"I Love Livin' in the City" is the first single by the punk rock band

Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

. It was originally released in 1978 on the Los Angeles-based Criminal Records.

Background

"I Love Livin' in the City" was re-recorded twice: once during the group's unreleased 1979 sessions, and again for its debut album, '' The Record''. The song exaggeratedly describes a stereotypical, turbulent life one may face in Los Angeles, where blood and corpses litter the street. The B-side, "Now You're Dead", details

John F. Kennedy's assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

and the resulting

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

In popular culture

"I Love Livin' in the City" was featured in the 1998 movie ''

SLC Punk! ''SLCPunk!'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by James Merendino. The film centers around Steven "Stevo" Levy, a college graduate and punk living in Salt Lake City during the mid-1980s. ''SLCPunk!'' was chosen as the open ...

'' as well as two video game soundtracks, ''

Tony Hawk's Underground 2 ''Tony Hawk's Underground 2'' is a skateboarding video game, the sixth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series after ''Tony Hawk's Underground''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision on October 4, 2004 in the U.S. for the PlayS ...

'' (2004) and '' The Warriors'' (2005).

Legacy

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

film professor David E. James has cited this song as a paradigm of punk's "style that would always be in the process of pushing itself over into self-parody", and he compared its imagery to the work of

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

film studies professor Jon Lewis said the lyrics exemplified punk's perception of "the aesthetics of ugliness that characterize downtown LA". A 2001 '' Spin'' magazine retrospective about the L.A. punk scene found it to be "a virtual prototype for the reality-of-my-surroundings gangsta rap of the late '80s." In a 2016 list of "best love songs inspired by NYC", ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' critic Kim Kelly described the song as "a shit-stained love letter to the filthy beating heart of the city itself" and as Fear's "magnum opus and an instantly recognizable battle cry for anyone who calls this big, beautiful bastard city home.""Here Are the Best Love Songs Inspired by NYC"
''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'', February 11, 2016.

Track listing

A) "I Love Livin' in the City" (1:54)
B) "Now You're Dead" (2:00)

2021 CD Reissue

#"I Love Livin' in the City" (2:11)
#"Now You're Dead" (2:05) #"Do Me Some Damage" (2:46) #"No More Nothing" (2:29)

Personnel

Lee Ving Lee James Jude Capallero (born April 10, 1950), also known as Lee Ving, is an American guitarist, singer and actor. Ving is the frontman of the Los Angeles-based hardcore punk band Fear. As an actor, Ving played topless club owner Johnny C. ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

*Burt Good – guitar *

Derf Scratch Frederick Charles Milner III (October 30, 1951– July 28, 2010), better known by his stage name Derf Scratch, was an American musician, best known as a former member of the punk rock band Fear and its original bass guitarist. Career Scratch pla ...

– bass, vocals *Johnny Backbeat – drums

References

The Warriors (franchise) 1978 singles Fear (band) songs 1977 songs {{1970s-single-stub