It turns out the band that will probably be remembered for their mediocre song "Lightning Crashes" has called it quits. And they didn't call it quits for the same reasons that a band of their fallen stature normally throws in the towel. Instead of realizing their records sales had dropped off the edge of the universe and that their music represented a bygone era of rock, they shut it down once because their lead singer apparently tried some bizarre legal end-around to screw over the rest of the band.
According to a blog post by Live guitarist Chad Taylor, lead singer Ed Kowalczyk cooked up some half-cocked contract with the band's publishing entity where he was the only signatory. In other words, Kowalczyk appeared to have altered the legal publishing rights to Live's music for his personal and financial benefit. It's unclear what Kowalczyk's goal was in all of this, but it sure seemed to piss off his old buddies.
In any event, Live is no longer.
While I'm sure most of the music world would react to this news with a collective "meh," it's sort of a bummer for me. Live was actually one of the earlier bands I started listening to when I was a pre-teen/teenager. My older brother had copies of their first album, Mental Jewelry and then of their most popular album, Throwing Copper. I thought at the time, and still think, that these were really good, solid alternative rock albums. Their style at the time was unique and their approach to music was refreshing. During the mid-90s, Live's music stood out for being, if nothing else, somewhat of a positive message in an era that embraced music with rather negative and troubled overtones, like Nirvana, Soundgarden and others. I'm all about dark music, but a change was nice every now and again. At that point, Live hadn't been showing many signs of what would later become this overt quasi-religious message in their music.
I listened to Live a fair bit in middle school and then into high school. But by my freshman year, they put out a follow up to Throwing Copper in Secret Samadhi. That album was my first experience with a truly disappointing album by a band that I really liked, although there would be many that would follow. Their music became disjointed and not even really on par with anything they had put out before. I understand how bands can grow and change over time, but this was different. They had abandoned their style in such a drastic way that few other bands that I can think of had done.
By my senior year in high school, they put out The Distance To Here. This was actually a very good album in my estimation. For a long time, it was definitely in my top 10, although they were showing some seriously troubling patterns in their music. Their lyrics had become so bad that I laughed out loud a few times reading their liner notes. Consider this bit from their song "Run To The Water."
Oh, desert, speak to my heart,Oh, woman of the earth,Maker of children who weep for love,Maker of this birth,Until your deepest secrets are known to me.
Needless to say, Live had become a guilty pleasure of mine at this point. I listened to them in my car but would never suggest at a party that we scrap the Beastie Boys and replace them with Live. Furthermore, it was clear that their lead singer was becoming this unctuous huckster, a bogus portrait of himself that was a vast departure from who he was as he descended into this laughable image of a loser with bogus sex appeal who sought attention wherever he could get it.
As such, their subsequent albums became almost unbearable to listen to. One of them, which bore the obscene title of Birds of Pray, was listened to maybe once or twice before hitting the dustbin of my music collection. Nevertheless, I went with a few friends to see them play at the Uptown Theater in 2007 or so. I actually had a great time at the show. They played a lot of old stuff and spared us from the newer refuse that they had to know no one liked.
As such, their subsequent albums became almost unbearable to listen to. One of them, which bore the obscene title of Birds of Pray, was listened to maybe once or twice before hitting the dustbin of my music collection. Nevertheless, I went with a few friends to see them play at the Uptown Theater in 2007 or so. I actually had a great time at the show. They played a lot of old stuff and spared us from the newer refuse that they had to know no one liked.
Still, it was disappointing to see how much the band had completely discarded what they once stood for. It's impossible to know what forces they face in the major-label music industry that would motivate them to completely abandon their style. Perhaps Kowalczyk's willingness to sell out of his middle school chums from York, Penn., provides a clue or two. Or maybe that's something that worth leaving unexplored.
1 comments:
reminds me of Jewel's brief and embarassing venture into the world of women's shaving devices with her song "intuition" and the crapy pop/dance album it came from. To think this was the same person who wrote the songs on "pieces of you" ! Anyway, interesting post. I enjoyed some of Live's earlier music as well.
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