Life, death, and rebirth—the cycle of life was explored in “Lightning Crashes,” the major ‘90s hit from the band Live. The song was the third single from the band’s hit third album from 1994, Throwing Copper. While lead single “Selling The Drama” cracked the U.S. Top 50 and the follow “I Alone” garnered solid radio airplay, it was the next single that really broke the band. Like “Selling The Drama” before it, “Lightning Crashes” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Alternative radio chart, capturing the public’s imagination and breaking the band through to a much bigger audience.
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Spontaneous Inspiration, Misunderstood Interpretation
The music for “Lighting Crashes” was written by Live, and singer Ed Kowalczyk conjured an early version of the song on an acoustic guitar while in his brother’s bedroom. He was around age 21, and he had not yet gotten his own apartment. The Live frontman has said he does not know why inspiration struck right then, but the song was later dedicated to the band’s high school friend Barbara Lewis, who in the summer of 1993 was killed by a drunk driver trying to escape the police in their town of York, Pennsylvania.
“It was something that we hoped would honor the memory of a girl we grew up with and help her family cope with the sorrow—which it seems to have accomplished—keeping with the theme of the song,” Kowalcyzk told Spin in 1995. Having been a registered organ donor, Lewis helped saved the lives of others including a 10-month-old baby who received her liver.
The song builds off one main riff that starts off with a languid, hazy feeling, then repeats and builds in intensity, along with Kowalczyk’s vocals, and the choruses change things up. The presence of the other band members gradually comes in.
Lightning crashes
A new mother cries
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door
Lightning crashes
An old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
“The song’s lyrics are mostly an analogy,” Lewis’ brother-in-law Cory told Songfacts. “Barb donated several organs, including her heart. She was close with Ed and the guys and died in a car collision with a fleeing armed robber. These lyrics are constantly misunderstood! Yes, Ed is speaking to the circle of life, but specifically to how Barb’s life gave new life to many. The angel, the baby down the hall, the pale blue eyes [of Barb], the pain [‘confusion’] … the lyrics are wholly Ed’s interpretation of his experience and perception of Barb’s impact. Our family has become close with the most genuine and caring man who is still alive today [more than 10 years later], who has Barb’s heart beating in his chest! ‘Lightning Crashes’ literally lives on.”
The Meaning Behind The Video
The video itself could look like it is implying the woman who is giving birth to a baby later dies, but that was not the intention.
“While the clip is shot in a home environment, I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room,” Kowalczyk told Spin in 1995. “Nobody’s dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you’re seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life.”
A ’90s Radio Hit that Keeps on Giving
The success of “Lightning Crashes” is the testament to how rock works—strong radio airplay and regular touring can help build up a band and an album. By the first quarter of 1995, the song soared to No. 1 to both Billboard’s Mainstream and Alternative rock radio charts. “Lightning Crashes” was not available for purchase as a single (it was only for radio), so it did not break the Hot 100 singles chart, but it is considered to be the biggest hit of Live’s career.
Between the radio play of this song and the album’s four other singles, plus the constant touring that Live did throughout 1994 and 1995, the sales of Throwing Copper reached Platinum in March 1995, nearly a year after the album’s release, and then six times Platinum by year’s end. In total, it has sold 8 million units domestically, by far the group’s biggest album of a career that has continued, with varying band permutations, up to this day.
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Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images
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