{"id":686706,"date":"2026-01-10T12:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686706\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T12:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:20:11","slug":"jehnny-beths-favourite-oasis-song-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686706\/","title":{"rendered":"Jehnny Beth\u2019s favourite Oasis song of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oasis<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Simon Emmett \/ Johnny Hostile)<\/p>\n

Sat 10 January 2026 8:00, UK <\/p>\n

1994 was quite the year for popular culture<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Quentin Tarantino shocked the film world with Pulp Fiction, while Tom Hanks simultaneously broke and warmed everyone\u2019s hearts playing the titular Forrest Gump. The world lost Kurt Cobain and, in his absence, the ascent of nu-metal, hip-hop and Britpop into the mainstream began. From this, Oasis shifted the culture with the release of their debut album Definitely Maybe, which featured the of \u2018Live Forever\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Live Forever\u2019 sounds so at odds with its time: 1994,\u201d Jehnny Beth reflects to The Guardian<\/a>. \u201cI find it incredible that someone could wrap a \u2018fuck you\u2019 inside a song so openly positive.\u201d <\/p>\n

As one of modern rock\u2019s most brilliant minds, it is fitting that Beth would resonate with the Gallagher brothers, all sharing a penchant for dual disruption and introspection. Beth (born Camille Berthomier) made waves as one half of the indie rock duo John & Jehn with her partner, Johnny Hostile (Nicolas Cong\u00e9), before joining English post-punk revivalists Savages in the 2010s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With her official emergence as a solo artist in 2016, opening for PJ Harvey, Beth<\/a> leaned into the spirit of collaboration, eventually working with the likes of Julian Casablancas and Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream. Her album To Love Is to Live saw her work with everyone from her close friend Romy Madley Croft of The XX, Joe Talbot of Idles and prolific producer Atticus Ross. In 2017, she would record with Noel Gallagher on the Gorillaz single, \u2018We Got the Power,\u2019 a world-colliding moment for the artist who\u2019d grown up with<\/a> Oasis\u2019 music.<\/p>\n

In 1991, Noel was working for a building company in his Manchester hometown, when his foot was accidentally crushed by a pipe. Resigned to the company\u2019s storeroom, Gallagher found a silver lining in being able to use his newfound downtime to write songs. From this interim, \u2018Live Forever\u2019 was born, writing the opening line from the melody of the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u2018Shine a Light\u2019: \u201cMaybe I don\u2019t really want to know\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the wreckage left behind by Thatcher\u2019s Britain and the shadow of Kurt Cobain<\/a>\u2019s pain,\u201d Beth ponders, \u201cNoel wrote an insolent, unapologetic love letter of self-belief from a place of nothing to lose, against a generation of moaners who have everything and still find reasons to complain.\u201d <\/p>\n

Indeed, Noel wrote the song as a sort of retaliation against Generation X\u2019s nihilism, amplified in the grunge movement\u2019s often downtrodden spirit. While emphasising that he was a fan of Nirvana and that \u2018Live Forever\u2019 was not intended as a direct response to their music, Noel named their single \u2018I Hate Myself and Want to Die\u2019 as one that sparked his change of heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m not fucking having that,\u201d he thought to himself, stating, \u201cThat\u2019s fucking rubbish. Kids don\u2019t need to be hearing that nonsense.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead, he decided to choose optimism in the face of pessimism, even if it meant acknowledging the hardships of a life filled with uncertainty. He may not have had much to his name, but he had a sheer hope at the possibility of something greater coming along. As Liam sings, \u201cNow is not the time to cry, now\u2019s the time to find out why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Released in August of 1994, \u2018Live Forever\u2019 was a rallying cry that resurrected a much-needed hope and, in turn, placed Oasis in the UK\u2019s top ten charts for the first time. \u201cThe song is written to step over the corpses of the past, unearthing the flag of romance others have tried to bury,\u201d Beth beautifully notes. <\/p>\n

Concluding, \u201cIt\u2019s a lesson in (working) class. The kind of optimism they summon is believable because it\u2019s not polished or corporate. It\u2019s radical. They\u2019re not promising a future, they\u2019re daring you to want one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Simon Emmett \/ Johnny Hostile) Sat 10 January 2026 8:00, UK 1994 was quite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,138845,269,25181,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-686706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-jehnny-beth","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-oasis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115870775684293718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}