Song · Live
“Operation Spirit” by Live
From the EP Four Songs (1991)
“Operation Spirit” by Live appears on 14 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1992 and 2021. It was first released in 1991 on the EP Four Songs. Its best result is #54 on the WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1992. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #176 alternative song of 1992 and #3,531 alternative song of all time.
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"Operation Spirit" is one of the tracks on Four Songs, the 1991 EP that was the band's first release as Live. Before that, as Public Affection, they had put out the EP Divided Mind, Divided Planet and the album The Death of a Dictionary. Ed Kowalczyk wrote the words, and he shares the music credit with Patrick Dahlheimer, Chad Gracey and Chad Taylor. Jerry Harrison produced.
The song didn't stay put. It turned up again on the album Mental Jewelry, along with "Good Pain" from the same EP, and it got a European CD single of its own, with the EP's other two songs as B-sides. When Throwing Copper, the band's second album, came out in 1994, 2-CD editions in Europe and Australia tucked Four Songs in as the second disc.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 54 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1992 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 473 | Q101 | Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) | 500 |
| 1999 | 392 | WHFS | WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 718 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 1999 | 331 | WFNX | WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 1016 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2002 | 1404 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2005 | 982 | 99X | 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) | 1000 |
| 2007 | 1781 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1782 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1816 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1863 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 1943 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2021 | 501 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
Also listed as: Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition); Operation Spirit (The Tyranny Of Tradition).
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