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.
Love's Not A Competition But Im Winning
Kaiser Chiefs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I know, I've said all this and that you've heard
It all before,
The trick is getting you to think that all this was your idea.
And that this was everything you've ever wanted out of here,
Love's not a competition but I'm winning.
I'm not sure what's truly altruistic anymore,
When every good thing that I do is listed and you're keeping score,
Love's not a competition but I'm winning
Love's not a competition but I'm winning
At least I thought I was but there's no way of knowing,
At least I thought I was but there's no way of knowing,
You know what it's like when you're new to the game but I'm not,
I won't be the one to disappoint you,
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore
In the first verse of Kaiser Chiefs’s song Love Is Not A Competition But I'm Winning, the lead singer is acknowledging that he has let his partner down in the past, but he’s trying to make amends now. He knows that he has said these things before, but he’s genuine in his efforts to not disappoint her anymore. He reveals his manipulative mindset, saying that he’s trying to make her believe that everything he’s doing is for her benefit and that everything she’s ever wanted is right here. In the chorus of the song, the singer repeats the title line, “Love’s not a competition, but I'm winning,” referring to his feelings of being ahead in the relationship as he tries to please her. He goes on to admit that he doesn’t know what true altruism is anymore, as he feels like he’s constantly being monitored and rated for his actions.
The second verse of the song highlights the confusing game-like nature of relationships, where everything you do is weighed and measured against past actions. The singer is unsure if his actions are truly selfless or if he’s doing them to score points, saying that he’s lost track of what’s genuine and what’s not. He repeats the chorus, adding the line “At least I thought I was, but there’s no way of knowing,” illustrating his uncertainty about whether he’s really winning or not, despite his efforts. The song ends with the singer promising not to let his partner down again, indicating that he’s trying to make this relationship work despite the challenges.
Line by Line Meaning
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore,
I've let you down before, but I'm promising to be better from now on
I know, I've said all this and that you've heard
It all before,
I'm aware that I've made promises before and broken them
The trick is getting you to think that all this was your idea.
I want you to believe that the changes I'm making are because of your influence and not my own shortcomings
And that this was everything you've ever wanted out of here,
I want you to feel satisfied with our relationship and that everything is going the way you want it to
Love's not a competition but I'm winning.
Love shouldn't be a contest, but I feel like I'm doing better than I have in the past
I'm not sure what's truly altruistic anymore,
I'm starting to question my own motives and whether I'm being truly selfless
When every good thing that I do is listed and you're keeping score,
I feel like you're keeping track of every good deed I do and it's starting to feel like a competition
At least I thought I was but there's no way of knowing,
I thought I was doing well in our relationship, but I'm not sure if that's actually the case
You know what it's like when you're new to the game but I'm not,
I know how it feels to be inexperienced in a relationship, but I'm not new to this anymore
I won't be the one to disappoint you,
I'm trying my best to not let you down again
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore
I'm committed to making our relationship work and not causing any more disappointment
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ANDREW ROBERT WHITE, CHARLES RICHARD WILSON, JAMES RIX, NICHOLAS BAINES, NICHOLAS HODGSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sedda2284
Lyrics
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore
And I know I've said all this and that you've heard it all before
The trick is getting you to think that all this was your idea
And that this was everything you've ever wanted out of here
Love's not a competition but I'm winning
I'm not sure what's truly altruistic anymore
When every good thing that I do is listed and you're keeping score
Love's not a competition but I'm winning
Love's not a competition but I'm winning
At least I thought I was
But there's no way of knowing
At least I thought I was
But there's no way of knowing
You know what it's like when you're new to the game but I'm not
I won't be the one to disappoint you
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore
I won't be the one to disappoint you
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore
I won't be the one to disappoint you
I won't be the one to disappoint you anymore
@hakuna1164
one of the most underrated songs/music videos ever in my opinion
@bartstaal6698
Ik kan het er niet nog meer mee eens zijn. Super liedje.
@Epinerf
overrated you mean ?
@florenciaponce566
Infravalorado
@TarnishUK
Thanks to Chris Moyles for highlighting this and the single camera and take on his show yesterday.
@kastigere
He played it again today, that's what brought me here!
@andydavies906
I heard Chris too
@jijst5
The memories!!! Magical atmosphere in this song :)
@n-d
Época de ouro ❤
@xumeni730
I really love his voice.