Hailing from York, Pennsylvania, the group is comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, Live has toured with Ed’s younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist, and, previously, British keyboardist Michael “Railo” Railton.
Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey first came together for a middle-school talent show in the Pennsylvania blue-collar town of York. The group remained together throughout high school, going through a handful of band names and new-wave covers before settling on the moniker Public Affection and recording a self-released cassette of originals, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. Frequent trips into New York to play at CBGB helped net the band a deal with Radioactive Records in 1991. With the new name Live, the band entered the studio with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison that year and began recording the EP Four Songs. The single “Operation spirit (the tyranny of tradition)” went to #9 on the Modern Rock chart, and paved the way for the band’s Harrison-produced, full-length debut, 1991’s Mental Jewelry (#73). The album lyrics, penned by Kowalczyk, were heavily inspired by Indian guru Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Fueled by heavy touring (including billing at Woodstock ‘94 and Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD tour) and a string of hit singles (“I Alone”, “All Over You” and the #1 Modern Rock hits “Selling the drama” and “Lightning crashes”), their next album, Throwing Copper, went to #1 in 1994. It is their best-selling, and often most highly regarded by fans and critics, album to date. The band was even asked to perform on Saturday Night Live where they performed their hits “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama” and to this day, they are the only band to receive a standing ovation at the party after the broadcast.[citation needed]
The momentum continued long enough to help 1997’s Secret Samadhi (coproduced by the band and Jay Healey) debut at #1. Deriving its name from a state of Hindu meditation, the album spawned four Modern Rock hit singles, but failed to match its predecessor’s success, with sales topping off at 2 million. The band performed “lakini’s juice” and “Heropsychodreamer” from this album on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Harrison came back on board as coproducer for 1999’s The Distance to Here, which debuted at #4 and featured the minor US hit single “The Dolphin’s Cry.”
In September 2001, the more experimental V (originally scheduled to be titled “Ecstatic Fanatic”) was issued to mixed reviews, preceded by “Simple creed” as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11—which occurred a week before V ‘s release—the melancholic “Overcome” began receiving significant airplay, superseding “Simple Creed” and becoming V’s selling point. Unfortunately, Live’s commercial stock—compounded by their petering radio airplay—had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching #22 at home, failing to reach gold status.
Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of “Heaven”, Live’s first US Hot 100-placing since “The Dolphin’s Cry.” Reaching #28, Birds of Pray ultimately outsold V, although it too received mixed reviews and failed to reach gold status.
In November 2004, Live released Awake: The Best of Live, a career-spanning compilation that included “We deal in dreams”, a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line”, as well as Birds of Pray’s “Run Away”, re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals.
In 2005, Live signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Epic label, and released a new album entitled Songs From Black Mountain in June 2006, preceded by “The river” as lead single. Thus far, while the album has achieved international success, it has proven Live’s lowest-seller yet domestically, only reaching #52 in the US before quickly disappearing from the charts.
While Live remain only moderately popular in terms of record sales in the United States, much of their current sales come from places in Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ed Kowalczyk has said that “Holland is the center of the Live universe” [citation needed].
The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band’s road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing.
On season 5 of American Idol, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but one week later Daughtry acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying Live was one of his favorite bands. In May 2006, Live appeared on The Howard Stern Show and addressed this issue.
On May 24, 2006, the band and Chris Daughtry performed “Mystery” on the season finale of American Idol, and on June 7, a new version of “Mystery” was released on the Friends of Live website featuring Chris Daughtry on guest vocals.
The members of Live announced in June 2009 that the band would be taking a two-year hiatus as they work on other projects. On November 30, 2009, guitarist Chad Taylor confirmed that the hiatus of the band was most likely a permanent rift. See the Wikipedia page for more. During the first European tour of the new band of Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer (The Gracious Few), Taylor commented both on stage and in post-show discussions that he believes Live may still come back together, though he also stated that the chances of Kowalczyk joining them in this effort may be very small. In an exclusive blogpost[1] on website The Comet, Taylor confirmed that the remaining members of the band would be working on new material for Live in Nashville early July 2011.
The band returned from their nearly three-year hiatus on March 12, 2012, with Chris Shinn, formerly of Unified Theory, as their new lead singer. The new line-up performed before an invited audience at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. The band performed as a six-piece with The Gracious Few's Sean Hennesy on guitar and Alexander Lefever on keyboards
[1]: http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_chad_taylor_talks_the_gracious_few_and_live
There's another band with the same name:
2. Live was a 70s-era Progressive Rock group from Germany. Formed in 1971, the outfit appeared to be a strangely named band indeed.
In October 1972 their guitarist Martin Knaden went to Curly Curve. Throughout their history only one member has remained, the multi-talented keyboards and flute player Norbert Aufmhof. Although in existence for a decade Live never got to record a proper studio album, or gain a contract, which surely they should have. Maybe the band name was a bit of a jinx?!
Their earlier history was originally just documented by a single. Only more recently did an LP surface collecting 1974 recordings. Quite obviously a collection of rehearsal session tapes, the LP reveals a band with promise albeit rather grottily recorded with often barely understandable muffled lyrics in English. Musically, there are nods to early Satin Whale and Jane, but with lots of classical touches, notably Grieg and Bach, and a penchant to meander rather nicely during the instrumentals.
Based on the ROCK OFFERS track "Sea Fever", they had blossomed and changed focus somewhat, as a much more sophisticated symphonic progressive of the Pancake and Jane type, typical of the mid/late-1970's.
In all, during their history, three different versions of Live existed, but eventually the band split in 1976. A full history of the band is included in the GEVELSBERG CD, which documents other oddments, sessions, and a live recording!
Lighting Crashes
Live Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door
Lightning crashes an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now to the baby down the hall
Oh now feel it, comin' back again
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it
Lightning crashes a new mother cries
This moment she's been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris
Presents the circle
And puts the glory out to hide, hide
Oh now feel it, comin' back again
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it
Oh now feel it, comin' back again
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it
Oh now feel it, comin' back again
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it
In "Lightning Crashes," Live tells the story of two women who experience birth and death in close proximity. The song begins with a new mother giving birth, and her placenta falling to the floor. The angel, a metaphor for the newborn baby, opens her eyes, creating confusion for the mother and the doctor. As the newborn enters the world, an old mother dies down the hall. Her intentions, or perhaps dreams or aspirations, fall to the floor with her. The angel, now closing her eyes, transfers the confusion that was the old mother's to the baby.
The song expresses a deep connectedness between life and death, suggesting that they are intertwined rather than opposites. The refrain repeats the line, "Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind," a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life and the forces that govern it. The chorus reinforces this idea, with the singer feeling the forces pulling from the "center of the earth" once again.
Line by Line Meaning
Lightning crashes a new mother cries
The sudden birth of a baby brings a thunderous moment full of emotions where the mother cries tears of joy
Her placenta falls to the floor
The placenta is expelled from the mother's womb after childbirth, and falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The newborn baby opens her eyes as if awakening to a new world, like an angel descending on earth
The confusion sets in
Despite the joy and happiness of childbirth, a feeling of confusion appears as reality sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door
The doctor doesn't even have time to leave the room as everything happens so quickly
Lightning crashes an old mother dies
As a mother dies, it's like a sudden lightning, signaling the end of life
Her intentions fall to the floor
All the plans and intentions of the dying mother vanish as life ends, like something falling to the floor
The angel closes her eyes
In death, the angel of death closes the mother's eyes, marking the end of her journey
The confusion that was hers
The confusion and uncertainty that the dying mother felt is now transferred to her surviving family and loved ones
Belongs now to the baby down the hall
The joy of birth in one room is contrasted with the grief of loss in another, showing how life is a cycle of both birth and death
Oh now feel it, comin' back again
The sensation of something familiar coming back again is felt, like the circle of life repeating itself
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
The energy and intensity of life is compared to thunder and wind, powerful forces that move forward relentlessly
Forces pullin' from
Strong, unseen forces are at work, shaping and moving life in new directions
The center of the earth again
The core of life, the very essence of existence, is pulling and guiding events, leading us in new directions
I can feel it
The singer senses and acknowledges the power and significance of these forces in shaping life's events
This moment she's been waiting for
After the long wait of pregnancy, the birth of the child is a climax, a moment of fulfillment for the mother
Pale blue colored iris
The baby's eyes are described as having a pale-blue color, a symbol of innocence and purity
Presents the circle
The birth of the new life completes the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, a circle of life
And puts the glory out to hide, hide
The miracle of birth is an amazing and glorious event, but it is hidden from sight as it happens behind closed doors
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Chad Alan Gracey, Chad David Taylor, Edward Joel Kowalczyk, Patrick Dahlheimer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@badhabit31
Dear person whoever reads this,
Hey, you, yes, I am talking right to you. I hope you will see yourself with the eyes I see you one day, because I can tell you have some awesome music taste :) You’re such a beautiful human being and worth and enough. I hope you know that you do only need yourself to be happy, I know society build up the standard that whenever you’re alone you’re not living a happy live. But in fact that is not true, if you start to realize that you actually deserve all the good things happening to you, you will treat yourself a lot nicer. I hope you let yourself rest, don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes, over regret, and over everything your mind wants to destroy you. I wish I could remove all those demons inside of your head because you deserve to feel happy. If you ever feel lonely then watch the sky, because you know, someone, at the same time is watching the sky too, maybe feeling the same way..I am glad you exist and I hope you won’t ever remove your own spot in this world, maybe you don’t feel like you belong here but, Angel, then build your home here. I don’t want you to leave this world unhappy. I want you to live every little second, I want you to feel alive, I don’t want you to see yourself just existing. You deserve it. Whatever happened, it’s not your fault, the demons in your head recognize that you have a beautiful heart, they want to take it because they have never seen such beautiful heart as yours, so why let them win over you? . You’re not selfish for isolating yourself, but you deserve to talk to someone. If you’re reading this than please never forget to breath and smile.
Don’t live up to other standards! It’s your story and not theirs.
Life for those who couldn’t, smile for those who forgot what a genuine smile is, love like there’s no other, hug like its your last one.
I love you and send you hugs.
You’re so strong, you’re still here, and I am proud of you.
YOU ARE NOT USELESS. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE WORTH IT. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE LOVED. READ THAT AGAIN.
I AM GLAD YOU EXIST. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE NOT A PROBLEM. YOU ARE HUMAN AND YOUR FEELINGS ARE VALID. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE NOT BEING DRAMATIC.
You’re not a burden to anyone, don’t be afraid to talk, to use your voice.
I WISH I COULD HUG YOU RIGHT NOW, SO A VIRTUAL HUG WILL DO.
@ncpbenjamin92
Shout out to all those still rocking this song here in 2024 🤘
Nothing quite like listening to it laying in the dark at 1am.
@jimdshea
I just saw them play this tonight. They kicked ass.
@joshcantrell9701
100% not wrong 🤘🤘
@ncpbenjamin92
@@jimdshea No way! Whereabouts did you see them?
Been a dream of mine to see them in person 😭
@jimdshea
@@ncpbenjamin92 They are playing catch-up shows that got cancelled because of COVID last fall. It was supposed to be "Unplugged," but it certainly wasn't. So there are some of those shows right now you might be able to catch.
They are also touring with (I think Incubus) this summer.
I also saw them with BUSH at Woodstock amphitheatre a few years back and they stole the show.
Still have it for sure.
@jaysoncruz5644
Still in my everyday playlist for 10 years
@taniadee14
Truth: you're on a nostalgia binge just like me.
@lanecasey6416
Stop and let me remember the good music before reminding me it’s gone.
@ReverendBrown.
Weather Channel brought me here. True story.
@phxtonash
@@lanecasey6416 9