Europe là ban nhạc Hard rock của Thụy Điển được thành lập vào năm 1979. Trong những buổi đầu, nhóm mang tên Force với 2 thành viên sáng lập là Joey Tempest – hát chính và John Norum- guitar. Europe khởi đầu là một nhóm Progressive Rock với cái tên "Force", tuy nhiên họ đã chẳng gây được tiếng tăm gì cho đến khi chuyển hẳn sang chơi Hard Rock và Pop Metal band nhạc mới bắt đầu hồi sinh. Các chàng trai Thủy Điển với Joey Tempest (vocals), John Norum (guitar), và John Leven (bass) đoạt giải thi tài năng trẻ toàn quốc đầu những năm 80s và đã nhanh chóng trở thành một thế lực mới.
Năm 1982, Force tham gia cuộc thi tài năng Rock-SM tại Thụy Điển và vượt qua 4000 ban nhạc khác để dành vị trí cao nhất với 2 bài hát “In the Future to Come” và “The King Will Return”. Tempest đạt giải ca sĩ suất xắc nhất Best Lead Singer và Norum đạt giải Best Guitarist. Trong khoảng thời gian này, Force bắt đầu đổi tên thành Europe. Album thứ nhất ra đời vào năm 1983 với tên Europe đã mang lại thành công ban đầu tại Thụy Điển và Nhật. Album thứ 2 – Wings of Tomorrow – ra đời 1 năm sau đó với single “Open your heart” đã gây được sự chú ý của hãng đĩa CBS (Columbia Records) tại Mỹ và hãng này đã đề nghị kí hợp đồng với nhóm vào năm 1985.
Năm 1986 Europe phát hành "The Final Countdown" và đã trở thành Top Ten hit ở cả Mỹ và Anh, cả 2 single "The Final Countdown" và "Carrie" cũng trở thành Top Ten singles của năm. Riêng ca khúc "The Final Countdown" vọt lên vị trí số 1 ở 26 quốc gia. Thành công đó đã kéo theo tour lưu diễn ở Mỹ cùng với hoàng loạt tên tuổi tiếng tăm khác như Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Skid Row và Vixen. Tên tuổi của Europe chỉ thực sự bắt đầu vươn ra tầm cỡ thế giới với sự ra đời của album thứ 3 này. Cho đến nay, hai bản hit Carrie và The final countdown vẫn được biết đến như ca khúc Rock bất hủ qua mọi thời đại. Europe trở thành một trong những ban nhạc Rock thành công nhất vào thập niên 80. Từ năm 1986 – 1992, Europe đã bán trên 20 triệu bản ghi trên toàn thế giới và trở thành ban nhạc thứ 4 thành công nhất trong lịch sử âm nhạc của Thụy Điển.
Album tiếp theo Out Of This World xuất bản vào năm 1988 với bản hit “Superstitious” đứng thứ 31 trên bảng Billboard 100 và đứng thứ 9 trên Main Stream Rock Tracks. Đây cũng là bản nhạc cuối cùng của Europe có mặt trong các bảng xếp hạng tại Mỹ. Album sau đó Prisoners in Paradise xuất bản vào năm 1991 không tạo được thêm tiếng vang nào. Sau chuyến lưu diễn năm cuối năm 1992, họ quyết định chia tay. Tempest và Marcello theo đuổi sự nghiệp solo, các thành viên còn lại cũng có sự nghiệp riêng. Năm 1998, Europe được xem như đã tái hợp khi các thành viên cùng xuất hiện trong một số show diễn. Nhưng đến đến 2003 thì họ mới chính thức công bố về album mới và tour lưu diễn vòng quanh thế giới của nhóm. Các album tiếp theo của Europe: Start from the dark - 2004, Secret Society - 2006, Last look at Eden - 2009.
Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson and drummer Tony Reno. Since its formation, Europe has released nine studio albums, three live albums, three compilations and nineteen videos. Europe rose to international fame in the 1980s with its third album The Final Countdown (1986), which became a substantial commercial success and sold over three million copies in the United States. Europe was one of the most successful rock acts of the 1980s and sold over 20 million albums worldwide. The band has achieved two top 20 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (The Final Countdown and Out of This World) and two top 10 singles on theBillboard Hot 100 chart ("The Final Countdown" and "Carrie"). Europe went on hiatus in 1992, reunited temporarily for a one-off performance in Stockholm on New Year's Eve 1999 and announced an official reunion in 2003. Since then the band has released four albums, Start from the Dark (2004),Secret Society (2006), Last Look at Eden (2009) and Bag of Bones (2012). The band is mainly influenced by Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Michael Schenker Group.
Early days (1979–85)
The first incarnation of the band was named Force and came together in 1979, in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm, and was integrated by vocalist and keyboardist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson and drummer Tony Reno. "I remember when we started the band Force we were playing covers in the rehearsal room, because we just wanted to learn our instruments, like all bands," Tempest said, "Then one day I said maybe we should do our own stuff. Nobody had any ideas, so I brought mine into the rehearsal room, and that is when we started writing our own stuff." The band sent several demos to record companies, but were told that in order to be published they had to cut their hair and sing in Swedish. Two years later, Olsson left the band and was replaced by John Levén. Just a couple of months later, Levén joined Yngwie Malmsteen's band Rising Force, and Malmsteen's former bassist, Marcel Jacob, joined Force. This only lasted for three months, though; Levén apparently had issues with Malmsteen, so he and Jacob traded places again.
In 1982, Tempest's girlfriend entered Force in the Swedish rock talent contest Rock-SM. Competing against 4000 bands, they won the contest thanks to two songs, "In the Future to Come" and "The King Will Return". The reward was a record deal with Hot Records. Tempest won the individual award for Best Lead Singer, and Norum won the award for Best Guitarist. Just before the contest, Force changed their name to Europe. The self-titled debut album was released the following year, and sold well both in Sweden and Japan. The album charted at number 8 in the band's home country and the single "Seven Doors Hotel" became a Top 10 hit in Japan.
The second album Wings of Tomorrow was released one year later and the single "Open Your Heart" got interest from CBS Records who offered them an international contract in 1985. "I think one of the most important albums for the band wasWings of Tomorrow," Tempest said, "We were learning how to write songs and John started playing some really cool stuff on the guitar. We became a better band and that was a good period for the band." Keyboardist Mic Michaeli was soon recruited to play in live concerts, and became an official member of the band shortly after. At the same time, Tony Reno was fired because of his lack of motivation and alleged slacking off on rehearsals. His replacement was Ian Haugland. In 1985 Europe recorded the soundtrack for the film On the Loose, which gave them the hit "Rock the Night". Several months later Joey Tempest was asked to write a song for the charity project Swedish Metal Aid. He wrote "Give a Helping Hand", which would feature the biggest stars of Swedish rock and metal. The income from the sales of the single, which was produced by Easy Action guitarist Kee Marcello, was donated to the starving people of Ethiopia.
Worldwide success (1985–92)
In September 1985, Europe was approached by an executive from Epic Records. They helped Europe start the recording of its next album with Journey producerKevin Elson. The result was The Final Countdown. Released on May 26, 1986, the album gave the band its international breakthrough, was certified Triple Platinum in the USA and reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. The title track, which was based on a keyboard riff composed by Tempest as early as 1981-82, was released as the first single and became a worldwide success, peaking at number 1 in 25 countries, such as the UK, France, Spain and Germany. The power ballad "Carrie", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Cherokee" and a re-recorded "Rock the Night" were other hits from the album.
Not satisfied with the album's keyboard-dominated production nor the band's commercialized image, John Norum decided to leave Europe in November 1986 to pursue a solo career. "I didn't really like the direction the band was going in," Norum said, "We became this teeny-bopper, bubblegum band and I hated that whole image, the spandex, poodle-rock type of thing. I was more into the heavier, guitar-oriented stuff and it seemed like the keyboards were taking over more and more, and we were becoming more commercial. So I decided to leave. I just wanted to move on and do something else." ee Marcello was asked to replace him, and after some consideration, he decided to join the band. Marcello joined the band at its commercial peak, no less than three singles from The Final Countdown reaching the US Top 40. The following year included successful tours through Europe and the USA. The follow-up to The Final Countdown was entitled Out of This World and was released in 1988. The biggest hit from the album was "Superstitious" which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. "Superstitious" would be the last Europe song to chart in the USA. The album was certified platinum in the States and peaked at number 19 on the Billboard 200 chart. More touring followed, including an American tour with Def Leppardand a festival gig at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England with Bon Jovi, Skid Row and Vixen.
In September 1989, Europe did a gig at the Whisky a Go Go club in West Hollywood, California, under the pseudonym Le Baron Boys. That name would later be used as a title for a much-circulated Europe bootleg, which contained demo recordings from 1989-90. Two years later, the album Prisoners in Paradise was released, but received limited media attention due to the "boom" of the grunge movement, started by Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam. Although the sales were low compared to previous albums, the single "I'll Cry for You" managed to hit number 28 on the UK charts. OnNew Year's Eve 1991, Europe kicked off a new tour with a show at the Tokyo Dome, in which Tesla, Thunder and Metallica also performed. The show was called "Final Countdown '91". After ten years of living, recording, and touring together, Europe decided to take a break at the end of the 1992 tour. "I remember in the tour bus afterwards we were talking about where the whole thing was going and I think at the time the consensus of the band was we really felt ready for a break," Tempest said, "We felt that it was time to put some roots down and I was really into the idea of making my own solo album." In that time, Tempest and Marcello released solo albums whilst the other members participated in several different projects and bands. In return, Europe was dropped from Epic Records.
Reunion (1998–present)
The band members started to discuss the possibility of a Europe reunion in 1998. "Mic and Ian came over to see me in Ireland," Tempest said, "Then whilst we were there, John Norum called from LA, and we were like 'Yes, maybe now is the right time to get things started again'." For the 2000 millennium celebrations, Europe was asked to do a concert in Stockholm on New Year's Eve 1999. That would be Europe's first, and to date only, concert with both of their lead guitarists, since both John Norum and Kee Marcello had accepted the offer to play that evening with the rest of the group. They played "Rock the Night" and "The Final Countdown". Over the years, there were several reunion rumors, and on October 2, 2003 it was made official: Europe announced plans for a new album and world tour. The band then switched back to the Final Countdown line-up, with John Norum as the only lead guitarist. "There was no doubt that we wanted John back, and John wanted to get back," Tempest said, "For me it was important to get that spark going again that we had before." Kee Marcello claimed that he was too busy with his own projects. "I told them I didn't want to participate in a [new] studio album because musically, I want to go in a different kind of direction than the music Europe stands for," Marcello said, "Then we talked for a while about doing a six-piece tour – it didn't turn out that way because of different reasons."
The songwriting for a new album, Start from the Dark, began early in 2003. "It was just a matter of moving forward and writing songs for the new album," Tempest said, "That was always our intention. We thought that if we were gonna make a comeback, we wanted to do it properly, and that meant we wanted to write and record some new songs, a new album." For the recording of Start from the Dark, the band decided to work with producer Kevin Elson, who had also produced The Final Countdown. "We could either go with a younger producer, or we could go with someone that we knew, someone experienced who is on the same wavelength as the band," Tempest said, "So in the end we decided that Kevin would be the perfect choice." In the summer of 2004 Europe went on a festival tour through the European continent. The concert setlists included the old hits, but also introduced the title track from Start from the Dark. The album was released on September 22, 2004, the same day that John Norum became a father. Start from the Dark featured a more modern sound compared to Europe's previous albums. "We wanted to be doing something at least that was a little bit relevant now; bit of a dry mix, detuned a bit," Tempest said, "So we felt like we didn't want to do an 1980s album per se, we just wanted to start like a fresh band really." Eventually, the album sold in excess of 600,000 copies worldwide.
Europe released its seventh album, Secret Society on October 26, 2006. "We think it's one of the strongest albums that Europe has ever done," Tempest said, "There is definitely some more melodic stuff on this one. Start from the Dark was very raw and made a statement, which is cool but for us it felt like a debut album in a way, so we wanted to branch out a bit on this one and take it to new levels." On January 26, 2008 Europe did a semi-acoustic live concert at Nalen in Stockholm, calling the event Almost Unplugged. The band was accompanied by a string quartet and played reworked versions of its own songs, as well as cover versions of songs by bands that have influenced Europe's sound throughout the years – Pink Floyd, UFO, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. The show was broadcast live over the Internet on Europe's official website. It was released on CD on September 17, 2008 and on DVD on August 19, 2009.
On July 23, 2008 Europe did a co-headlining concert with Whitesnake in Padua, Italy. During Whitesnake's performance of their encore "Still of the Night", Joey Tempest joined David Coverdale on stage for the last chorus. In August 2008 Europe was the opening act for Deep Purple for two concerts in Sweden, in Linköping on August 8 and Ystad on August 9. John Norum joined Deep Purple on stage in Ystad for a performance of "Smoke on the Water". On July 21, 2009, bassist and former member of Force, Marcel Jacob, committed suicide. He was 45 years old. Europe's eighth studio album, Last Look at Eden, was released on September 9, 2009. The title track was released as a single in June. The band has described it as a modern retro rock album. "This time, we're taking some new directions with our songs, and we're exploring different styles," they stated, "There is a definite classic rock vibe on some of the tracks... a tip of the hat to groovin', funkin' 1970s rock songs - but ones we have bought into the here and now." The second single, "New Love in Town", was released as a digital download on September 3, 2009.
In an interview with Abhijeet Ahluwalia for EspyRock on November 30, 2009, Joey Tempest outlined the future of Europe, announcing the follow-up to Last Look at Eden will come in 2011: "We're gonna keep working at this rate we’re working at, which is pretty good. We’ll probably come out with an album in 2011 and tour in 2012 again. We’re looking 2-3 years ahead all the time, and in the next 5 years I see Europe with 2 more albums, 2 more world tours and hopefully having established ourselves even better in a lot of territories around the world." On August 6, 2011, Europe headlined the closing ceremonies of the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden before an audience of 40,061 Scouts and Guides which included King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Silvia of Sweden. On July 12, 2011, Europe confirmed that Kevin Shirley would produce their ninth studio album. The recording sessions started on October 3, 2011. On January 24, 2012 the band announced the album title, Bag of Bones. The album was released on April 18, 2012 in Japan by Victor Entertainment and on April 25 in Sweden by Gain Music Entertainment. "Bag of Bones" debuted at number 2 on the Swedish album chart on May 4, 2012 and was certified Gold in Sweden on July 12, 2012. The band played at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2013, with their performance recorded for a 30th anniversary double CD, DVD and blu-ray disc, which was released in October 2013.
Carie - Europe
When lights goes down,
I see no reason for you to cry,
We've been through this before
in every time,
In every season,
god knows I've tried
So please don't ask for more
Can't you see it in my eyes
The this might be our last goodbye
Carrie, Carrie,
things they change my friend who... who...
Carrie, Carrie,
maybe we'll meet again, somewhere above
I read your mind,
With no intentions of being unkind,
I wish I could explain
it all takes time, a whole lot of patience,
If it's a crime, how could I feel no pain
Can't you see it in my eyes
The this might be our last goodbye o... o... o...
Carrie, Carrie,
things they change my friend who ... ooo
Carrie, Carrie,
maybe we'll meet again
O... ooo
Can't you see it in my eyes
The this might be our last goodbye o... ooo
Carrie, Carrie, ooo.... who...
things they change.... carrie... carrie...
Carrie, Carrie,
maybe we'll meet again, somewhere above
(when lights goes down)
Hero - Europe
It's not like I wouldn't dream
If you had not shown the way
It's not like I wouldn't fight
Not knowing 'bout your life
It's not like I wouldn't stand
Right here with my friends
You threw us all alive
When our days slipped away
You gave us of your time
'Cause you are my hero
My fridaynight
You wrote the soundtrack to my life
And gave me something
To hold on to
When i was growing up
You were the rock
In my life
It's not like I live my days
By every word you spoke
Like I'm up every night
Drinking with your ghost
It's not like I can't look back
Without movin' on
You threw us all alive
When our days slipped away
You gave us of your time
You are my hero
My fridaynight
You wrote the soundtrack to my life
And gave us kiss
A chance to dream
Days when I had enough
You were the rock
In my life
You still throw me that like
As my days slipp away
You give me of your time
You're still my hero
My fridaynight
You wrote the soundtrack to my life
You give me something
To hold on to
As I'm still growing up
You are the rock
In my life
I’ll cry for you - Europe
I never dreamed that
I could fall
But something's come
Over me
Now I'm sittin' starin'
At the wall
Afraid for my sanity
The sound of your voice
The touch of your skin
It's hauntin' me
I'm still tryin' to come
To my senses
But I can't look back
So I'm takin' my chances
I wanna give you my heart
Give you my soul
I wanna lay in your arms
Never let go
Don't wanna live my
Life without you
But I know when you're gone
Like a fire needs a spark
Like a fool in the dark
I'll cry for you
Wonderin' why I'm
Runnin' scared
From what I belive in
I know that love
Is just another word
To say what I'm feelin'
For once in my life
The future is mine
It's callin' me
I've been searchin' so long
For an answer
But it's too late now
So I'm takin' my chances
Give you my soul
I wanna lay in your arms
Never let go
Don't wanna live my
Life without you
But I know when you're gone
Like a fire needs a spark
Like a fool in the dark
I'll cry for you
For once in my life
The future is mine
It's callin' me
I've been searchin' so long
For an answer
But it's too late now
So I'm takin' my chances
Give you my soul
I wanna lay in your arms
Never let go
Don't wanna live my
Life without you
But I know when you're gone
Like a fire needs a spark
Like a fool in the dark
I'll cry for you
Open your heart - Europe
Days filled with joy,
and days filled with sorrow
I don't know just what to do
am I happy today,
am I lonely tomorrow
everything depends on you
And I've been waitin'
for the angels to knock on my door
I've been hopin'
that everything could be like before
Open your heart
and tell me what's wrong
why can't you talk like you used to do before
I don't know if I'm weak
I don't know if I 'm strong
hey girl I can't cope anymore
And I've been waitin'
for the angels to knock on my door
I've been hopin'
that everything could be like before
Open your heart,
let me hear you
make up your mind ,
I want to hear you call
open your heart,
want to come near you
make up your mind,
before we lose it all
Maybe the sun will continue to shine
maybe the rain will continue to fall
maybe you want to leave me behind
maybe you change and give me your call
And I've been waitin'
for the angels to knock on my door ...
The final countdown - Europe
We're leaving together,
But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back,
To earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground (leaving ground)
Will things ever be the same again?
It's the final countdown
the final countdown
We're heading for Venus (Venus) and still we stand tall
Cause maybe they've seen us and welcome us all
With so many light years to go and things to be found (to be found)
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so.
It's the final countdown
the final countdown
the final countdown...
The best songs of Europe
No comments:
Post a Comment