"Live Is Life" is a song by Austrian pop rock band

Opus Opus (: opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera ...

, released in 1984 by labels

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

and OK as the first single from their first live album, '' Live Is Life'' (1984). It was written by the band and produced by Peter Müller, and also included on the US version of their fourth studio album, '' Up and Down'' (1984). The song was a European number-one hit in the summer of 1985, and also reached number one in Canada and the top 40 in the US in 1986. It has been covered by many artists. The title is sometimes mistaken as "Life Is Life":

Standard German phonology The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influence ...

has

final-obstruent devoicing Final-obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as Catalan, German, Dutch, Quebec French, Breton, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Wolof. In such languages, voic ...

, so that the word "

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

" sounds like "life".

Background and chart performance

After having released several singles, "Live Is Life" achieved huge success in 1985, topping the charts of many countries, including Austria (eight weeks), West Germany, France (seven weeks) and Sweden (four weeks). The song was created during a concert in

Oberwart Oberwart (; ; ) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the Oberwart (district), same name. With almost 8,000 inhabitants it’s the third largest town in Burgenland, after E ...

, on 2 September 1984, while the group celebrated its eleventh anniversary. It was recorded in a live version with the audience singing along in the verses. In the lyrics, the song expresses "the enthusiastic attachment of the group to the stage". The song was performed during the 1985 charity campaign, "Austria für Afrika". It was be re-recorded as the theme song of the

2024 European Women's Handball Championship The 2024 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland from 28 November to 15 December 2024. This was the first tournament to feature 24 teams. Norway were the two time defending champions and defended their t ...

in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland to mark the fortieth anniversary of the original song. It is the current goal song of Team Canada during the

2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''2025 WJHC'') was the 49th edition of the IIHF World Junior Championship, Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, held from December 26, 2024 to January 5, 2025. The United States men's national jun ...

being held in Ottawa, Ontario. The song had previously been used by Team Canada in the 2023 Gretzky Hlinka Championship and 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship. The Ottawa 67s also used it as their goal song during the 2023-2024 season.

Maradona's warm up

On 19 April 1989, during the warming up in Munich before the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

return between

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

and

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

performed an impromptu

keepie uppie Keepie uppie, keep-ups or kick-ups is the skill of juggling with an association football using feet, lower legs, knees, chest, shoulders, and head, without allowing the ball to hit the ground. It is similar to Kemari, a game formerly practiced in ...

exhibition synchronized to the rhythm of "Live Is Life", as the song happened to be playing over the stadium's loudspeakers during warm-ups. Some confusion persists by those who dispute that it took place in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Among others,

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (; born 30 July 1964) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player. He played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, AS Monaco FC, Monaco, Tottenham Hot ...

claimed that it happened during the final in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

There were 70,000 people in the stadium and Maradona went on the field. We’re on the other side of the field, warming up like Germans: seriously, focused. There's music playing, the song "Live is Life", and to the rhythm of the song Maradona started juggling the ball. So we stopped our warm-up. What's this guy doing? He's juggling off his shoulders. And we couldn't warm up anymore because we had to watch this guy.

Belgian sports anchor Frank Raes, who edited the video and distributed it via YouTube, has asserted that this warm up took place just before the semifinal in Munich. By 2013, Raes' video clip had garnered almost two million views on YouTube. The 25th anniversary of Maradona's warming up was noted internationally, with newspapers commenting on his skills and on the transformative effect he had on Napoli and southern Italy.

Personnel

*Herwig Rüdisser – lead vocals *Ewald Pfleger – guitar, vocals *Niki Gruber – bass, vocals *Kurt-René Plisnier – keyboard, vocals *Günter Grasmuck – drums *Günter Timischl – percussion, vocals

Track listings

1985 release

* 7" single (1984 release) #"Live Is Life" – 4:15 #"Again and Again" – 3:51 * 7" single (1985 release) #"Live Is Life" – 4:15 #"Up and Down" – 3:49

1994 release

* CD maxi #"The Power of Live Is Life" (Bingoboys radio mix) – 3:58 #"Live Is Life" (original version) – 5:06 #"The Power of Live Is Life" (Bingoboys club mix) – 6:33 #"Live Is Life" (radio version) – 3:16

2008 release

* CD single #"Live Is Life 08" (reggae version) – 4:17 #"Live Is Life 08" (rock version) – 3:38 * CD maxi #"Live Is Life 08" (reggae version) – 4:17 #"Live Is Life 08" (rock version) – 3:38 #"Live Is Life 08" (reggaeton version) – 3:56 #"Touch the Sky" by Opus – 3:47

2011 version

* Digital download #''Live Is Life'' (digitally remastered)

ingle version Ingle may refer to: People * Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback Places in the United States * Ingle, California, a community * Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...

– 4:09 #''Live Is Life'' (opera version) ive version– 4:57

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

*¹ "The Power of Live Is Life" *² "Live Is Life 08", featuring Jerry (in Austria)

Year-end charts

Certifications

Hermes House Band version

The Hermes House Band and

DJ Ötzi Gerhard "Gerry" Friedle (born 7 January 1971), better known by his stage name DJ Ötzi (), is an Austrian music producer and singer. Successful mainly in German-speaking countries, he is best known in the English-speaking world for his 2000 singl ...

released a version of "Live Is Life" in 2002. The single had its highest peak position in France, where it reached number two for five weeks. The song was used as a soundtrack for the German youth film ''Das Jahr der ersten Küsse''. As of August 2014, the song was the 23rd best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 537,000 units sold.

Track listings

* CD single #"Live Is Life (Here We Go)" (Here We Go/video mix) – 3:30 #"Live Is Life (Here We Go)" (jump mix) – 3:33 * CD maxi #"Live Is Life (Here We Go)" (Here We Go/video mix) – 3:30 #"Live Is Life (Here We Go)" (jump mix) – 3:33 #"Football's Coming Home" (three lions) (radio) by Hermes House Band – 3:48 #"Everytime You Touch Me" (fireplace mix) by Hermes House Band – 3:21 #"Hey Mama" by Hermes House Band – 3:10 #Enhanced Multimediatrack : "Live Is Life" – 3:30

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Other cover versions

The

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n art collective

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian and Yugoslav avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neoclassical genres. Formed in 1980 in the mining town of Trbovlje, Slovenia, at the time a constituent republic within Socialist Fede ...

recorded two retitled versions of the song for their 1987 album ''

Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies. Opus Dei is officially r ...

'', one in English which was used as the album's title track, and the other in German under the name "Leben heisst Leben", with

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

solo included. Both were arranged in a distinctly darker and

militaristic Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

style typical of the group's music. The song, along with their cover of

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

's "

One Vision "One Vision" is a song written and recorded by the British rock band Queen, first released as a single in November 1985 and then included on their 1986 album ''A Kind of Magic''. It was conceived by the group's drummer Roger Taylor.MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and ''

The Chart Show ''The Chart Show'' (also known as ''The ITV Chart Show'' between 1989 and 1998) is a weekly syndicated music video programme, which ran in the United Kingdom from April 1986 until August 1998, with revivals in 2003 and 2008–2009. ''The Char ...

''. The song was covered by Stargo, whose version reached number 10 in France in 1985. Sofia Carson's " Love Is the Name" features an interpolation of "Live Is Life". The song was also adapted by

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

fans as a

football chant A football chant or terrace chant is a form of vocalisation performed by supporters of association football, typically during football matches. Football chanting is an expression of collective identity, most often used by fans to express their ...

about their then manager

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...

early in his tenure at the club. The song was reused by Liverpool fans (and Klopp himself) for a chant about Klopp's successor

Arne Slot Arend Martijn "Arne" Slot (; born 17 September 1978) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of club Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. He is regarded as one of t ...

References

{{Authority control 1984 songs 1984 singles 1985 singles 1994 singles 2002 singles 2008 singles English-language Austrian songs Opus (Austrian band) songs Hermes House Band songs DJ Ötzi songs Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Sweden SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Polydor Records singles Universal Records singles

Background and chart performance

Maradona's warm up

Personnel

Track listings

1985 release

1994 release

2008 release

2011 version

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Hermes House Band version

Track listings

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Other cover versions

See also

References