Two bands exist called Kingdom Come - it is also an alias of Ron Allen, hou… Read Full Bio ↴Two bands exist called Kingdom Come - it is also an alias of Ron Allen, house music producer.

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.

Should Have Told You
Kingdom Come Lyrics

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Up til dawn, thinking 'bout last night
The morning comes, just don't feel so right
I was wrong, by not telling you
Should have said, what I wanted to

Must have been blind, as I looked all around
(My) Head was to big and my feet off the ground
As I look back on what I should have done

I never would let you leave again

[Chorus:]
I should have told you
I wanna hold on you
I should have told you

Since you're gone, it's an empty dream
What I have done, makes me want to scream
Where are you, where are you
I do need you so much
It's killing me, this reality

Must have been blind, as I looked all around
(My) Head was to big and my feet off the ground

As I look back on what I should have done
I never would let you leave again

Overall Meaning

The song "Should Have Told You" by Lenny Wolf from Kingdom Come is a remorseful reflection on a failed relationship. The singer, who stayed up till dawn replaying the events of the night before, realizes that he made a mistake by not expressing his true feelings to his partner, and that his ego and pride got in the way. He recognizes that he was blind and lost in his own world, and that he let the love of his life slip away. The chorus is a plea for a second chance, an admission that he should have told her how much he loved her, and a desperate longing to hold her again.

The second verse is an evocative description of the aftermath of the breakup. The singer is tormented by the absence of his lover, and his own actions haunt him. He is overwhelmed by the reality of being alone, and his longing for her is all-consuming. The repetition of "where are you" and "I do need you so much" conveys the agony of his heartbreak. The song ends with the refrain of the first verse, a heartfelt declaration of regret and an affirmation of his love.

Overall, "Should Have Told You" is a poignant song that captures the universal experience of regret, loss, and the bittersweet realization of what we should have said or done. It's a powerful reminder to cherish the people we love and to express our feelings honestly and authentically.

Line by Line Meaning

Up til dawn, thinking 'bout last night
I spent the entire night thinking about what happened last night until dawn.

The morning comes, just don't feel so right
The morning has arrived, but I don't feel good about what happened last night.

I was wrong, by not telling you
I made a mistake by not telling you something important.

Should have said, what I wanted to
I should have expressed what I truly wanted to say.

Must have been blind, as I looked all around
I must have been ignorant to what was happening around me.

(My) Head was too big and my feet off the ground
I was too full of myself and didn't have my feet on the ground.

As I look back on what I should have done
Reflecting on the past, I realize what I should have done.

I never would let you leave again
If given another chance, I wouldn't let you leave me again.

I should have told you
I regret not telling you something important.

I wanna hold on you
I want to hold onto you and never let you go.

Since you're gone, it's an empty dream
Ever since you left, everything feels like an empty dream.