How Nirvana’s dreary outlook inspired Oasis’ classic song ‘Live Forever’: “I’m not having that”
The 1990s are a decade now looked back on with a certain kind of free-spirited revelry. Like the 1960s wth a lot more sports attire. But the truth is, the decade was a vastly different time depending on who and where you were. There was no bigger gap in alternative rock than the one between Nirvana and Oasis.
Despite their shared love of massive guitars and mutual appreciation for The Beatles, the similarities between the two acts stop there. It, in turn, can be seen as an allegory for the two different ends of the decade. It was one that started out as an anti-capitalist reaction to the excess of the ’80s but ended up being perhaps even more commercial than the previous era ever could.
Nirvana were explicitly punk-inspired. Their lyrics were reflections of Kurt Cobain’s poetry and journals, without filtering out some of the darker thoughts. Cobain was every bit the downtrodden schmuck of a poet trying to endlessly show the world the ugly side it kept on trying to ignore. It was, by and large, refreshing.
The ’80s, especially in America, had been so deeply entrenched in hair metal and Ronald Reagan that having someone like Cobain stop the press and note down, “Hey, actually everything isn’t OK, and there is a little more to the world than making dollars and spending them again”. His outlook was dark, but it felt like a breath of fresh air.
Noel Gallagher, on the other hand, was coming from a different place entirely. In Manchester, during the ’80s and ’90s, the standard of living had been battered by Conservative governments. The Madchester rave movement had done something to lift the spirits of its inhabitants, but people like the Gallaghers were sick of being dour. They wanted to kick themselves up the arse and head into a new world. Noel was insistent on making his lyrics uplifting and anthemic, celebrating life and using music to rise above everyday circumstances.
While being interviewed by the television programme Lock the Box, the Gallagher brothers reflected on how ‘Live Forever’ changed the course of the band. “It was the tune, as I remember, that changed everything,” Noel explains. “It seemed to be one day we were a certain kind of band. I mean it was written before the record deal and all that. That set off a chain reaction that everything followed from that,” he added.
Gallagher also explained how the song was explicitly inspired by one of Nirvana’s most infamous songs. “At the time it was written in the middle of grunge and all that, I remember Nirvana had a tune called ‘I Hate Myself and Want to Die’. Which I was like ‘Well I’m not fucking having that.’ As much as I fucking like him and all that shit, I’m not having that.”
Noel took offence to “people like that coming over here, on smack, saying they hate themselves and want to die”. Life had felt so tough to him and his friends, and now they had more crap poured on their heads by a singer he felt should have been doing more to brighten the world for the downtrodden. To him, it represented the antithesis of what kind of message the Gallaghers were trying to send in their own music.
The Oasis founder added: “Seemed to me like a guy who had everything and was miserable about it, and we had fuck all and I still thought that getting up in the morning was the greatest fucking thing ever because you didn’t know where you’d end up at night. We didn’t have a pot to piss in but it was fucking great.”
Two different bands, from two different countries, with two different perspectives. Check out ‘Live Forever’ down below.
