Live “Lighting Crashes" charted

Lightning Crashes Live

Writer(s): Live (see lyrics here) Released: February 24, 1995 First Charted: January 28, 1995 Peak: 12a US, 7 RR, 110 AR, 19 MR, 33 UK, 3 CN, 13 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 82.26 video, 151.55 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The rock band Live formed in York, Pennyslvania in 1984. They didn’t release their first album, Mental Jewelry, in 1991. The album produced three singles; “Operation Spirit” was a top-10 hit on the modern rock charts. Still, the album stalled at #73. However, the follow-up, 1994’s Throwing Copper, proved a massive success selling 8 million copies and topping the Billboard album chart. Four songs from the album reached the top 10 on the modern rock chart, including the #1 hits “Selling the Drama” and “Lightning Crashes.” New York magazine described the the latter song as “the story of a connection between an old lady dying and a new mother at the moment of giving birth.” WK Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk said the video created some misinterpretations. He said, “I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room. Nobody’s dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you’re seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life.” WK The song was dedicated to Barbara Lewis, a high school friend of the band’s who was killed by a drunk driver. Her brother-in-law Cory explained that “Ed is speaking to the circle of life, but specifically to how Barb’s life gave new life to many.” SF He cites how her heart is literally still beating because she was a donor. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Live SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/1/2022.

 

Oasis released “Live Forever”

Live Forever Oasis

Writer(s): Noel Gallagher (see lyrics here) Released: August 8, 1994 First Charted: August 20, 1994 Peak: 39 BA, 38 GR, 10 AR, 2 MR, 10 UK, 70 CN, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 55.9 video, 219.41 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Live Forever” was “a bittersweet and alluring gem of poetry and melodic craftiness” AMG released as the third single from Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe. It was the group’s first top-10 hit in the UK and also reached #2 on the Billboard alternative rock chart. NME magazine said the song was an improvement over previous singles, calling it “a terrific record.” WK Pitchfork called it the band’s best song. WK Noel Gallagher, the lead guitarist, wrote the song in 1991 when he was a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets. SF He was listening to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street while playing chord progressions and incorporated a vocal melody from “Shine a Light.” WK The song helped convince Liam Gallagher to let his brother join his band. SF Liam has said it is his favorite Oasis song; that it “is how a lot of people feel when they’re down on their luck.” SF The lyrics, which advocate for optimism, has been interpreted as an ode to the Gallagher’s mother, Peggy. Noel explained that it was a reaction to grunge, specifically Nirvana’s “I Hate Myself and I Want to Die.” He said that while he liked Kurt Cobain, Nirvana’s lead singer, he thought, “Kids don’t need to be hearing that nonsense.” WK Drummer Tony McCarroll said the band were awed by it. WK Alan McGee, the head of Creation Records who signed the band, said, “It was probably the single greatest moment I’ve ever experienced with them.” WK In 2006, a Q magazine poll rated “Live Forever” the greatest song of all-time. The next year, an NME and XFM poll of the 50 greatest indie anthems ever also put the song at the top. In 2018, Radio X ranked it #1 in their Best of British poll. WK Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Shawn M. Haney SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/9/2021; last updated 8/24/2023.

Meat Loaf hit #1 with “I’d Do Anything for Love”

I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) Meat Loaf

Writer(s): Jim Steinman (see lyrics here) Released: September 15, 1993 First Charted: September 5, 1993 Peak: 15 US, 16 CB, 11 GR, 3 RR, 9 AC, 10 AR, 17 UK, 12 CN, 18 AU, 4 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.4 US, 0.79 UK, 2.83 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 157.0 video, 124.44 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The debut album from Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday), 1977’s Bat Out of Hell, has been estimated at 50 million in worldwide sales, making it one of the three best-selling albums of all time. Subsequent releases over the next decade didn’t even reach a million in sales in the U.S., and by the 1990s it looked like his career was over. However, he reteamed with Jim Steinman, who’d written the songs on Bat Out of Hell, and they created Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell in the same “bombastic, piano-driven style.” SF The original album charted three top-40 hits, but his highest charting song had been “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” at #11. With “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” the first single from Bat Out of Hell II, Meat Loaf didn’t just chart again, he went all the way to the top. In addition to spending five weeks at the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., the song reached #1 in 27 other countries. WK The song was the UK’s best seller in 1993 and earned a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo. Meat Loaf and Steinman had talked about reuniting as far back as 1984, but Meat Loaf’s record label at the time wasn’t interested. When he moved to MCA, Steinman was busy working with the group Pandora’s Box, who released an album in 1989. They did finally reunite and Steinman played “I’d Do Anything for Love” for Meat Loaf in 1990. It had all the traits of a Steinman song: “power chords, the pseudo-classical piano sequences, [and] the tearful verse followed by a triumphant chorus.” LW The version that they recorded for the album was 12-minutes long, but was cut down to a five-minute version for the single. As he did for all his songs, Meat Loaf assumed the role of a character. In this case, he said he imagined he “was a 14-year-old looking at this girl trying to figure out how to get up the nerve…to ask her out.” FB Listeners seemed puzzled over what it was that Meat Loaf wouldn’t do for love, but he said the answer’s right there in the song. “I’ll never forget the way you feel right now…I’ll never stop dreaming of you every night of my life.” FB At the end of the song, the female singer, Lorraine Crosby, declares “You’ll see that it’s time to move on” and “You’ll be screwing around” to which Meat Loaf responds, “I wont do that!” Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jim Steinman FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 821. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 172. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/8/2021; last updated 11/24/2022.