Several members of the band are ardent fans of the English football team Leeds United (as the band originates from Leeds). The band are named after the South African Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, the former team of long-serving former Leeds captain Lucas Radebe.
The band's main musical influences include The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Blur, Eric Burdon, The Jam, and other new wave bands. Andrew White (b. England; guitar), Ricky Wilson (b. Charles Richard Wilson, 17 January 1975, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England; vocals), Nick Baines (keyboards), Nick Hodgson (b. Nicholas Hodgson, 20 October 1977, England; drums) and Simon Rix (b. James Simon Rix, 18 October 1977, England; bass) formed the band in early 2003, having originally played garage rock under the Parva moniker. Their energetic brand of post-millennial guitar rock, which would have been branded "indie" in previous decades, quickly found favour on the local gig circuit. The quintet issued their debut, the XTC-soundalike Oh My God, before they had even signed a proper recording contract, teaming up with the Drowned In Sound website in May 2004 for a limited edition release. A contract with the B-Unique label followed and the band began to attract wider interest at the end of 2004 with the release of their storming I Predict A Riot. The topical lyrics, concerning alcohol-fuelled violence in small English towns, attracted as much attention as the band's anarchic update on late 70s new wave.
The band's explosion onto the global music scene in early 2005 was epitomised when they had their first single I Predict A Riot off their debut album Employment played on the radio around the world and opened Live8 in Philadelphia. Several years prior to 2003 the members of the band had been a garage rock group called Parva (before that they had been known as Runston Parva). However, after their label Mantra Records went bust in late 2002, the band went back to their roots and adopted a more britpop sound, helping the band reach their current popularity within the UK and beyond as a consequence.
The band re-released the single Oh My God on 21 February, which charted at #6. The debut album Employment was released on 7 March 2005 and entered the charts at #3 that week. Despite becoming favourite after being shortlisted, the album failed to win the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. They covered the Marvin Gaye classic, Heard it Through the Grapevine for the War Child album Help! A Day in the Life, giving a whole new slant on the song.
A DVD, entitled Enjoyment, was released in November 2005. The basis of the DVD is a (semi-false) documentary about the band narrated by Bill Nighy. It also includes all the promo videos, live performances and more.
An internet-only (so far) music video for their song Sink that Ship has been released in September 2005. The video appears on Electronic Arts' website as a promotional tool for their game Burnout Revenge but is completely unbranded.
Wilson auctioned off his red tambourine to radio show Xfm in late 2005 to raise money for the homeless charity Shelter. The winning bid was £375.00.
On February 5th, The Kaiser Chiefs Released their next single, Ruby, which was a major success reaching #1 in the singles charts.
The Kaiser Chiefs released their new album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob on February 23, 2007 in The Netherlands and Belgium, February 26, 2007 in the United Kingdom and on March 27, 2007 in North America. A double disc edition is also available, the second disc being a DVD.
It is known that three of the band members went to a school near Highroyd, Leeds. Also, Nick (drummer) announced during a gig in Newcastle Upon Tyne that his dad went to a school called St. Cuthberts in Newcastle. Other famous people from that school include Ant & Dec and Sting.
The band released their third album, Off With Their Heads, on October 20, 2008. It contains the hit single Never Miss a Beat.
Songfacts states that the band's fourth album, The Future Is Medieval was released through the band's website on June 3, 2011. In effect the world's first bespoke album, fans are able to create their own version of the record by choosing their favorite 10 tracks from the selection of 20 on offer. One-minute excerpts allow them to make their selections and each song is represented by an object.
After creating their own album, people can then share their version of the record with other fans, and earn £1 each time it is purchased by someone else.
5th album "Education, Education, Education and War!" was released on 31st March 2014 on Fiction Records, featuring the UK Top 40 single, 'Coming Home', and was their first UK number one album since 2007's 'Yours Truly, Angry Mob'.
Also on the Fiction label, their 6th album, Stay Together, was released on the 7th October 2016, with a notable shift towards dance-pop, hitting #4 on the UK Albums Chart.
In 2019, they moved to Polydor, and released 'Duck' on 26th July, featuring the singles 'Record Collection' and 'People Know How To Love One Another'. It peaked at #3 on the UK Albums Chart.
Performances
Kaiser Chiefs' first big festival show was at the dual-site Reading and Leeds Festival on 27 August 2004 and in the following year, on 16 May 2005, they appeared at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, The Netherlands. After that, things went fast. They were the opening act at the Philadelphia Live 8 concert on July 2nd 2005, one of only two British acts in the lineup (Def Leppard being the other). They performed I Predict a Riot, Everyday I Love You Less and Less and Oh My God. They played Reading and Leeds in 2006 before Franz Ferdinand and were extremely popular.
June 2005 saw them headline at the May Ball at Queens' College, Cambridge, supported by Anada, before an acclaimed appearance at a rain-soaked Glastonbury festival during the same month, whilst August's appearance at the V Festival featured a very enthusiastic set despite Ricky Wilson having his leg in plaster. Also more recently they embarked on their own headline UK Tour, supported by Maximo Park and The Cribs. Their first US tour (with The Cribs) ran through the summer of 2005, and they followed it by playing a few shows on the Foozer tour. This was followed up by opening for Foo Fighters during their Australian tour in December 2005. They also played to Jools Holland and his audience on December 31, 2005.
Their song Ruby, from the album Yours Truly, Angry Mob was featured as a bonus song in Guitar Hero III, and I Predict a Riot from Employment was eventually released as downloadable content for the game.
Kaiser Chiefs are set to return to the European festival scene this summer, having been booked for Switzerland's Gurten Festival.
I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Kaiser Chiefs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
About your plans to make me blue
With some other guy you knew before
Between the two of us guys you know I love you more
It took me by surprise, I must say
When I found out yesterday
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey
I heard it through the grapevine... how much longer would you be my ba-bay
I knew a man is s'posed to cry
But these tears I can hold inside
Losing you would end my life, you see
Because you mean that much to me
You could have to-o-old me yourself
That you lo-o-oved someo-ne else
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey
I heard it through the grapevine... how much longer would you be my ba-bay
I heard it through the grapevine... how much longer would you be my ba-bay
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey
I heard it through the grapevine... how much longer would you be my ba-bay
I heard it through the grapevine... how much longer would you be my ba-bay
People say "Believe in what you see"
Instea-a-ad of what you hear
I can't help but be defused
If it's true, please tell me, dear
Do you pla-a-an to let me go?
For that other guy you knew before
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevinex4
I heard it through the grapevine
Honey, honey
The lyrics of Kaiser Chiefs’ “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” are about the turmoil of a man discovering his partner’s intention to leave him for another man, through the grapevine, which is an informal way of saying rumors or gossip. The song speaks of how the man heard about his partner’s plans and how it took him by surprise, but in his heart, he always knew that their love was special and different from his partner's past relationships. The singer expresses his deep love for his partner and how she means everything to him, so losing her would end his life as he knows it. The chorus “Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine, Not much longer would you be mine” repeats several times interspersed with him asking his partner how long this would go on.
The song’s message speaks to the idea of communication in relationships and how elusive it can be. The singer seems to have recognized that the communication breakdown in his own relationship led to him hearing about his partner’s infidelity secondhand. At the same time, the song also recognizes the human proclivity to believe rumors and hearsay before substantiating a claim. Thus, the singer feels uncertain if what he heard is true or not and makes a plea to his partner to tell him the truth.
Line by Line Meaning
I bet you wondered how I knew
You might be surprised that I know, but I do.
About your plans to make me blue
I know you have plans to hurt my feelings.
With some other guy you knew before
You're seeing someone else you knew from before we were together.
Between the two of us guys you know I love you more
I want you to realize that I love you more than the other guy you're seeing.
It took me by surprise, I must say
I was really shocked when I found out yesterday.
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
I found out through other people's gossip.
Not much longer would you be mine
I'm afraid you're going to leave me soon.
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind
I'm very upset and feel like I'm going crazy.
Honey, honey
I'm pleading with you, my dear.
I knew a man is s'posed to cry
I know that men are expected to cry in situations like this.
But these tears I can hold inside
But I'm trying to hold back my tears.
Losing you would end my life, you see
If I lose you, I feel like my life would be over.
Because you mean that much to me
You're very important to me.
You could have to-o-old me yourself
I wish you would have told me in person.
That you lo-o-oved someo-ne else
That you're in love with someone else.
People say "Believe in what you see"
People advise to trust evidence rather than rumors.
Instea-a-ad of what you hear
Rather than listen to gossip or hearsay.
I can't help but be defused
But I am still confused about what is true.
If it's true, please tell me, dear
If it's true that you're leaving me, please tell me yourself.
Do you pla-a-an to let me go?
Are you planning on ending our relationship?
For that other guy you knew before
To be with the guy you knew from before.
Oh oh I heard it through the grapevine
I still can't believe I found out this way.
I heard it through the grapevine
I learned about it through gossip.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tratore
Written by: Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Tyler Robison
Such a huge fan of this interesting and fun version of this song! Excellent job!
Luella
to me, this is the only possible version of this song: the only one that's actually drunk ❤️
I miss Nick sm 🥺
Macu Galindo
que buen tema
Chairjockey Charlee
Cool cover. Different but I like it!!!
Todd Keller
Cool version. I covered this song myself for my channel.
Nad G
Fucking awesome
EDIT Just found that the original is Marvin Gaye's
Ted Allweil
Hmmm. I think Gladys knight & the Pips recorded it first.
marcos olea
Grandioso cover
Vicky
I was looking for a cover of The Slits version. This is the closest I've found. I don't know the are intentionally trying to do a Slits cover, but the guitar makes me think so.
I am Nobody
Needs more cowbell