“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith
“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” is a sweet love song, especially from the perspective of a rock band like Aerosmith. It is based on a sentiment one celebrity, James Brolin, expressed towards his significant other at the time, Barbra Streisand. And what he said was something akin to him actually missing Barbra while they are asleep. So you can see that such a metaphor, if you will, is featured notably throughout the lyrics of this song. That is to say that the singer is in fact addressing his lover. And when he asserts that he “don’t want to miss a thing”, what he is saying is that when he’s asleep he cannot actually see his sweetheart. So accordingly he does not want to fall asleep.
Or another way of wording this idea is that he wants to spend as much time with her, in a conscious sense, as literally possible. Yes, he does in fact want to enjoy as many ‘smiles’ and ‘kisses’ from her as he possibly can.
So this is, of course, a straight-up love song. And the prevailing, logical sentiment is that the singer wants to spend as much time with the woman he loves as humanly possible.
Usage in “Armageddon”
This track is from the soundtrack of the 1998 film “Armageddon” starring Bruce Willis and co-starring, amongst others, Liv Tyler. She is the daughter of Aerosmith’s lead singer, Steve Tyler. In fact it was Liv’s feature in the film which ultimately led to Aerosmith being asked to perform this tune. For instance, it was originally conceptualized by its writer to be sung by Canadian songstress Céline Dion.
Release Date of “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”
It was released as part of said album on 18th August 1998. And the labels that put it out are Columbia Records, Hollywood Records and Epic Records.
A No. 1 Hit
This classic proved to be and will likely remain the only time Aerosmith actually topped the Billboard Hot 100. In other words, it is their greatest hit overall. For example, it also scored a number 1 in almost a dozen other nations. They include the following:
- Switzerland
- Norway
- Italy
- Ireland
- Iceland
- Greece
- Germany
- Austria
- Australia
Moreover in the over 20 countries it charted in overall, in most cases it ranked in the top 10 of their music charts, including peaking at number 4 in United Kingdom. And in terms of records sales, it has been certified double-Platinum in both the UK and Sweden.
This song’s popularity was partially attributable to the fact that it was featured prominently in “Armageddon”, which proved to be 1998’s highest-grossing movie.
Aerosmith is a band that formed all the way back in 1970, and throughout the decades they’ve had their highs and lows in terms of popularity. And “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, despite not being the type of song they were generally known for, was the main track which enabled them to remain in the public spotlight during the 1990s.
Writing Credits
This Aerosmith classic was written by a musician named Diane Warren. She was inspired after watching a Barbara Walters interview, in which Walters was interviewing musician Barbra Streisand and actor James Brolin.
And the producer of this track is Matt Serletic.
Music Video
The music video to this track, which featured images from Armageddon, employed Francis Lawrence as its director. During the filming of said video Steve Tyler was suffering from a knee injury. As such, his movements were limited during its taping.
However, the visual still proved to be a great success, being nominated for a MTV VMA for instance. In fact it is said to have been one of the most-popular music videos of 1998, only being trumped in that regard by “The Boy Is Mine” (by Brandy and Monica). And it took home a Nickelodeon Teen Choice Award in the category of “Love Song of the Year” as well as a Boston Music Award for “Best Video“.
