18 and Life

18 and Life is one of the timeless hard rock songs. It is one of my favorite Skid Row songs. The music is really incredible. From the intro of the song, people will know it is a great song.

The idea of the song first came from Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo. He told Rachel Bolan about it. He also had a riff for it. The original lyric was “Ricky was a young boy. He had a heart of gold.” Actually, Ricky was Snake’s brother’s name. He was sent to Vietnam when Snake was 7 and came back when he was 9.

Snake wanted to tell about his brother who changed a lot after returning from Vietnam. His brother seemed unhappy. He was like masking something, some trauma, hurt, or pain. Snake felt insecure at that age to find the change in his brother.

Rachel told Snake that the story could not develop, so they started to write a fictitious story. They changed a heart of gold into a heart of stone. Then it became a story of teenage tragedy. The words in the songs are powerful.

In 2009, Erik Gröwnwall sang 18 and Life in the Idol Audition in Sweden. He won. Then in 2021, he covered it and uploaded it to his YouTube channel. In 2022, he became the frontman of Skid Row.

Rachel said that 18 and Life broke the career of both Erik and Skid Row at the same time. Snake, in another chance, said that there was an absolutely greater power than ourselves either somewhere. Smilingly he also said, “One day, someone says, “You know what? I think today is gonna be their lucky day.’”