The Iris of Your Eye- Remembering the Alternative music I
loved.
I grew up in the 90s. I spent nearly all the money
I earned from working at a supermarket in High School on CDs. By the time I
went to college (where I had a radio show), and I had two huge travel cases
filled with over 500 CDs.
I started college 26 years ago and since that time
unfortunately CDs have largely become irrelevant. My once prized cases sit in
my closet unused. The death blow was my car no longer having a CD player.
Instead of CDs I play music on Sirius XM.
But there is something magical and nostalgic about my
collection of music and that is something I miss. Plus, even with all the
channels on Sirius XM, it seems like I hear the same songs over and over again
after a while.
So, I had an idea. Why not start listening to my albums
again, some of which I may not have heard in years and see if I still feel the
same way about them. Is the magic still there or have I changed so much that I
no longer appreciate them in the same way?
Okay, so the first album I’m looking at is the 1994 album Throwing
Copper by Live. It’s only fitting as the title of the project “The Iris of
Yor Eye” comes from the song “Iris.” And album is one of the first I remember
buying along with Jagged Little Pill, Dookie and Nevermind.
The classic lineup of Live formed in York, Pennsylvania, in 1984
with Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals, guitars), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass), Chad
Gracey (drums), and Chad Taylor (guitars) thought they were originally called Public
Affection. Their debut album was 1991's Mental Jewelry but they had
greater success with their second album Throwing Copper.
The album starts with "The Dam at Otter Creek" and
I remember back in the day I would just skip this one because it’s too slow in
the beginning and I just want to get to the good parts.
When I heard “Selling the Drama” I immediately started
singing along and I felt the same way about “Iris,” “Top,”
and “All Over You.” Though the line “Oh, Hitler, in a robe of truth” in “Top”
has always confused me. I used to pretend the lyric was “Oh, Hitler in a Robuck
chair.” I also used to pretend the lyric in “All Over You” was “I love you like
Walter.”
I hear "Selling the Drama," “I Alone,” and “Lightning Crashes” all the time on
Sirius XM’s alternative and grunge station Lithium, but they are still great
songs.
The video for “I Alone” was really memorable (And probably
what first got me to buy the album) with the band rocking out to the track. But
it always made me laugh that the drummer (Chad Gracey) didn’t have his drums
and was just wandering around.
“Lightning Crashes” is more ballad sounding to me. It also
almost feels like a story song. But I think those elements are what made it
more mainstream and made the band more successful. I remember the song being
used in and episode of the FOX TV show “Strange Luck” in 1995. It was the first
time I heard “my music” being used on a TV show.
The lyrics for “Shit Towne” haven’t aged well, because I
can’t exactly rock out about the crackheads down the street with my 9 year-old
in the car. But it’s still an okay song. Along those lines, I’ve always loved
the righteous indignation of “Some f$cking change!” expressed in “Waitress.” And
then there is “Stage” which builds to the emphatic “Come on motherf$cker!”
T.B.D. is a slow burn of a song, but I’ve always liked it
and the all-out ending is worth the wait. “Pillar of Division” on the other
hand is a slow burn that doesn’t have as dramatic an end but still works.
I think “White, Discussion” should have been a bigger hit.
It sounds like a classic and I think the extended scream must have inspired
songs like Filter’s “Hey Man Nice Shot.”
There is also the secret track named “She Road a Horse into
My Head” or maybe just “Horse” which I’ve always liked, but it sounds more like
a country tune. “White, Discussion” and the secret track are actually on the
same track of the CD so back in the CD Mixtape days I was frustrated that I
couldn’t put either of them on CDs by themselves. And I also didn’t put them
both on because there would be that long stretch of dead air.
The album was a mainstream hit, reaching number one on the
Billboard 200. It’s Live's bestselling album, having sold over 8 million copies
and certified 8× platinum. “Selling the Drama," "I Alone,"
"Lightning Crashes," "All Over You," and "White,
Discussion" were all singles. (Though some only outside of the US)
On the Billboard Hot 100- “Selling the Drama” reached 43, “Lightning
Crashes” reached 12, “All Over You” reached 33 and “White Discussion” reached 71
On the Modern Rock Tracks- “Selling the Drama” reached 1, “I
Alone” reached 6, “Lighting Crashes” reached 1, “All Over You” reached 4, and “White
Discussion” reached 15.
The band made 5 subsequent albums Secret Samadhi
(1997), The Distance to Here (1999), V (2001), Birds of Pray
(2003), and Songs from Black Mountain (2006).
I know I bought Secret Samadhi and The Distance to
Here but I never liked them as much as I liked Throwing Copper.
In 2011 band members Patrick Dahlheimer, Chad Gracey, and
Chad Taylor, announced that they would restart the band without Kowalczyk. They
hired a new lead singer Chris Shinn, formerly of Unified Theory. The first (and
only) album to feature Shinn, The Turn, was released in 2014.
In 2017 Ed Kowalczyk rejoined the band for a tour and in
2018, they released the singles "Love Lounge" and "Be a Giver,
Man" and the EP Local 717.
In June 2022, Kowalczyk announced that Chad Taylor had been
fired from the band. And in September 2022, Kowalczyk announced that he would
be touring as Live without Dahlheimer or Gracey, leaving Kowalczyk as the only
original member left in the band. However, since then the other members have
been trying to reclaim the band’s name.
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Some information from Live’s Wikipedia pages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_(band)
