...it's odd how this story about the best of 90s Britpop (although it claims to be about more than just music) starts at about the time I'd pretty well lost interest in pop. It wasn't a feeling of 'the music was better in my day' - I was in my early-to-mid 30s in the early to early-to-mid-1990s - just that I'd grown up. It was a strange feeling when one day I realized I'd heard a lot about Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, but had no idea what it sounded like.But, having seen Live Forever, I now can't stop thinking about the song Live Forever (which I'd never heard before), Wonderwall, and Blur's Parklife (which I'd also never heard before). And some internet research has revealed that the song I'd heard just once, years ago, and never been able to get out of my mind, was Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy (sic).I did have some contact with the music - indeed, virtually the only pop album I bought during the period was the Trainspotting soundtrack, which features in this film. (Pulp, Blur and Sleeper are on it, and all their lead singers are interviewed here.) But my knowledge of Oasis was limited to Wonderwall (including the Mike Flowers easy listening version, which I appropriately first heard on supermarket muzak) and Don't Look Back in Anger. I could take them or leave them. And the Oasis/Blur Battle of the Bands? Never heard of it. See what I mean about Rip van Winkle? Noel Gallagher's (and others') comments that 'Britain was dead in the 80s', musically as well as politically, are of course nonsense. But I can't get too worked up over that: they're par for the course for any British pop act over the last 40 years that takes itself oh-so-seriously. 'Yeah, well, there was nothing happening, know-what-I-mean?' Nevertheless, the best of their music does still stand up.By the way, Noel Gallagher is not interviewed sitting in his Georgian mansion - the director's commentary on the DVD reveals he's actually at Knebworth Castle.(Personal postscript - during 1990 Trafalgar Square Poll Tax Riot that features at the start of the film, I was just a few blocks away at Leicester Square. I saw smoke in the distance, and people coming into the Tube station carrying anti-poll tax placards, but didn't put the two together till I got home and saw them on the news. Damn, missed A Defining Moment in the History of Modern Britain.)

This could have been good...and some of it was, but first of all, someone should have told this filmmaker that there were more than five bands involved with the Britpop scene, for heaven's sake! And before I go further I must ask...what in the world has Massive Attack got to do with anything? The filmmaker obviously is a big Massive Attack fan, while the rest of us just do not care. Actually, I like Portishead but the mention of them was out of place as well.So, wouldn't you think a documentary about Britpop would be about the whole scene? There are a million bands that could have been mentioned. Where was Supergrass (except for the brief video clip)? Where were the Charlatans UK?They showed us Louise Wenner talking a lot but never showed us Sleeper. And not once did anyone mention the word "Madchester." Oh, there was the slight nod to the Stone Roses but everyone knows that Britpop is the direct result of Madchester and to not mention that scene (or Shaun Ryder) is a crime.Who cared what the guy from Loaded had to say? Shees! Could have gotten rid of that useless Damien Hirst as well. There was too much talk about New Labour and Thacherism...blah, blah, blah. Sure it was a factor but this is supposed to be about Brit-POP, not Brit-TAIN. Princess Di...totally irrelevant to the topic. This documentary about music needed a heck of a lot more MUSIC.How can you talk to Jarvis Cocker and never mention that brilliant Michael Jackson incident?So what did I like? First of all, it was a hoot to check back in with the Gallaghers since my mid-90s fanship has fallen off. Noel was a bit more articulate and bright then I remembered him, and Liam was a whole lot dumber. Boy, is that kid stupid. But that is what makes him a rock star. He is absolutely pure...a good looking ape that is dumb as a post...but it works. I loved the interview with Damon Albarn. He is the epitome of a really bright, talented guy who is completely fed-up with all the crap. He was so wonderfully disgusted with everything. And rightly so.

John Dower's Live Forever documentary is a funny and brilliant insight into the Britpop huge phenomenon which took place from the early to the late nineties, a time when Britain wasn't "great"… it was cool!Among other icons such as Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Massive Attack's Del Naja or Sleeper's Louise Wener, we find the stars of the film: Oasis Gallagher brothers (in fact, the documentary is named after their probably biggest anthem ever) and Blur's Damon Albarn. Listening to their interviews, we clearly remember a time when the working-class heroes Liam and Noel Gallagher leaded the fierce rivalry with the middle-class bohemian Blur boys. Far from being a one-sided documentary, Live Forever also reflects the political and social framework during the days of the Cool Britannia, and so show us how Blair's New Labour seized upon Britpop to bolster its own public image, leading it to its end.A simply hilarious Liam Gallagher, an often puzzled Damon Albarn, an honest and always stylish Jarvis Coker and a witty and sarcastic Noel Gallagher, together with the superb soundtrack of the film, take the nostalgics back to the "madferit" days of not just a musical phenomenon but a way of life.If you liked "24 Hour Party People", don't miss this masterpiece.

There`s a saying that " If you don`t read newspapers you`re uninformed. If you do read newspapers you`re misinformed " and that`s the problem I had with LIVE FOREVER , if you`re uninformed about Britpop you`ll be misinformed if you use this as your starting point , dangerously misinformed . The very first caption is from Alistair Campbell needs clarifying : yes in 1996-97 Britain was exporting music ( To the USA )again but this was only down to a select handful of artists namely The Spice Girls , Bush , Elton John , The Prodigy and Radiohead and in no way was this period a golden age for British record exports . Noel Gallagher follows this caption by saying " The eighties were f*** all " - NO THEY WEREN`T . In terms of record sales they were the golden age of British musical export . One week in July 1985 had eight of the top ten acts in the US billboard charts by Brits while 40% of the billboard 100 were by British artists . At the Band Aid concert held the same month each and every act at the London concert was from the British Isles while over 30% of the acts appearing at the JFK stadium were Brits . " The 80s were f*** all " ? I don`t think so Noel The other thing I disliked about this documentary is it`s political bais towards Tony Blair`s New Labour government where we`re force fed Peter Mandelson`s opinions of Mr Blair`s standard of guitar playing ! Completely superflous in my opinion , though there is a bit of irony in all this when Noel Gallagher ( Yes him again ) tells us Oasis songs sum up the 1990s . Yeah well I think Heartland by The The ( Written in 1986 ) sums up Tony Blair`s New Labour government and life in modern Britain perfectly , at least compared to the drinking songs Oasis released , and make no mistake that`s all they are - drinking songs Despite falling international sales British music in the mid to late 90s was far superiour to ten years earlier , but let me just repeat very very few British bands sold any records in the USA at this time which means LIVE FOREVER works only as a nostalgia piece with a good soundrack and not as a historical or cultural document since it leads us to believe Britain was the centre of the musical , cultural and political universe which sadly it isn`t and probably never will be again