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!
What Are We Fighting For
Live Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oil and blood on the bayonet
Crowded downtown, hit the floor
What are we fighting for?
What are we fighting for?
The world got smaller but the bombs got bigger
Ain't no game so forget the score
What are we fighting for?
What are we fighting for?
What will I tell my daughter?
What will you tell your son?
Where were all the doves?
That we were nothing but a shadow
A faceless generation devoid of love?
The crucifix ain't no baseball bat
Tell me what kind of god is that?
Ain't nothin' more godless than war
So what are we fighting for?
What are we fighting for? (...)
The lyrics to Live's song "What Are We Fighting For" are a powerful commentary on the futility and senselessness of war. The opening lines use vivid imagery to describe the horrors of armed conflict, with a reference to a symbolic flag and the disturbing sight of blood and oil on a bayonet. The following lines pose the central question of the song: what is the purpose of all this fighting? This question is repeated throughout the song, highlighting the confusion and disillusionment that many people feel when confronted with the violence and destruction of war.
The second verse of the song continues with a more systemic critique of the military-industrial complex, suggesting that technological advancements have made the consequences of warfare even more catastrophic. The lyrics use the chilling metaphor of a holocaust on a hairpin trigger, suggesting that nuclear war is always a possibility. The lyrics also challenge the idea that war is a game, and that there can be winners and losers. Instead, the singer suggests that war is a pointless exercise that only leads to suffering and death.
The final verse of the song takes a more personal turn, with the lyricist imagining what they will tell their children about the violence and destruction of war. The image of "faceless generation devoid of love" speaks to the idea that war can dehumanize us and strip us of our empathy and compassion. The song ends with a powerful denunciation of war and a call to question the motives behind it.
Line by Line Meaning
Battleflag in the bassinet
Young children are born into a world of conflict, where war is so ingrained in society that it is present even in the items they come into contact with from birth.
Oil and blood on the bayonet
Weapons of war are coated in a gruesome reminder of the violence and destruction they bring to the world: the blood and oil of those they harm and kill.
Crowded downtown, hit the floor
The reality of violence is so common and pervasive that even civilians in public spaces are trained to react instantly to the threat of attack.
What are we fighting for?
The artist poses a rhetorical question that is left unanswered throughout the song, highlighting the fact that war often lacks a clear purpose or justification.
The world got smaller but the bombs got bigger
Technological advances have enabled weapons of mass destruction that can devastate entire populations, despite globalization shrinking the physical distance between people.
Holocaust on a hairpin trigger
The threat of annihilation is ever-present, as even the slightest mistake or miscommunication could trigger a nuclear war capable of wiping out entire nations in the blink of an eye.
Ain't no game so forget the score
The singer warns against treating war as a competition or a game, as the real-life consequences of violence and death are not something to be trivialized or taken lightly.
What will I tell my daughter?
The artist is grappling with the dilemma of how to explain or justify war to future generations, especially those who may not have experienced it firsthand.
What will you tell your son?
The line addresses the listener as a fellow parent, urging them to consider the impact of war on future generations and what kind of legacy of violence and destruction they will leave behind.
Where were all the doves?
The artist is lamenting the absence of peace advocates or efforts to prevent war, suggesting that society has lost sight of the goal of non-violence and diplomacy.
That we were nothing but a shadow
The line implies that the singer feels powerless or ignored, as their cries for peace and humanity are drowned out by the ever-present reality of war.
A faceless generation devoid of love?
The song suggests that the cycle of violence and war perpetuates a culture of apathy or indifference towards others, leading to a generation without empathy or love for one another.
The crucifix ain't no baseball bat
The singer is challenging the notion that religious or moral righteousness can be used to justify violence, as even the symbol of the cross represents sacrifice and love, not aggression.
Tell me what kind of god is that?
The song questions the morality of religious doctrine that can simultaneously promote love and peace while justifying violence and war, asking what kind of deity would approve of such hypocrisy.
Ain't nothin' more godless than war
The singer declares that war is the antithesis of religious or spiritual values, embodying a world that is devoid of grace, love and humanity.
So what are we fighting for?
The repeated refrain serves as a call to action, urging listeners to question the motives and consequences of war, and to strive towards a more peaceful and harmonious world.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHAD ALAN GRACEY, CHAD DAVID TAYLOR, EDWARD JOEL KOWALCZYK, PATRICK DAHLHEIMER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind