"Bang" is a song by Blur and was released 29 July 1991 as their third single. It was also featured on the band's debut album Leisure. It has been all but disowned by the band, who claim it was written in less than fifteen minutes in response to record company demands for another bankable single. It is almost never played live, and has not been included on either Blur: The Best Of or Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur.

Its disappointing performance relative to previous single "There's No Other Way" marked the end of Blur's initial period of popularity, which would not be equalled until the release of "Girls & Boys" three years later.

Charts[link]

Track listings[link]

• 12"

1. "Bang" (extended)
2. "Explain"
3. "Luminous"
4. "Uncle Love"

• 7" and Cassette

1. "Bang"
2. "Luminous"

• CD (released 5 August 1991)

1. "Bang"
2. "Explain"
3. "Luminous"
4. "Berserk"

Production credits[link]

• "Bang" and "Explain" produced by Stephen Street
• "Luminous", "Berserk" and "Uncle Love" produced by Blur

Video[link]

The video, directed by Willy Smax, features the band in west London at night. Time-lapse photography of night-time traffic was used, creating streaks of light from cars' headlights. Black-and-white performance shots were also included. In later years Dave Rowntree expressed his love of the video, stating it as his favorite of the Blur catalogue. The video itself went generally unnoticed during its time of release and of all the promos, gets the least airplay on television. The video has been aired quite frequently on MTV Rocks, though, as part of their Blur Top 40 list, of which it features at 26. A vinyl copy of Beatles for Sale by The Beatles and Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan can be found in the music video when Graham Coxon is seen playing his guitar. The board game the band are playing whilst sat at the table is Scrabble. The music video is quite similar to "Tomorrow Comes Today" by Gorillaz due to its shots of London and the Centre Point building.

Look up bang or bangs in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bang or bangs may refer to:

Performers[link]

• Bang (band), a Greek pop music group
• Bang (American band), a hard rock group
• Bang (UK pop band)
• Bang! (band), a British happy hardcore group
• Bangs (band), an American punk rock group
• Bangs (hip hop artist), a South Sudanese-Australian hip hop artist.

Albums and EPs[link]

• Bang! (After School EP)
• BANG! (Cinema Bizarre album)
• Bang! (1985 Frankie Goes to Hollywood album)
• Bang!... The Greatest Hits of Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• Bang! (EP), by the Goo Goo Dolls
• Bang! (Corey Hart album)
• Bang (James Gang album)
• Bang (The Jesus Lizard album)
• Bang (EP), by Nightmare of You
• Bang (Rockapella album)
• Bang! (Thunder album)
• Bang! (World Party album)

Songs[link]

• "Bang" (song), by Blur
• "Bang", a song by Gorky Park on the album Gorky Park
• "Bang" (Rye Rye song), by Rye Rye featuring M.I.A. on the albums Fast & Furious and Go! Pop! Bang!
• "Bangs", a song by They Might Be Giants on the album Mink Car
• "Bang", a song by Waka Flocka Flame featuring YG Hootie & Slim Dunkin on the album Flockaveli

Film and television[link]

• Bang (film), a 1997 American film
• Bang! (film), a 1977 Swedish film
• "Bang" (Desperate Housewives)
• "Bang" (The Good Wife)
• "Bang" (Harper's Island)
• "Bang" (The Shield)
• "Bangs", an episode of "The Protector"

Games[link]

• Bang!, a card game
• Bang! (arcade game)
• Bang! (drama game), a game involving imaginary guns
• Bang! (video game)
• Bang Shishigami, a BlazBlue character

Other uses[link]

• Bangs (hair), hair in front of the forehead
• Bang (magazine)
• Bang (Korean), a room or building
• Bang! (opera), by John Rutter
• !Bang!, a professional wrestling promotion
• Bangs, Texas
• Bang Cartoon, a website
• Bang's disease
• BANG file, a point access method
• Bang path, a type of e-mail address
• Bang Records, a record label
• Exclamation mark (!), a punctuation symbol
• Bang (company), a music and sound production company from NYC
• Bang, a model car brand
• Bang!, a 2005 young adult novel by Sharon G. Flake
• Bang! (book) - The Complete History of the Universe, a book about the origins of the universe, especially the Big Bang, by Brian May, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott.
• BANG (cologne) by Marc Jacobs, a fragrance for men.
• John and Lavina Bangs House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Henry County, Iowa

People[link]

• Peter Georg Bang (born 1797), Danish politician and jurist
• Anton Christian Bang (born 1840), Norwegian politician
• Bernhard Lauritz Frederik Bang, Danish scientist
• Francis S. Bangs, American lawyer
• Herman Bang, Danish author
• Lester Bangs, American music journalist
• Lance Bangs, American filmmaker
• John Kendrick Bangs, 19th-century writer
• Molly Bang (born 1943) American illustrator
• Nina Bang (1866–1928), Danish politician
• Outram Bangs (1863–1932), American zoologist
• Bang Seong Joon, South Korean voice actor
• Bang Young-ung (born 1942), South Korean novelist
• Barbro Alving (born 1909), Swedish journalist

See also[link]

• Bhang
• Bang Bang (disambiguation)
• Big Bang (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Adam Levine
Levine during a press conference in Singapore in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Adam Noah Levine
Born	(1979-03-18) March 18, 1979 (age 33) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock, funk rock, pop rock, soul, rhythm and blues
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, piano
Years active	1994–present
Labels	A&M Octone
Associated acts	Maroon 5, Kara's Flowers, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, Natasha Bedingfield, Ying Yang Twins, Alicia Keys, K'naan, Rihanna, Slash, Gym Class Heroes, Christina Aguilera
Website	www.maroon5.com

Adam Noah Levine^[1] (born March 18, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front man and guitarist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. He is also a coach on the American talent show The Voice.

Early life[link]

Levine was born in Los Angeles to Fred and Patsy (née Noah) Levine. His uncle is journalist and author Timothy Noah.^[2] He has a brother, Michael, and a sister, Julia.^[3] When he was six years old, he made the winning shot of his local YMCA championship basketball game (on a team his father coached) with no time left on the clock. He has said that the incident changed his life and gave him the confidence to be successful.^[4][5]

Levine attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts Camp (Hancock, NY) with best friend Jesse Carmichael, guitar player of the band known at that time as Kara's Flowers. He graduated from Brentwood School in 1997.

Levine has Jewish ancestry on both sides of his family (his father and maternal grandfather were Jewish), and considers himself Jewish, though according to The Jewish Chronicle, who interviewed Levine, he "has rejected formal religious practice for a more generalized, spiritual way of life". He chose not to have a Bar Mitzvah as a child.^[6]

Original band Kara's Flowers[link]

Having met at Brentwood School in Los Angeles, the band released their first album titled The Fourth World in 1997 as high school seniors. That same year the band appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. The album had little success, and its only single, "Soap Disco", failed commercially. Disappointed with the results of their album, the band members went their separate ways.^[7]

Levine and Carmichael left Los Angeles for New York. This was the first time the two Los Angeles natives were exposed to a completely different music scene, a cultural awakening for the young men.^[8] On MTV News, in 2002, Levine said, "That's when I started waking up to the whole hip hop, R&B thing. We had friends named Chaos and shit. It was not Brentwood High."^[9]

Maroon 5 and mainstream success[link]

During this time, Levine worked a two-week stint as a waiter at Johnny Rockets.^[10] After dropping out of Five Towns College, Levine and Jesse reunited with Mickey and Ryan, but added former Square guitarist, James Valentine in 2001. Renaming the band Maroon 5, Levine and his friends began to compile all of their newfound musical influences into their music. While Levine was working as a writer's assistant on the television show "Judging Amy," he spent time writing the lyrics about his ex-girlfriend, Jane. Those lyrics became the album "Songs About Jane."^[10]

Other work[link]

Levine (right) with bandmate Jesse Carmichael in 2007

Levine has collaborated with various musical acts. In 2005, Levine was featured on the Ying Yang Twins song "Live Again". He appeared on Kanye West's Late Registration album, on the third single, "Heard 'Em Say".^[11] He is also featured in the song "Wild Horses" on Alicia Keys' third album Alicia Keys: MTV Unplugged. Over the next year, he co-wrote the track "Say It Again" on Natasha Bedingfield's album N.B.. He also performed the background vocals on this song. Most recently, Levine offered his vocals on Gym Class Heroes' newest album in the song "Stereo Hearts".

Levine has made four notable comic appearances on television. During 2007, he appeared on the 33rd season premiere of Saturday Night Live in an SNL Digital Short called Iran So Far with Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen and Jake Gyllenhaal. Levine played himself while singing a humorous bridge to a "love song" for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2008, he appeared on Comedy Central's "Night Of Too Many Stars". Levine also had a cameo on Jimmy Kimmel Live for the night of stars and endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election.

In October 2008, Levine collaborated with First Act to create the First Act 222 Guitar, fashioned to Levine's specifications. The guitar was made available for purchase at Target retail stores.^[12]

Levine has stated in various interviews that he does not plan on continuing in Maroon 5 forever, and may stop after the tour for Maroon 5's third album.^[13][14] In 2009, he recorded "Gotten", a song for Slash's first solo album Slash released in April 2010. "Gotten" was premiered at amazon.com on March 29, 2010.^[15] Levine is also featured as a singer for his band's song "She Will be Loved" in the music rhythm game Band Hero. In February 2010, he was among approximately 80 musicians who sang on the charity-single remake of "We Are the World" called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti".^{[citation needed]}

Levine is one of the contestant judges and coach mentors on the singing TV show, The Voice.^[16] The winner of the first season, Javier Colon, was on Levine's team. Levine also returned as a coach for Season 2 of The Voice. His team consisted of Mathai (singer), Pip (singer), Tony Lucca, Katrina Parker, Karla Davis, and Kim Yarbrough. Levine will appear in the second season of American Horror Story.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Levine's ex-girlfriend Jane is the inspiration behind the name of the band's debut album Songs About Jane. In a 2004 interview, he claimed that she had not contacted him despite the success of the album.^[18]

In September 2010, Levine said on the Howard Stern Show he had been dating Russian Sports Illustrated swimsuit and Victoria's Secret model Anne Vyalitsyna seriously for about eight months. The couple met when Maroon 5 performed at the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue release party in Las Vegas.^[19] In April 2012, Levine and Vyalitsyna announced that they had split.^[20]

Levine stripped naked for testicular cancer awareness for a centerfold in Cosmopolitan UK's February 2011 issue.^[21]

During Levine's teenage years, he was medically diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In 2011, he launched an educational campaign to raise awareness of ADHD, titled "Own It".^[22]

Levine, whose brother is openly gay, is an outspoken supporter of LGBT rights.^[23] In 2011, he made a video^[24] on Maroon 5's official YouTube account in support of the It Gets Better Project. In January 2012, he announced that Maroon 5 had changed the location of their post-Grammy Awards show because of the "unnamed Los Angeles restaurant's backing of Proposition 8".^[23]

Discography[link]

As a featured artist[link]

Other charted songs[link]

Guest appearances[link]

Further reading[link]

• Kimpel, Dan (2006), How They Made It: True Stories of How Music's Biggest Stars Went from Start to Stardom!. Location unknown:Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-634-07642-6

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Adam Levine

• Adam Levine at the Internet Movie Database
• "y’know – interviews with the famous". C.B.Liddell. February 10, 2008. http://yknow-interviews.blogspot.com/2008/02/adam-levine-maroon-5.html.