Laid Back
Sunshine reggae
Laid Back
Fonte: Wikipedia
Laid
Back is a Danish electronic music duo group from Copenhagen,
formed in 1979. The duo consists of John Guldberg (vocals, guitar,
bass) and Tim Stahl (vocals, keyboards, drums, bass). They are best
known for the hits "Sunshine Reggae" and "White
Horse" from 1983 and "Bakerman" from 1989.
Guldberg
and Stahl met in the mid-1970s, and played together in a group called
The Starbox Band. After a poorly received show supporting The Kinks,
the band split up, but the
duo continued working together. Guldberg
set up a small studio in downtown Copenhagen where the two musicians
began exploring the possibilities that were being opened up by new
technologies, such as multitrack tape recorders, synthesizers and
drum machines.
Their debut album, simply titled Laid Back, was released in 1981, and the single "Maybe I'm Crazy" became a number-one hit in Denmark. The next year, the single "Sunshine Reggae" was released, and became another chart-topper in their home country; it was later
included on the band's second album, Keep Smiling, in
1983, and went on to become a number-one single in Italy, West
Germany, and nineteen other countries around the world. In the US,
however, it was the single's B-side that became the band's only big
hit. "White
Horse" is a funk-influenced dance track with a
memorable bassline and ambiguous, drug- and/or sex-themed lyrics
("white horse" being a slang for heroin) that became
popular in US clubs). After the song was re-released as an A-side on
both 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl, it went
on to spend three weeks at
number one on Billboard 's National Disco Action charts; it
was also a crossover success, reaching the top five on the Hot Black
Singles chart while peaking at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in
early 1984. Its relatively poor performance on the
Hot 100 is most
likely due to the track's controversial lyrics (including the word
"bitch"),
which prevented it from receiving radio airplay
in much of the country. In 1988, the English group New Order (with
whom Laid Back admire each other[citation needed]) re-ordered
their best-selling album Technique, heavily influenced by Laid
Back's style, especially the song "Fine Time" in which
their singer Bernard Sumner paid tribute to Laid Back's
singing style, singing at some times on top voice, others singing or
even talking with over-deep
voice.[citation needed] In 1989, the
American rap act 2 Live Crew sampled "White Horse" heavily
for their single "Get the Fuck Out of My House"; it was
later sampled for Monifah's 1998 hit "Touch It".
Laid
Back's next two albums, Play It Straight (1985) and See You in
the Lobby (1987), and singles such as "Abu Dhabi" and
"Tricky Kind of Thing", were released to little fanfare and
limited chart success. The duo made a return to the European charts
in 1989 with the
single "Bakerman" (featuring Danish singer
Hanne Boel), which peaked at number nine on the West German chart,
and number 44 in the United Kingdom in early 1990. It was accompanied
by an unusual video, directed by Lars von Trier, which featured the
band
skydiving while "playing" their instruments. Hoping to
capitalize on this success, their label re-released "White
Horse" (as "White Horse '89") with new remixes,
although this was a commercial disappointment.
Over
the course of the following two decades, Laid Back continues
to work together, and have since released four albums, a handful of
singles, and two greatest hits albums (Laidest Greatest in 1995 and
Good Vibes – The Very Best of Laid Back in 2008). The duo
also
composed the soundtrack of the 2001 feature film Flyvende
Farmor, for which they were awarded a Robert, the Danish equivalent
of an Oscar. That same year, an exhibition of the band's artwork,
including pieces that appeared on their records and promotional
posters,
took place in Copenhagen. In 2003 they featured on the track
'Tango' by Danish band Hæst, produced by Umpff. They continue to
make sporadic live performances, as well, including high-profile
shows at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2004, and the Roskilde
Festival in 2005. A remix of "Bakerman" by British DJ Shaun
Baker reached number one in Greenland in 2006.
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