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, Skid Row released a new version of the song with current lead vocalist Tony Harnell. It is the only studio recording featuring him on lead vocals. In 2017, the song was remade with the lyrics largely changed and the name Ricky was replaced with Kevin.
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 teen. The song paints Ricky's youth as his undoing. It was believed for a long time that guitarist Dave Sabo got the idea from a newspaper article about an 18-year-old named Ricky who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his friend with a gun, that due to alcohol, he most likely guessed was not loaded. However, in an interview with the Professor of Rock, Sabo states that the original inspiration was his brother Rick's life after coming home from Vietnam. The writing process eventually led the song to being about an accidental murder. The music video also alludes to this. MTV refused to air the video due to that scene.