18 and Life


"18 and Life" is a song by American heavy metal band Skid Row. It was released in June 1989 as the second single from their self titled debut album. The song is the band's biggest hit, reaching No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was named the 60th best hard rock song of all time by VH1. It was certified Gold on September 13, 1989, when it sold 500,000 copies.
The song also charted at No. 12 on the UK Singles chart.
In April 2015, a newly re-recorded version with their new singer Tony Harnell was released as a free download on the band's website which is the only studio recording the band has released to feature Harnell on vocals.

Theme

The title of the song alludes to its subject, 18-year-old Ricky, receiving a sentence of life imprisonment for the murder of another teenager. The song paints Ricky's youth as his undoing. Guitarist Dave Sabo got the idea from a newspaper article about an 18-year-old named Ricky who was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting and killing his friend with a gun he thought was not loaded. The music video also alludes to this. MTV refused to air the video due to that scene.

Chart performances

Weekly charts

Year-end charts