Livin’ On The Edge (1993)

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Livin' on the Edge is a song recorded and performed by American hard rock band Aerosmith and was co-written by Aerosmith's frontman Steven Tyler, guitarist Joe Perry, and producer Mark Hudson. It was released as the first single from the band's one of commercially successful albums, Get a Grip, in 1993. The single hit the 18th position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, 3rd position on the Cash Box Top 100, and 1st position on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, where it lasted for nine weeks, making it Aerosmith's most successful single on the charts. In the UK, the song peaked at 19th position on the British pop chart in April 1993.[1][2][3]

Key Lyrics

There's something wrong with the world today

The light bulb's getting dim

There's meltdown in the sky

If you can judge a wise man

By the color of his skin

Then mister you're a better man than I, oh

Background

According to the band's autobiography Walk This Way, the song was inspired by the 1992 Los Angeles riots which was happened because of the racial tension within Los Angeles due to the killing of Latasha Harlins and four policemen acquitted of beating Rodney King. Steven Tyler also shared in the book that the song featured the sound of a bass drum that he stole from his high school. There are four loud beats are heard from the drum in a pause between the final verse and chorus.[4]

Reception

"Livin' on the Edge" met with dismissive reactions from music critics. Reviewing Get a Grip for Rolling Stone, 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-esque power chorale; only the gritty guitars on the bridge keep the damn thing grounded."[5] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly 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."[6]

The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the year 1993.[7]

Reference

  1. Joel Whitburn. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition. 2004. Billboard Publications p. 19. Retrieved from Wikipedia, February 4, 2021.
  2. "Cashbox Magazine". Cash Box. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  3. "Official Charts Company info". OfficialCharts.com. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  4. Livin’ On The Edge. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  5. Mark Coleman. "Get a Grip by Aerosmith – Album Review". 13 May 1993. Rolling Stone. Jann S. Wenner. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  6. David Browne. "Get a Grip Review". 23 April 1993. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  7. "Winners: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal". Grammy.com. Retrieved February 4, 2021.