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Laid Back is a Danish
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
duo group from
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, 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 A white horse is born predominantly white and stays white throughout its life. A white horse has mostly pink skin under its hair coat, and may have brown, blue, or hazel eyes. "True white" horses, especially those that carry one of the dominant ...
" from 1983 and "Bakerman" from 1989.


Background and origins

John Guldberg and Tim Stahl met in the mid-1970s, and they played together in a group called the Starbox Band. After a poorly received show
support Support may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Supporting character Business and finance * Support (technical analysis) * Child support * Customer support * Income Support Construction * Support (structure), or lateral support, a ...
ing
the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
, the band split up, but the duo continued working together. Guldberg set up a small
studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
in downtown Copenhagen where the two musicians began exploring the possibilities that were being opened up by new technologies, such as multitrack
tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present- ...
s,
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s and drum machines.


Recordings


1981-89

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 it 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 The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
that became the band's only big hit. "
White Horse A white horse is born predominantly white and stays white throughout its life. A white horse has mostly pink skin under its hair coat, and may have brown, blue, or hazel eyes. "True white" horses, especially those that carry one of the dominant ...
" is a
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
-influenced
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
track with a memorable
bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
and ambiguous, drug- and/or sex-themed lyrics ("white horse" being a slang for
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
) that became popular in US
club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...
s. After the song was re-released as an A-side on both
7-inch In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...
and 12-inch vinyl, it went on to spend three weeks at number one on ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''s National Disco Action charts; it was also a
crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
success, reaching the top five on the
Hot Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...
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 Bitch may refer to: * A female dog or other canine * Bitch (slang), a vulgar slur for a human female Bitch or bitches may also refer to: Arts and media Film and television * ''The Bitch'' (film), a 1979 film starring Joan Collins * ''Bitc ...
"), which prevented it from receiving radio airplay in much of the country. In 1989, the American
rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
act
2 Live Crew 2 Live Crew is an American hip hop music, hip hop group from Miami, Florida, which had its greatest commercial success from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The group's most well-known line up was composed of Luther Campbell, Luke Campbell, Fr ...
sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...
d "White Horse" heavily for their single "Get the Fuck Out of My House"; it was later sampled for
Monifah Monifa Carter (born January 26, 1972), also known as Monifah, is an American R&B singer. She is best known for her association with the late rapper Heavy D and her music from the mid-1990s, including "I Miss You (Come Back Home)", "You" and " ...
'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 Hanne Boel (born 31 August 1957 in Bagsværd, Copenhagen) is a Danish singer. Boel covers in her songs a range of styles including pop, soul, gospel, rock, and jazz. Over the course of her career, she has sold over 2.5 million records, and has ...
), 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 Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...
, which featured the band
skydiving Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...
while "playing" their instruments. Guldberg and Stahl have both named this their favourite Laid Back track, and said the words were written by Guldberg during the recording session for the song. The lyrics are in English except for the phrase "Sagabona kunjani", which Guldberg has described as a Swahili phrase meaning "Hello, how are you?" Hoping to capitalize on the success of Bakerman, their label re-released "White Horse" (as "White Horse '89") with new
remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
es, although this was a commercial disappointment.


Later work

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 album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
s (''Laidest Greatest'' in 1995 and ''Good Vibes – The Very Best of Laid Back'' in 2008). The duo also composed the
soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
of the 2001
feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
''Flyvende Farmor'', for which they were awarded a Robert, the Danish equivalent of an
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
. That same year, an
exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, 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 The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
in 2004, and the
Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...
in 2005. A remix of "Bakerman" by British DJ
Shaun Baker Shaun Baker is an English musician, DJ and record producer, currently based in Paderborn, Germany. Musical career Baker has been playing the worldwide club scene over 20 years. Together with his friend and partner Sebastian Wolter, he also pr ...
reached number one in
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
in 2006. In 2010 Laid Back returned with the single "Cocaine Cool".


Discography


Albums

* ''Laid Back'' (1981) * '' Keep Smiling'' (1983) * ''Play It Straight'' (1985) * ''See You in the Lobby'' (1987) * ''Hole in the Sky'' (1990) * ''Why Is Everybody in Such a Hurry'' (1993) * ''Laidest Greatest'' (1995) * ''Unfinished Symphonies'' (1999) * ''Happy Dreamer'' (1999) * ''Good Vibes – The Very Best of Laid Back'' (2008) * ''Cosmic Vibes'' (2011) * ''Cosyland'' (2012) * ''Uptimistic Music'' (2013) * ''Healing Feeling'' (2019)


Singles


See also

*
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on ''Billboard magazine's'' Dance Club Songs chart. ''Billboard'' began ranking dance music on the week ending October 26, 1974, and this is the standard music popularity chart in th ...


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Danish dance music groups Danish electronic music groups Electronic music duos Danish funk musical groups Musical groups established in 1979 Sire Records artists Danish new wave musical groups Male musical duos New wave duos English-language singers from Denmark