"Livin' on the Edge" is a song by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues ...

. The song was written by

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...

, Joe Perry, and Mark Hudson. It was released in February 1993 as the first single from the band's commercially successful album ''

Get a Grip ''Get a Grip'' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in April 1993 by Geffen Records. ''Get a Grip'' was the band's last studio album to be released by Geffen before they returned to Columbia Records. ''Get a Gr ...

''. The single reached number 18 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, number three on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' Top 100, and number one on the ''Billboard''

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in M ...

chart, where it remained for nine weeks. In the UK, the song peaked at number 19 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April 1993.

Background

According to the band's autobiography ''

Walk This Way "Walk This Way" is a song by the American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, the song was originally released as the second single from the album '' Toys in the Attic'' (1975). It peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboa ...

'', the song was inspired by the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

. Steven Tyler also mentions in the book that the song features the sound of a

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

he stole from his high school; four loud beats are heard from that drum in a pause between the final verse and chorus.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

depicts vandalism,

grand theft auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...

, joyriding, airbag crashing, unprotected sex, violence among school-aged youth,

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

teachers, a naked Steven Tyler holding a zipper by his crotch with half his body painted black (to give the effect he pulled down a zipper, unzipping his body) and lead guitarist Joe Perry playing a lead guitar solo in front of an oncoming McCloud River Railroad freight train. The train scene was filmed on Lake Britton Bridge in

Shasta County Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding. Shasta ...

, California, the same bridge where '' Stand by Me'' filmed their famous train scene and employs the same

Introvision {{unreferenced, date=June 2009 Introvision was a variation on a front-projection process that allowed film makers to view a finished composite of live action and plate photography through the camera's viewfinder on set and in real time. During i ...

technology. Directed by

Marty Callner Marty Callner (born 1950 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American television director, who has made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials, and television shows, in a career spanning from 1977 to present day. He is the creator of HBO's '' H ...

, the video features actor

Edward Furlong Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...

Reception

"Livin' on the Edge" met with dismissive reactions from music critics. Reviewing ''Get a Grip'' for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', Mark Coleman cited "Livin' on the Edge" as an example of the album "playing it safe according to strict late-Eighties directives", and added that it "ascends into a soaring,

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John such qu ...

-esque power chorale; only the gritty guitars on the bridge keep the damn thing grounded." David Browne of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' also found the song was uncomfortably derivative of Bon Jovi, remarking that it "might have worked better if it didn’t sound like Bon Jovi trying hard to sound like Aerosmith." Both Browne and

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the song's lyrics as a halfhearted, ineffectual attempt at social commentary. The song won a

Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011. The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, all solo or duo/group ...

for the year 1993. The video for the song earned the band a Viewer's Choice award at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards. The video was also voted "Best Video" by ''

Metal Edge ''Metal Edge'' was a magazine covering heavy metal music published by Zenbu Media. The magazine was founded in the summer of 1985, during the height of glam metal's success. Zenbu Media acquired ''Metal Edge'' in February 2007. Both ''Metal Edg ...

'' readers in the magazine's 1993 Readers' Choice Awards.Metal Edge, June 1994

Live performances

"Livin' on the Edge" has been a staple at Aerosmith concerts ever since its release. During the

Get a Grip Tour The Get a Grip Tour was a concert tour by American hard rock band Aerosmith that lasted over eighteen months, from early June 1993 to mid-December 1994. The tour was put on in support of the band's third consecutive multi-platinum album ''Get a ...

, the band performed a portion of " She Cried" (a song recorded by Jay and the Americans, among other artists) as the intro to "Livin' on the Edge". Performances often involved Tyler screaming "There ain't no life nowhere" (from the song "

I Don't Live Today "I Don't Live Today" is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on their debut album ''Are You Experienced'' (1967). In a 1968 interview, Hendrix said it "was dedicated to the American-Indian and all minority depression groups". The son ...

" by

The Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

) and then breathing heavily over a bright light during the brief interlude. "Livin' on the Edge" was performed at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, the

36th Grammy Awards The 36th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 1, 1994. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Whitney Houston was the Big Winner winning 3 awards including Record of the Year and Album of the Year while opening t ...

, and at

Woodstock '94 Woodstock '94 was an American music festival held in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music". The poster used to promote the first concert was r ...

. Additionally, the band performed the song as part of its set at the United We Stand

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

, held in Washington, D.C. shortly after the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

Track listings

CD single US maxi-CD single Strictly limited-edition CD single German CD single

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control Aerosmith songs 1992 songs 1993 singles Music videos directed by Marty Callner Geffen Records singles Protest songs Song recordings produced by Bruce Fairbairn Songs against racism and xenophobia Songs based on actual events Songs written by Joe Perry (musician) Songs written by Mark Hudson (musician) Songs written by Steven Tyler