Oasis - Live Forever (UK & US videos, demo, Glastonbury 1994, Wembley 2000, Edinburgh 2025, Noel & Liam on the song)

[highplainsdem]

Liam Gallagher's favorite Oasis song. Their first Top 10 hit on the British charts, in 1994, and in the Top 10 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks in the US in 1995.

Official UK video, partly filmed at the Strawberry Fields memorial for John Lennon in Central Park:

Official US video, with photos of rock stars we've lost:

Demo, recorded September 1993:

Glastonbury, 1994:

Wembley, 2000

Edinburgh, August 9, 2025:

Noel and Liam talking about the song

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Forever_(Oasis_song)

Noel Gallagher began working on "Live Forever" in 1991, while working for a building company in his hometown of Manchester. After his foot was crushed by a pipe in an accident, he was given a less-strenuous job working in the storeroom, allowing him more time to write songs. One night, he was listening to the Rolling Stones' album Exile on Main St.; while playing one of his own chord progressions, Gallagher noted that it sounded good against one of the vocal melodies from the album: "It was the bit from 'Shine a Light' that goes [sings], 'May the good Lord shine a light on you'", Gallagher recalled. Gallagher incorporated the melody, changing the line to "Maybe I don't really want to know". For a period afterwards, that was the only part of the song Gallagher had completed.[8]

Noel Gallagher presented a fully composed "Live Forever" to the band for the first time in early 1993 during rehearsals. According to drummer Tony McCarroll, the band were openly awed by it.[9] The song was later instrumental in helping the band secure their record deal with Creation Records. Reflecting on when he first heard the song, Creation boss Alan McGee recalled, "It was probably the single greatest moment I've ever experienced with them".[8]

-snip-

"Live Forever" has garnered additional acclaim years after its release. In 2006, "Live Forever" was named the greatest song of all time in a poll released by Q; the song had ranked ninth in a similar Q poll three years prior.[26] In 2007, "Live Forever" placed number one in the NME and XFM poll of the 50 "Greatest Indie Anthems Ever".[27] Pitchfork labelled the song as Oasis' best-ever track and said of the song: "It's an honest, aspirational sentiment just as the photo of John Lennon's childhood home on the single's sleeve is an honest, tasteful exhibition of fandom." The music site went on to praise the song for its 'fearless optimism'.[28] On 2 April 2018, "Live Forever" reached number one on Radio X's Best of British poll.[29] On 5 April 2021, "Live Forever" reached number one on Radio X's Best of British 2021 poll.[30] On 10 April 2023, it reached number one for the third time. In 2024, Paste and Rolling Stone ranked "Live Forever" third and second, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Oasis songs.[31][32]

[Haggard Celine]

1. Thanks for the Oasis posts!

It's nice to have all these videos in one place like this. You know, I was kind of meh about Oasis back in the 90s. I was more into the alternative scene back then. But I'm really enjoying Oasis's comeback. I guess their music made a bigger impression on me than I realized.

[highplainsdem]

3. You're very welcome!

I enjoy writing about music, and unlike in olden days, there are all these wonderful videos to include.

As I've said elsewhere here, I wasn't that impressed by Oasis when I first heard their music in the mid-1990s. I didn't have much time then for listening to new music, but I did skim a lot of magazines (back in the day when we all had a lot of magazine subscriptions), and what I read about their arrogance and sibling rivalry was very off-putting (and as I recall this was before I'd heard any of their music). So I really never gave Oasis a completely fair listen till recently.

Would I put them in a rock-god pantheon with the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Stones and Pink Floyd? No. But the more I listen to them, the more I think they were arguably the best rock band to emerge in the 1990s. Something I couldn't have admitted then in part because of a friend working with another UK band that I'd hoped would become the most successful young band heavily influenced by classic rock. Now, though, I wish I'd given Oasis a lot more attention back then.

Of course, not doing so spared me hearing much more than I'd've wanted to hear about their sibling rivalry. I have two feuding kid brothers of my own. And back then I had very little sympathy for squabbling brothers I thought should grow up.

[highplainsdem]

2. Rock journalist Hamish MacBain, writing for NME in 2012 about how this song changed his life:

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-song-that-changed-my-life-oasis-live-forever-780714