Line #49 Music/Live


1	[[quoteright:244:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Live_logo_2943.jpg]]
2	%%
3	->''It’s the sun that burns, It’s the wheel that turns.\
4	It’s the way we sing that makes 'em dream.''
5	-->-- "Selling the Drama"
6
7	Live[[note]]rhymes with "hive"[[/note]] is a AlternativeRock band from York, Pennsylvania. Originally formed as Public Affection, the group changed its name to Live after the release of one album. After the modest success of their first album as Live, the group skyrocketed to popularity in 1994 with ''Throwing Copper'', on the strengths of the singles "Selling the Drama", "I Alone", "All Over You", and "Lightning Crashes". Their next two albums were well-received but not as successful, and with their subsequent albums, they slowly dwindled in popularity. Singer Music/EdKowalczyk split from the group rather acrimoniously in 2009, and it reformed in late 2011 with new singer Chris Shinn, formerly from Unified Theory. However, as of December 2016, Ed has returned as the band's lead vocalist, with the official website being redone to completely 86 any mention of Chris Shinn's time with them. To take it further, the album they recorded with Shinn, ''The Turn'', has been removed from all digital music outlets and is nowhere to be seen in their official discography either. As of 2023, Ed Kowalczyk is the only remaining original member, having gained majority control of the band, first firing Chad Taylor, then later firing Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey. Taylor and Gracey were replaced by touring members Zak Loy and Robin Diaz, respectively, while Dahlheimer was replaced by Chris Weerlein.
8	!!Members
9	!!!Current
10	* Zak Loy - Lead guitar, backing vocals
11	* Chris Weerlein - Bass
12	* Robin Diaz - Drums
13	* Ed Kowalczyk - Vocals
14
15	!!!Former
16	* Chris Shinn - Vocals
17	* Adam Kowalczyk - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals (Unofficial member)
18	* Chad Taylor - Lead guitar
19	* Patrick Dahlheimer - Bass guitar
20	* Chad Gracey - Drums
21
22	!!Discography
23	* ''The Death of a Dictionary'' (1989, as Public Affection)
24	* ''Four Songs'' (EP) (1991)
25	* ''Mental Jewelry'' (1991)
26	* ''Throwing Copper'' (1994)
27	* ''Secret Samadhi'' (1997)
28	* ''The Distance to Here'' (1999)
29	* ''V'' (2001)
30	* ''Birds of Pray'' (2003)
31	* ''Songs from Black Mountain'' (2006)
32	* ''Radiant Sea: A Collection of Bootleg Rarities and Two New Songs'' (2007)
33	* ''Live at the Paradiso – Amsterdam'' (2008)
34	* ''The Turn'' (2014)
35
36	----
37	!!This band provides examples of the following:
38
39	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: From "White, Discussion":
40	--> And if the decibels of this disenchanting discourse / Continue to dampen the day
41	* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Chad Gracey's wife calls his on-stage persona "Walter", because he seems to become a completely different man behind the drum-set. While he's big and imposing, he's also currently the most clean-cut looking member of the band.
42	* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: "Lightning Crashes" opens with two verses about an 'old mother' who has just died and a 'new mother' who has just given birth. Bonus points, as the lyrics imply that the 'old mother' is being reincarnated in that moment as the baby of the 'new mother'.
43	* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: ''V''[[note]]That's 5 in Roman numerals, just in case.[[/note]]
44	* ClusterFBomb:
45	** "Shit Towne" repeats "Gotta live, gotta live in shit towne" twice in each chorus.
46	** "Waitress", while not vitriolic, has enough cursing that it's a wonder it didn't earn ''Throwing Copper'' a Parental Advisory sticker.
47	* DoubleEntendre: The first verse of "The Dolphin's Cry".
48	-->The way you're bathed in light reminds me of that night\
49	God led me down into your rose garden of trust
50	* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: The original line-up all did, in York, Pennsylvania.
51	* FanserviceWithASmile: {{ZigZagged\|Trope}} in "Waitress":
52	-->Come on baby, leave some change behind\
53	She was a bitch, but I don't care\
54	She brought our food out on time\
55	Wore a funky barrette in her hair
56	* HatedHometown: Patrick, the Chads and Ed all grew up in York, Pennsylvania, in a rather rough neighbourhood with many "crack-heads." Ed in particular was known to constantly badmouth it. "Shit Towne" was written about their time there.
57	* HiddenTrack:
58	** "Horse" on ''Throwing Copper''
59	** An untitled track on ''V'', which is essentially a remix of "Deep Enough"
60	* ICallItVera: Chad Taylor has a Fender Jazzmaster named "Ruby Lou", after his daughter. He's got another guitar named "Scarlet", which is red.
61	* ImportantHaircut: Kowalczyk shaved his head down to a single braid in between the videos for "Selling the Drama" and "I Alone" and then completely shaved it off to go fully bald. While he does outgrow his hair from time to time, he's nowadays more recognisable with the bald look. From then on, their videos started getting really trippy and artsy, at least through the songs from ''The Distance to Here''.
62	* LongRunnerLineUp: The original four members played together for 20 years, from 1989 to 2009. There were sometimes additional musicians touring with them, but none of these were official members of the band.
63	* PerformanceVideo: All of their videos to one degree or another.
64	* PrecisionFStrike:
65	** "Stage", "Freaks", "Voodoo Lady", and "People Like You" all drop one or two pointed F-bombs, although in all but "Voodoo Lady" (where the lyric is a quote from her), they're rather gratuitous and out-of-the-blue.
66	** Ed would also regularly insert the f-word in live performances of "Lakini's Juice".
67	* ProgressiveInstrumentation: "Lightning Crashes" starts with the guitar, then at 0:26 the vocals, then 1:58 the bass, and finally at 2:27 the drums appear.
68	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: "Lightning Crashes" was inspired by the death of a friend of Ed's who was killed in a car accident caused by a driver fleeing an armed robbery. She was an organ donor, and the imagery of the song represents how her donated organs, including her heart, empowered the lives of others.
69	* {{Reincarnation}}:
70	** "Lightning Crashes" suggests that the 'old mother' who has just died has been reincarnated as the newborn baby down the hall.
71	** The band itself "reincarnated" with Chris Shinn taking over as the lead singer and the return to the rougher sound of their early days for a few years before the original line up regrouped.
72	* SpokenWordInMusic: The album version of "White, Discussion" includes some lo-fi clips of an angry-sounding man. This was something Ed had heard over a shortwave radio and decided to record and incorporate into the song because he thought the man's voice was "amazing":
73	-->I warned you, I prepared you! I instructed you, I told you what to expect...
74	* SurrealMusicVideo: "I Alone", "Lakini's Juice", "Freaks" and the alternate version of "Turn My Head".
75	* VideoFullOfFilmClips: "Forever May Not Be Long Enough", which was written for ''Film/TheMummyReturns''.
76	* WalkingShirtlessScene: Ed Kowalczyk was very fond of either wearing open shirts or no shirt at all.
77	* WarIsHell: "What Are We Fighting For?"
78	-->The world got smaller but the bombs got bigger\
79	Holocaust on a hairpin trigger\
80	Ain't no game so forget the score\
81	What are we fighting for
82	* AWildRapperAppears: Tricky contributes a rapped breakdown to "Simple Creed." Around the same time, Ed Kowalczyk sang on Tricky's "Evolution Revolution Love".
83	* WordSaladLyrics: Several songs, especially on ''Secret Samadhi''.
84	** WordOfGod has said that they wrote the lyrics while in Jamaica after they "got a little friendly with the local gardener". This could be true for most of the songs; however, not for "Freaks" as it was performed live as early as 1994, a whole 3 years before the album was released.
85	* YoungerThanTheyLook: As of 2015 the band members are only in their early- to mid-fourties. Patrick Dalheimer and Ed Kowalczyk looked older than they were from the beginning, while Chad Taylor has aged himself with a beard.
86

Context Music / Live