Today I keep rolling with my mini-concept of visiting a song from the years ending in 4. Today I head back to 1994 and I’m finally going to address a song I’ve been dying to write about for awhile now. This was the song from the debut album that really got the ball rolling for England’s revered (and reviled) Oasis.

Live Forever was the third single from the 1994 debut Definitely Maybe. The album is cited for selling over 8 million copies, though no telling how much of that was the white-hot success of the follow-up record. The single did great business, earning Oasis their first UK top 10 hit and also placing at number 2 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, as well as 10 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US. The single is double platinum in the UK for sales of 1.2 million.

This song is a bright, positive one with a simple beat and riff that keeps things moving along. The lyrics visit the concept of wanting to shed a mundane life and finding happiness with a close friend or family member. It doesn’t wallow in the angst of being downtrodden, rather the song embraces reality and hopes for something better, coupled with the bond of friendship. While a lot of Oasis songs have lyrics that mean absolutely nothing, the words to Live Forever have a simple yet very powerful meaning to them.

This was one of the first songs Noel Gallagher started putting together, and it was the one that made him and the other members of Oasis realize they had something special. It was also the song that helped push Oasis over the edge when being offered a record deal by Creation Records. When it was released as a single just in advance of the album, music critics found something a bit more special than the average band in this song.

There a few bits of trivia here. One is that the vocal melody in the beginning was inspired by the Rolling Stones song Shine A Light. It’s not a rip off or anything like that, but there’s a link there for sure between the chorus of the Stones’ song and the opening line of this one.

Also, Noel Gallagher was inspired in part by Nirvana to write this song. Not due to any similarity in sound, it was Nirvana and grunge’s bleak outlook that caused Noel ire. Noel heard the Nirvana track I Hate Myself And Want To Die and wound up completing Live Forever. Gallagher was not offering a direct response to the down and out grunge tune – rather he fashioned an antidote.

Live Forever was played 570 times during Oasis’ run, making it their third most played song. It has also been aired out 72 times by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds since Oasis ended. That is nearly doubled by brother Liam, who has played it out 139 times as a solo artist.

I do hold Live Forever in high regard – awhile back when I ranked my 20 favorite Oasis tracks, this clocked in at third place. It’s a beautiful song that’s honestly perfect for just about any occasion. Feeling bad? Put it on and feel better. Feeling good? Put it on and keep feeling good. It can fit weddings, funerals, celebrations and tragedies of about any kind. Maybe the biggest shame of Live Forever is that Oasis kind of outdid themselves with another song on the next album that fills a similar purpose, though there’s nothing wrong with having both this song and Don’t Look Back In Anger around.

That about covers it for today. I will be giving Definitely Maybe another look on its 30^th anniversary date near the end of August. I covered it in one of my first posts on this site and only three people ever read it so I guess repeating myself is ok in this case. Tomorrow I’ll be back with a song from 2004 and on that is much, much less positive and upbeat than this one. Look forward to it!