"Cryin'" is a song by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

. The

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

was written by

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

, Joe Perry, and Taylor Rhodes, and released by

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

on June 29, 1993, as the third single (second in the United States) from their 11th studio 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 ...

'' (1993). "Cryin'" reached number 12 on the US ''

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Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

and number 11 on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100. It is one of their most successful hits in Europe, reaching number one in Norway, number three in Iceland, Portugal, and Sweden, and number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. The song went

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the US for selling over 500,000 copies. Its music video, directed by Marty Callner, features

Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further pro ...

Stephen Dorff Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor. Starting his film career as a child appearing in the Cult following, cult horror (genre), horror film ''The Gate (1987 film), The Gate'' (1987), Dorff first rose to prominence ...

and

Josh Holloway Joshua Lee Holloway (born July 20, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James "Sawyer" Ford on the ABC television show '' Lost'' (2004–2010) as Will Bowman on the USA Network science fiction drama ''Colony'' (2016� ...

Background

Tyler described the song saying "It was

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

– we just Aerosmith’d it.”

Critical reception

Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave the song three out of five, describing it as "a high-octane performance" and named it the best song from the ''Get A Grip'' album. He also declared it as "anthemic and compelling. Expect a brief but glittering chart life." Another ''Music Week'' editor, Andy Martin, also gave it three out of five, adding that "it is hard to see the single having any more than a brief but glittering run."

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Cryin'", directed by American director

Marty Callner Martin Henry Callner (August 25, 1946 – March 17, 2025) was an American director who made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials and television shows. He was the creator of HBO's '' Hard Knocks'', and was nominated for numerous Prim ...

, features the first of three successive appearances by

in the band's videos, the next two being " Amazing" (1993) and "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...

" (1994). Silverstone was 16 years old when "Cryin'" was filmed. In the video, the band performs in the Central Congregational Church in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

. The video flashes back and forth between the band and Silverstone, who plays a teen who has a falling out with her boyfriend (played by

) after catching him cheating. She feigns an attempt to kiss him, but instead leans away, annoying him. She then punches him and shoves him out of the car, leaving him in the dust. She begins a phase of rebellion and individuality and gets a

navel piercing A navel piercing, also referred to as a belly button piercing, is a type of body piercing that penetrates the skin of the navel. It is most commonly located on the upper fold of skin but can also be placed underneath or around the edges of the ...

, which has largely been credited as introducing navel piercing to mainstream culture. After having her purse stolen by another young man (played by then-unknown

of '' Lost''), she chases him down and knocks him to the ground. The video then cuts to her standing on the edge of an

overpass An overpass, called an overbridge or flyover (for a road only) in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that is over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpa ...

, contemplating jumping. Her now ex-boyfriend arrives on the scene, along with numerous police officers, encouraging her to come down from the bridge. She jumps, but a bungee rope is revealed, arresting her fall and leaving her dangling over the freeway, laughing at Dorff's character. The video ends with the dangling Silverstone looking up and giving Dorff

the finger "The finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, flipping the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning t ...

. The video was a success on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, becoming the most requested video in 1993 and earning the band several awards at the Video Music Awards.

Awards

MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year The MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year is the most prestigious competitive award and the final award presented at the annual MTV Video Music Awards. The award was created by the U.S. network MTV to honor artists with the best music video ...

, 1994 * MTV Video Music Award for Viewer's Choice, 1994 *

MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, 1994

Track listings

* US and Canadian 7-inch and cassette single :A. "Cryin'" (LP version) – 5:08 :B. "Walk On Down" (LP version) – 3:39 * UK CD single # "Cryin'" (LP version) – 5:08 # "Walk On Down" (LP version) – 3:39 # " I'm Down" (LP version) – 2:20 # " My Fist Your Face" (LP version) – 4:21 * European CD single # "Cryin'" (LP version) – 5:08 # "Love in an Elevator" (LP version) – 5:22 # " Janie's Got a Gun" (LP version) – 5:29 * German 7-inch single :A. "Cryin'" – 5:08 :B. " Love in an Elevator" – 5:22 * French CD and cassette single # "Cryin'" (LP version) – 5:08 # "Janie's Got a Gun" (LP version) – 5:29 * Australian CD single # "Cryin'" # "Janie's Got a Gun" # "Love in an Elevator"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cryin 1992 songs 1993 singles Aerosmith songs Geffen Records singles MTV Video of the Year Award Music videos directed by Marty Callner Number-one singles in Norway Song recordings produced by Bruce Fairbairn Songs written by Joe Perry (musician) Songs written by Steven Tyler Songs written by Taylor Rhodes