Live is life
| Live is life | |
|---|---|
| opus | |
| publication | December 1984 |
| length | 4:15 |
| Genre (s) | Reggae , pop-rock |
| Author (s) | Ewald Pfleger, Kurt Rene Plisnier, Gunter Grasmuck, Niki Gruber, Herwig Rüdisser |
| Producer (s) | Peter Müller |
| Label | Polydor, OK |
| Award (s) | Bronze lion from Radio Luxembourg |
| album | Live is life |
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Live Is Life is a song by the Austrian band Opus from 1984, written by band members at the time Ewald Pfleger , Kurt Rene Plisnier, Gunter Grasmuck, Niki Gruber and Herwig Rüdisser, and which achieved international hit status in 1985.
history
Both the single and the album of the same name, Live Is Life , were first released worldwide in 1984. It became a number one hit in countries like Germany , Austria , Sweden and France . As a result of the success, the song received a gold record in Great Britain and the USA in addition to Germany . He was also awarded the Bronze Lion by Radio Luxembourg .
The 4:15 minute song is a live recording: The song, which was written by Ewald Pfleger on the beach in Ibiza , was recorded on September 2, 1984 at the band's eleven year celebration in the football stadium Oberwart played live. At first the song could not be recorded because the tape ran out . At the end of the concert the song was played again; the second attempt at admission succeeded.
Live Is Life also appeared on the 1985 album Up and Down , after previously being rejected by the record company; another rejected the whole album.
reception
Cover versions of Laibach
In 1987 the Slovenian band Laibach, originally from the post-industrial environment, released a cover version on Mute Records under the title Life Is Life on a 7 "and 12" single of the same name as well as Opus Dei and a German-language version called Leben ist Leben on the LP Opus Dei . The sound is “bombastic and monumental with a Wagnerian touch”, the “manipulated text [...] seems to function as a hymn with which the country is exaggeratedly praised”. On the one hand, this exaggeration has “something ridiculous, almost comical”, on the other hand, there are “moments that make reading this work untenable as ironic and that express something authentic or a natural rootedness”, which “increases the consumer’s uncertainty”. El_Nico from the online magazine Nonpop described Laibach's version as an “idiosyncratic forerunner of military pop ”. In the accompanying music video , “the focus was on the subject of nation or nationalism ”, the video is “in its visual language strongly based on the Heimatfilm”. The alpine landscape around Bohinj , the Savica waterfall and a chapel, which was built to commemorate deceased Russian prisoners, can be seen as backdrops . In this performance, Laibach manipulates "the stereotypical image of Slovenian identity in two ways":
“On the one hand, this is overlaid with a subliminal militarism that does not seem to correlate with the current idea. However, this aspect can be read in connection with the Slovenian partisan movement . On the other hand, 'German' is highlighted or drawn in the Slovenian identity. On the one hand, they were under German (-Austrian) rule for almost a thousand years and were therefore largely exposed to ' Germanization '. On the other hand, they were contemptuously referred to as 'Germans' by the other peoples of Yugoslavia [.] ”
This manipulation can also be an indication of contemporary events in which the nationalist tenor increased: In 1986 Slobodan Milošević became President of the Union of Communists of Serbia and one year later President of the Republic of Serbia. Serbia opposed the introduced system of decentralization of Yugoslavia - against which the Republic of Slovenia resisted - and demanded, among other things, a reform of the federal assembly in which no longer every republic should have one vote, but a share of the vote proportional to the number of inhabitants, whereby Serbia should would have become the strongest republic. In addition, the SANU memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts was published in 1986 , which claimed that in communist Yugoslavia the Serbs had been systematically disempowered and ousted by Slovenes and Croats. In addition, tensions in Kosovo increased.
More cover versions
- 1997: Boney NEM
- 1999: Munich freedom
- 2002: DJ Ötzi feat. Hermes House Band
- 2002: Waterloo & Robinson
- 2004: Soundconvoy
- 2007: Manny Marc feat. Corus 86 & DJ Reckless
- 2014: JBO "Death is Death"
- 2016: Sofia Carson "Love Is The Name"
- 2019: Kirin J Callinan
The late bloomers
The German-Austrian film comedy Die Spätzünder has the film title in Austria: Live Is Life - Die Spätzünder . In this the song is covered.
Rewording
The melody of the song was rewritten by Ewald Pfleger for school children. It bears the title holiday season and sings about a variety of holiday activities and how good it is to live without school.
Awards for music sales
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Germany (BVMI)
|
 gold
|
250,000 |
 France (SNEP)
|
gold
|
500,000 |
 Canada (MC)
|
 2 × platinum
|
200,000 |
 Spain (Promusicae)
|
gold
|
25,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
 silver
|
250,000 |
| All in all |
1 × silver 3 × gold 2 × platinum |
1,225,000 |
Trivia
- The Finnish ice hockey team Tappara used the hit as an anthem for a game.
- On the occasion of the Football World Cup in 1994 , Opus released another version of the song called The Power of Live Is Life, which reached number 3 in Austria. In contrast to the original, this version contains reggae elements.
- In 2014 Live Is Life was played at the big tattoo to mark the departure of Thomas de Maizière from the office of Federal Defense Minister.
- On September 19, 2014, 6,000 Kapfenbergers shot a 14-minute lipdub for Live Is Life, making it the one with the most participants.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sources for chart placements: DE / AT / CH / US , accessed on March 30, 2010.
- ↑ Live Is Life in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ↑ The album Live Is Life at discogs
- ^ Opus - Live Is Life
- ^ Opus - Live Is Life, discogs.com
- ↑ The album Up and Down at discogs
- ↑ a b c d Eva-Maria Hanser: Ideotopie . Playing with the ideology and utopia of 'Laibach art'. Vienna 2010, p. 29–31 ( univie.ac.at [PDF; accessed on August 17, 2011]).
- ↑ El_Nico: LJUBLJANA: An Introduction To Laibach. Nonpop, September 3, 2012, accessed September 3, 2012 .
- ↑ Maierhofer, L., Kern, R. and W. (2005). Sim Sala Sing. The songbook for elementary school. Rum / Innsbruck, Esslingen: Helbling.
- ↑ Award in Germany
- ^ Award in France
- ↑ Award in Canada
- ↑ Award in Spain
- ↑ Award in the United Kingdom
- ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/videos/politik/De-Maiziere-verektivenet-sich-mit-Kritik-und-Wehmut-article12045856.html
- ↑ 6,000 Kapfenbergers broke the Lipdub world record. In: steiermark.orf.at. September 20, 2014, accessed September 21, 2014 .
- ↑ "BIGGEST LIPDUB EVER" - OPUS "Live Is Life" - KAPFENBERG - The real world record! (Video) In: Youtube / Opus. September 19, 2014, accessed September 21, 2014 .