"Lightning Crashes" is a song by the rock band Live, from their 1994 album, Throwing Copper.

The track wasn't released as a single in the US, but received enough radio airplay to peak at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart in 1995. The song also topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks (10 weeks) and Hot Modern Rock Tracks (9 weeks) charts. The song was also a top 40 hit in the UK, where the single was released in several different formats.

Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk said, "I wrote 'Lightning Crashes' on an acoustic guitar in my brother's bedroom shortly before I had moved out of my parents' house and gotten my first place of my own." Kowalczyk says that the video for "Lightning Crashes" has caused misinterpretations of the song's intent. "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. 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.

Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and film producer. He is best known for his role as frontman and vocalist for the rock band Counting Crows, in which he is a founding member and principal composer of their catalogue of songs.

Duritz has recorded solo material of his own and collaborated with other musical acts, leading him to branch out as the owner of at least two record labels, acting as his own A&R man. His work scoring music for film has been recognized by the music industry, notably with an award for co-writing the song "Accidentally in Love" for the movie Shrek 2 from BMI.

Duritz's lyrics have been described as "morose" and "tortured" and as "wordy introspection" and his vocals "expressive." He also suffers from depersonalization disorder, which he describes as "a dissociative disorder, which makes the world seem like it's not real," which contributes to the length of time between albums and the inspiration for many of his lyrics.

Edward Joel Kowalczyk (born July 16, 1971) is the former lead singer of the band Live. Since leaving Live in 2009, he has launched a solo career. His first album, Alive, was released worldwide in June and July 2010.

Ed Kowalczyk was the lead singer and primary songwriter for the band Live. In 2009, he left the band and the other three members issued a statement detailing what they felt were inappropriate actions by Kowalczyk.

Following his departure from Live, Kowalczyk recorded a solo album, Alive, which was released in 2010.

Kowalczyk has worked with musicians Stuart Davis and Glen Ballard and singers Anouk, Neneh Cherry and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows. He featured on the song "Evolution Revolution Love," from the 2001 Tricky album Blowback. He collaborated with Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth (ex-Talking Heads, then performing as The Heads) on the song "Indie Hair" from their 1996 album No Talking, Just Head.

Kowalczyk performed John Lennon's "Imagine" with Slash in 2003 at "Peace on the Beach," a rally to protest the coming War in Iraq. In 2008 he appeared in a video with will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Scarlett Johansson and Nick Cannon, supporting US Presidential candidate Barack Obama and appeared at campaign rallies for Obama with will.i.am.