident>
1836:
The Toledo War, the mostly bloodless boundary dispute between
Ohio and the adjoining Territory of Michigan, unofficially ended with a
resolution passed by the controversial "Frostbitten Convention".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War>
1911:
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first
people to reach the South Pole (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%27s_South_Pole_expedition>
1960:
Australian cricketer Ian Meckiff was run out on the last day of
the first Test between Australia and the West Indies, causing the first
tied Test in the history of cricket.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Meckiff>
2008:
During a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi journalist
Muntadhar al-Zaidi infamously threw his shoes at U.S. President George
W. Bush, yelling that "this is for the widows and orphans and all those
killed in Iraq".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntadhar_al-Zaidi>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
handlanger:
(South Africa) An unskilled assistant to an artisan.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handlanger>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
In its original literal sense, "moral relativism" is simply moral
complexity. That is, anyone who agrees that stealing a loaf of bread to
feed one's children is not the moral equivalent of, say, shoplifting a
dress for the fun of it, is a relativist of sorts. But in recent years,
conservatives bent on reinstating an essentially religious vocabulary of
absolute good and evil as the only legitimate framework for discussing
social values have redefined "relative" as "arbitrary." That
conflation
has been reinforced by social theorists and advocates of identity
politics who argue that there is no universal morality, only the value
systems of particular cultures and power structures.
--Ellen Willis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ellen_Willis>