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!
People Like You
Live Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You were standing all alone
With a dying world below
And a microphone
Singing 'Hallelujiah!
I finally broke their mold'
Whatever it's gonna take
Keep it real
Where are the boys in Live?
They're pissing in the mainstream
Open up your cage
Focus all your rage
The world needs people like you
In a dream I had
I was on the stage with Queen
Michael Stipe and Elton John
Bono, Springstein
Singing 'Hallelujiah!
Rock and roll is king'
Whatever it's gonna take
Good luck
Keep it real
Where are the boys in Live?
They're pissing in the mainstream
Open up your cage
Focus all your rage
The world needs people like you
The world needs people like you
People like you, people like you
Mother fuckers like you
People like you
In a dream I had
You were standing all alone
With a dying world below
And a microphone
Singing 'Hallelujiah!
I finally broke their mold'
Whatever it's gonna take
Good luck
Keep it real
Where are the boys in Live?
They're pissing in the mainstream
Open up your cage
Focus all your rage
The world needs people like you
The world needs people like you
The world needs people like you
People like you
Warriors like you
Lovers like you
In a dream I had
With a dying world below
Singing 'Hallelujiah!'
The song "People Like You" by Live seems to be about breaking out of mainstream ideals and being true to oneself. The lyrics describe a dream in which the singer sees someone standing alone with a microphone, singing "Hallelujiah! I finally broke their mold", conveying a sense of individuality and non-conformity. The lyrics also mention the band's dissatisfaction with the current music scene, calling out the absence of the "boys in Live" and how they should be "pissing in the mainstream", meaning that they should be rebelling against what is popular and creating their own sound. The song encourages listeners to "open up your cage" and "focus all your rage." It ends by saying "The world needs people like you, people like you, warriors like you, lovers like you" - suggesting that individuals who are true to themselves and break away from what is mainstream are important and necessary for the world.
Line by Line Meaning
In a dream I had
The lyrics are describing a dream the singer had.
You were standing all alone
In the dream, the singer sees someone standing alone.
With a dying world below
The dream world is depicted as decaying and dying.
And a microphone
The person the singer sees in the dream is holding a microphone.
Singing 'Hallelujiah! I finally broke their mold'
The person is singing a celebratory song about breaking the mold and being different.
Whatever it's gonna take
The singer is encouraging the listener to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.
Good luck
The singer wishes the listener good luck in their endeavors.
Keep it real
The singer advises the listener to stay authentic and true to themselves.
Where are the boys in Live?
The singer is questioning where his fellow band members are.
They're pissing in the mainstream
The boys in Live are rebelling and going against the mainstream.
Open up your cage
The singer is urging the listener to break free from a metaphorical cage or constraint.
Focus all your rage
The singer encourages the listener to channel their anger and passion into their pursuits.
The world needs people like you
The singer believes that the world needs individuals who are unique and stand out.
People like you, people like you
The singer reiterates that people like the listener are important and necessary.
Mother fuckers like you
The singer shifts from a positive to a negative tone, using a derogatory term to address someone.
Warriors like you
The singer redeems the previous negative line by replacing it with a more positive one.
Lovers like you
The singer recognizes that different types of people are needed in the world, including lovers who exhibit kindness and compassion.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHAD ALAN GRACEY, CHAD DAVID TAYLOR, EDWARD JOEL KOWALCZYK, PATRICK DAHLHEIMER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind