For the first, see: Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come. Melodic hard rock band Kingdom Come was formed in 1987 by singer-songwriter Lenny Wolf in Hamburg, Germany, with the revolving cast of other band members soon leaving Wolf the focus. After the release of their first single, 1988's "Get It On", many fans mistakenly regarded the band as a Led Zeppelin reunion. Kingdom Come's close resemblance to that group, particularly with Wolf's Robert Plant like vocals, has led to continuing controversy. Although the bands had a great deal in common, as shown by critics' nickname 'Kingdom Clone', Wolf has pursued his own personal vision of mixing slick rock hooks with a heavy metal ethos for decades.
The group's first album, the self-titled 'Kingdom Come', became quite popular due to its arena-ready hard rock sound. As the guys gained more and more commercial success, the 1988 album had three Billboard top 40 singles: "Get It On", "Living Out Of Touch", and "What Love Can Be". As stated before, supporters and detractors both felt strongly reminded of Led Zeppelin as well as, to a lesser extent, fellow German group Scorpions. Ironically, former Kingdom Come drummer James Kottak later joined the latter band.
Kingdom Come came about after the breakup a moderately successful rock project of Wolf's, known as Stone Fury. Wolf's new record company, Polygram, allowed him incredible freedom to assemble Kingdom Come's lineup and direct its sound. Recruiting Pittsburgh-based lead guitarist Danny Stag, Louisvillians Rick Steier (guitar) and James Kottak (drums), and Californian Johnny B. Frank (bass), this new outfit marked the first band where Wolf sang without playing guitar. The frontman later admitted that, for a while, it was a very awkward adjustment.
As stated before, Kingdom Come's sound was thought by many to be highly derivative of Led Zeppelin's, to the point that some listeners initially thought that Kingdom Come was actually a reunion effort. The band's first single was called "Get It On", being a great example of their aggressive sound. Before long, the group's eponymous debut went gold. Their second single ended up being the power ballad "What Love Can Be", receiving much airplay and having a music video created for it that picked up MTV airplay. By the time the single "Loving You" was released, the album had reached platinum status, fans in United States, Germany, and Canada loving the group despite the controversy.
The guys toured in England supporting Magnum on their "Wings Of Heaven" tour. As well, the band opened for the North American "Monsters of Rock" tour in 1988, supporting the artists Dokken, Scorpions, Metallica, and Van Halen. Following that, the guys were tapped to support the Scorpions on their North American "Savage Amusement" tour, at least until they were forced off. According to Stag, Lenny Wolf found the stage ramps reserved for the Scorpions' set irresistible. After several reprimands from the Scorpions' management, the singer continued to use the full stage, and Kingdom Come were asked to forfeit the rest of the tour.
The band were directed by management and the people at Polygram to get a new recording available soon. In 1989, Kingdom Come released their next album, called 'In Your Face', but some fans believed that the group seemed to have peaked too early. The continuing backlash against the band's perceived appropriating of other artists' sounds (earning them the derisive moniker "Kingdom Clone") hurt their commercial appeal. After time went on and the band's second album simply failed to sell well, all members other than Wolf quit the group.
The 90s would see several releases by the outfit, though with Kingdom Come receiving some critical scorn as well as being unable to breakthrough commercially the same way again. Music critic Jason Anderson has remarked for Allmusic that the band experienced "one of hard rock's most intense backlashes". For his part, Stag went back to Pittsburgh and immersed himself in blues and rock n rock projects. Steier and Kottak went back to Kentucky and assembled the short-lived Wild Horses project, the two of them releasing a poor-selling album on Atlantic Records. Both would later resurface in Warrant. Kottak also has served with Scorpions.
With an all new line-up, Kingdom Come had one more release on Polygram, titled 'Hands of Time', which Wolf managed to see sold internationally. By 1993, Wolf had returned to Germany to regroup, focusing his efforts on central Europe hard rock fans. In recent years, the group is often billed as "Kingdom Come & Lenny Wolf", "Lenny Wolf & Kingdom Come", "Lenny Wolf's Kingdom Come", et cetera. Their latest work as of 2015 is the album 'Outlier', which came out on May 7, 2013.
Website: www.lennywolf.com/
Secondly, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come (often billed as just "Kingdom Come") was the name of a project by enigmatic British singer-songwriter Arthur Brown. With his larger-than-life stage presence, Brown represented a key link in the evolution of psychedelic rock into what would be become heavy metal. He also had a project by the name of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Mean Dirty Joe
Kingdom Come Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where did you go
Stole your best friends
Love away
Left without a sound
Look at you are face
Cold hard disgrace
Oh, took his heart and
Threw it down
Mean dirty Joe
Carry that load
Maybe you regret it now
Maybe you just don't
Now you're alone
Run down the road
Shouldn't have done that
Dirty deed
Oh, now you best keep
Movin' on
Where did you go
Where did you go
Go
You're really all alone
All alone
Now you cannot go home
The song "Mean Dirty Joe" by Kingdom Come tells the story of a man named Joe who steals his best friend's love away from him, breaking their trust and leaving his friend alone and heartbroken. Joe is depicted as cold and remorseless, not caring about the pain he caused his friend. The lyrics suggest that Joe may or may not regret his actions, but ultimately, he is left alone, running away from the consequences of his actions. The repetition of the question "Where did you go?" highlights the sense of abandonment and loneliness that Joe experiences as a result of his betrayal. The final line, "Now you cannot go home," suggests that Joe has burned bridges with his friend and cannot return to his former life.
The lyrics of this song are a commentary on the destructive effects of betrayal on relationships. They explore the ways in which trust can easily be broken and how difficult it can be to repair it once it is lost. The imagery of Joe running away from his problems is a reminder that the consequences of our actions often follow us wherever we go.
Line by Line Meaning
Mean dirty Joe
Referring to the person named Joe who has a cruel and unpleasant behavior
Where did you go
Asking where Mean Dirty Joe has gone, probably due to the consequences of his actions
Stole your best friends
Love away
Joe betrayed his best friend by stealing their love interest causing a loss of trust
Left without a sound
Joe left without any indication or explanation to those he hurt
Look at you are face
Cold hard disgrace
Guilty of a broken trust
Joe's facial expression shows no remorse for the shameful way he has betrayed his friend
Oh, took his heart and
Threw it down
Mean dirty Joe
Carry that load
Joe broke his best friend's heart and now he must bear the weight of his cruel actions alone
Maybe you regret it now
Maybe you just don't
Now you're alone
Run down the road
Joe is now alone and it's unclear whether he feels regret for his actions or not, but he cannot run from the consequences
Shouldn't have done that
Dirty deed
Oh, now you best keep
Movin' on
Joe should not have committed such a terrible act and now he must move forward, but will have to live with the consequences of his actions
All alone
Now you cannot go home
Joe is now completely alone and has lost his sense of belonging as he cannot return home
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LENNY WOLF, MARTIN WOLFF
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Unkyp
great song great band great album , wish I got to see them live in concert
mr1982
Fucking incredible song. Severely underrated album.
Reality Check
I got to talk to James ( the drummer) for over an hour, great guy, then got to see Kingdom Come with Warrant. Both bands where touring their first albums. That’s when Rock and Roll was still Rock and Roll I miss those days. We used to say Rock will never die now we say I remember when.
Tim Florance
saw Kingdome come open for Scorpions in 1989,,Great show,,glad I got to see that!!
David Pina
Same here, thought they did a better than average job as openers. Had a blast! Good times
Frizzy Floyd
A JEWEL SONG !!!🤩😎😍
PushinHard
high school man! Nice! Remember like yesterday!
michela derry
today theres nothing like this unlukily
Brett x
Danny Stag for president.