Live rose to chart success on the strength of its anthemic music and idealistic, overtly spiritual songwriting, two hallmarks which earned the group frequent comparisons to U2. Live first formed in the early ’80s in their hometown of York, Pennsylvania. After earning a rabid local following, they released a cassette, The Death of a Dictionary, on their own Action Front label. After graduating to CBGB and other famed New York clubs, they earned a demo deal with Giant Records; the completed demo earned them a deal with Radioactive. Live recruited Talking Head Jerry Harrison to produce their 1991 debut, Mental Jewelry. The record made Live one of the key players in the post-Nirvana alternative music scene thanks to singles like “Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)” and “Pain Lies on the Riverside.” Three years later, Live returned with the muscular Throwing Copper, which lingered a number of months on the charts before pushing the group into the rock mainstream. After a series of popular singles like “Selling the Drama” and “I Alone,” the album’s slow build climaxed with the funereal “Lightning Crashes,” which propelled the album to the top of the charts and paved the way for the hits “White, Discussion” and “All Over You.” Secret Samadhi followed in early 1997. The band resurfaced two years later with The Distance to Here. Both 2001’s V and 2003’s Birds of Pray cracked the Billboard Top 30. More recently, the band released The Turn in 2014, and they continue to perform all over the globe
