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

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

Fear Fear is an unpleasant emotion that arises in response to perception, perceived dangers or threats. Fear causes physiological and psychological changes. It may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the ...

. 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 Record may refer to: Music * The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...

''. The song exaggeratedly describes a stereotypical, turbulent life one may face in Los Angeles, where blood and corpses litter the street. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Now You're Dead", details

John F. Kennedy's assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...

and the resulting

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

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 op ...

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

Tony Hawk's Underground 2 ''Tony Hawk's Underground 2'' is a 2004 skateboarding video game from Activision, the sixth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series after ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' (2003). It was developed by Neversoft released on October 4, 2004 in the U.S. for the ...

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

Legacy

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

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 Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

film studies professor Jon Lewis said the lyrics exemplified punk's perception of "the aesthetics of ugliness that characterize downtown LA". A 2001 ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' magazine retrospective about the L.A. punk scene found it to be "a virtual prototype for the reality-of-my-surroundings

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...

of the late '80s."

Brendan Mullen Brendan Mullen (October 9, 1949 – October 12, 2009) was a Scottish nightclub owner, music promoter and writer, best known for founding the Los Angeles punk rock club The Masque. Through Mullen's support at various nightclubs in Californ ...

and

Marc Spitz Marc Spitz (October 2, 1969 – February 4, 2017) was an American music journalist, writer and playwright. Spitz's writings on rock and roll and popular culture appeared in ''Spin (magazine), Spin'' (where he was a Senior Writer) as well as ''Th ...

"Sit on My Face, Stevie Nicks: The Germs, Darby Crash, and the Biorth of SoCal Punk"
''

'', May 2001, p. 101, 106.

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. i ...

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*Burt Good – guitar * Derf Scratch – bass, vocals *Johnny Backbeat –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

References

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