The “Lightning Crashes” hitmakers are on a co-headlining tour with Collective Soul for the Summer Unity Tour
A decade before Live became one of the biggest bands of the mid-1990s, it all began with four teenage friends in York, Pennsylvania. Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk and his bandmates went through several different names in their early years, including Club Fungus and Public Affection, the name under which they self-released their first cassette in 1989. Signing to Radioactive Records and adopting the name Live, the band released a string of platinum albums, eventually selling 20 million albums worldwide.
More from Spin:
James McMurtry Gives Us the Protest Album We Need
The Evolution of Luke Spiller
From Louisiana Bayous to Rock Royalty: Clifton Chenier’s Lasting Legacy
Now, Live is teaming up with another group of ‘90s hitmakers, Collective Soul, for the Summer Unity Tour, which kicks off July 8 in Auburn, Washington. Live’s sets will draw from a catalog that includes eight studio albums and radio hits like “I Alone” and “Lightning Crashes.” In anticipation of the tour, here’s a closer look at Live’s very best songs.
10. “Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)”
Live’s signature sound, with a muscular rhythm section and Kowalczyk’s charismatic vocals and lyrics that restlessly question societal norms and beliefs, was all in place on the band’s first major label single. “Operation Spirit” peaked at No. 9 on the Modern Rock chart in February 1992 just as grunge was exploding and Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” and Pearl Jam’s “Alive” were also on the chart. Live’s 1991 debut album Mental Jewelry was a sleeper hit, going platinum years after the follow-up album turned the band into a household name.
9. “White, Discussion”
After Talking Heads broke up, guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison became one of the most successful alternative rock producers of the 1990s, working on platinum albums by Crash Test Dummies and the Verve Pipe. Live’s sophomore effort Throwing Copper, which has sold over eight million copies in the U.S. alone, is by far the biggest release in both the band’s catalog and in Harrison’s production discography. The brooding epic “White, Discussion” was both the album’s fifth single and its closing track (though it’s followed by a hidden track, the country-tinged “Horse”).
8. “Simple Creed”
Tricky, the British rapper and producer who played an important role in the development of the trip hop genre, may seem like a surprising collaborator for Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk, but they made two songs together in 2001. First, Kowalczyk guested alongside Jamaican vocalist Hawkman on “Evolution Revolution Love” from Tricky’s album Blowback. A few months later, Tricky returned the favor with an ominous guest vocal on the bridge of “Simple Creed,” the lead single to Live’s fifth album V.
7. “Where Do We Go From Here?”
2006’s Songs from Black Mountain was the last album Live released with all four original members before a series of lineup changes. “Where Do We Go From Here?” sounds like vintage Live, though, opening with Kowalczyk singing over an acoustic guitar before the full band builds up to a soaring chorus.
6. “Shit Towne”
One of the catchiest and most popular Live songs that was never released as a single was written about the band’s hometown. It’s unlikely, however, that York, Pennsylvania will ever adopt Throwing Copper’s “Shit Towne” as the theme song for a tourism campaign.
5. “Feel the Quiet River Rage”
Live reunited with Jerry Harrison for their fourth album, The Distance to Here. “Feel the Quiet River Rage” has a thunderous chorus at a similar tempo to one of the band’s biggest hits, “I Alone,” which may be why the band would sometimes perform both songs back-to-back when touring in support of The Distance to Here.
4. “Lightning Crashes”
Kowalczyk wrote “Lightning Crashes” after a friend was killed by a drunk driver as he considered the concept of reincarnation, with the premise of the song that a baby could be born at the moment that someone else dies. The philosophical power ballad topped Billboard’s Modern Rock chart for nine weeks, tying U2’s “Mysterious Ways” for the longest reign at No. 1 on the chart at the time. “Lightning Crashes” has continued to be a pop culture staple over the years, appearing in the 2017 film Kodachrome and episodes of One Tree Hill and Yellowjackets.
3. “Good Pain”
“Good Pain” was the only song from Public Affection’s early days that remained in the band’s repertoire after they changed names and signed to a major label. The slow burner appeared both on their early demos as well as Mental Jewelry, and live renditions of the song would sometimes stretch out to over ten minutes.
2. “Selling the Drama”
R.E.M. was the most revered band in alternative rock in the mid-‘90s, and their influence was ubiquitous in many of the younger bands breaking through at the time, including Toad the Wet Sprocket, Counting Crows, and especially Live, who wore the influence on their sleeve on hits like “Selling the Drama.” Throwing Copper’s lead single became the band’s first Hot 100 hit and helped Live land an invitation to Woodstock ’94, and their performance of “Selling the Drama” appeared on the official live album from the festival.
1. “Lakini’s Juice” The lead single from 1997’s Secret Samadhi is both one of the heaviest and one of the most beautiful songs in the Live catalog, opening with a chunky, harshly distorted guitar riff that contrasts with the dreamy, cinematic strings that enter on the prechorus. “Lakini’s Juice” made for a dramatic statement as the first song released by Live after the massive success of Throwing Copper, and it became the band’s third No. 1 hit on the Modern Rock chart.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
