Posted August 28, 200618 yr The greatest song in the history of the world. Maybe By Anthony Barnes Published: 27 August 2006 It is sung with lager-fuelled gusto by thousands of fans at every Oasis gig. Now "Live Forever" looks set to live up to its title after being named the greatest song of all time. The 12-year-old single, the first to demonstrate that the Gallagher brothers could do tenderness as well as bravado and swagger, has beaten classic tracks by the Beatles, U2 and Queen in a magazine poll of music fans to identify the all-time greats. Oasis pulled off a double feat by taking second place with their song "Wonderwall" in the top 100 compiled by Q magazine from tens of thousands of votes, although the Fab Four landed the most number of entries with six. "Live Forever" peaked only at no 10 in the charts when it was released but has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring songs. When the magazine last held its poll three years ago the track finished in ninth position and the list was topped by U2's "One", a song reduced to fifth place this time around. The magazine, which publishes the poll in its October edition on Tuesday, said of the track: "'Live Forever' doesn't date, satisfying a timeless need for communal joy that only the rock anthem at its best can truly deliver." Noel Gallagher, who wrote the winning song, said: "People said to me after 'Live Forever', where are you gonna go after that. And I was like 'I don't think it's that good'. I think it's a good song, but I think I can do better." The Q Top 10: Live Forever - Oasis; Wonderwall - Oasis; Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana; A Day in the Life - the Beatles; One - U2; Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen; Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division; Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin; Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve; Paranoid Android - Radiohead It is sung with lager-fuelled gusto by thousands of fans at every Oasis gig. Now "Live Forever" looks set to live up to its title after being named the greatest song of all time. The 12-year-old single, the first to demonstrate that the Gallagher brothers could do tenderness as well as bravado and swagger, has beaten classic tracks by the Beatles, U2 and Queen in a magazine poll of music fans to identify the all-time greats. Oasis pulled off a double feat by taking second place with their song "Wonderwall" in the top 100 compiled by Q magazine from tens of thousands of votes, although the Fab Four landed the most number of entries with six. "Live Forever" peaked only at no 10 in the charts when it was released but has gone on to become one of the band's most enduring songs. When the magazine last held its poll three years ago the track finished in ninth position and the list was topped by U2's "One", a song reduced to fifth place this time around. The magazine, which publishes the poll in its October edition on Tuesday, said of the track: "'Live Forever' doesn't date, satisfying a timeless need for communal joy that only the rock anthem at its best can truly deliver." Noel Gallagher, who wrote the winning song, said: "People said to me after 'Live Forever', where are you gonna go after that. And I was like 'I don't think it's that good'. I think it's a good song, but I think I can do better." The Q Top 10: Live Forever - Oasis Wonderwall - Oasis Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana; A Day in the Life - the Beatles One - U2 Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve Paranoid Android - Radiohead
August 30, 200618 yr Utterly preposterous! It's a decent enough song (and by far my favrourite Oasis song...), but to make the claim that it's somehow the 'Greatest song in the history of the world' is frankly ludicrous. But then this is so typical of the tripe that comes out of a jaundiced organ such as "Q".... Every single song on this list by white, male artists........ Any list which has no room for the likes of Blondie, Kate Bush or Jimi Hendrix is a load of sh!te.....
August 30, 200618 yr more recent hits will always be at an advantage... the only true poll would be one where everybody is familiar with every possible track... ie... 1,000 john peels!!!!
August 30, 200618 yr to make the claim that it's somehow the 'Greatest song in the history of the world' is frankly ludicrous. I agree with this. They're done by various radio, tv and magazines every year anyway. To call it Q's greatest song of all time, then yeah fair enough but why should we listen to what Q thinks is the greatest song and not Virgin Radio? Though their list was even worse. XFMs, however, wasn't. It's by no means a true reflection of what IS the greatest list of songs ever but this years X-List was probably the best of these lists I've ever seen. Edited August 30, 200618 yr by RabbitFurCoat
August 30, 200618 yr more recent hits will always be at an advantage... the only true poll would be one where everybody is familiar with every possible track... ie... 1,000 john peels!!!! :lol: :lol: , if only... But I think John Peel was truly just one of a kind..... Even I dont manage to be as obscure in my musical tastes as he was..... And, you're right of course, but my main objection to this list is the fact that it's all white blokes with guitars.... Q seems to forget that it was black blokes with guitars who influenced ALL the white blokes to pick up guitars in the first fukkin' place....... <_<
August 30, 200618 yr :lol: :lol: , if only... But I think John Peel was truly just one of a kind..... Even I dont manage to be as obscure in my musical tastes as he was..... And, you're right of course, but my main objection to this list is the fact that it's all white blokes with guitars.... Q seems to forget that it was black blokes with guitars who influenced ALL the white blokes to pick up guitars in the first fukkin' place....... <_< To be fair it was readers that chose them... Though the albums list they did in January didn't feature any non white-male acts in the top 30 IIRC.
August 30, 200618 yr Q Magazine went downhill fast when all their staff writers/editors (David Hepworth, Mark Ellen, Ian Cranna, Danny Baker, Danny Kelly, Tom Hibbert, etc) left in the early/mid 1990s to (variously) set up Uncut, Mojo & The Word magazines. Most Q readers now would not know the works of Sly & the Family Stone, 1970s Stevie Wonder or 1980s Prince which Q magazine used to cover.
August 31, 200618 yr Any list which has no room for the likes of Blondie, Kate Bush or Jimi Hendrix is a load of sh!te..... maybe you need to wait till the MOJO list comes out :lol: as thats most their kind of people
August 31, 200618 yr What a boring and predictable top 10. Oh, this IS Q Magazine... -_- have you seen the wiki entry: Q is a music and entertainment magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time which they felt did not cater for the generation of older music buyers who were buying the then new CD technology from artists other magazines would ignore such as Paul Simon, Level 42, or Dire Straits. so i suppose you could say at least they have kept to that (non-smah/tv hits) musical mainstream :lol: :lol: is there a free cd this month?
August 31, 200618 yr :lol: :lol: , if only... But I think John Peel was truly just one of a kind..... Even I dont manage to be as obscure in my musical tastes as he was..... well i suppose emap wont to make money from their mag so have to have a wide net to get the people interested, same with the byline 'The greatest song in the history of the world', its just like these channel 4 polls as well, some people just love lists
August 31, 200618 yr what a joke... as usual a STUPID 'poll' by a magazine simply trying to kow-tow to their readers tastes to make them feel better about liking bland/generic music. A real poll of this sort would likely not have anything from the last 20 years and have stuff most of us indie fans wouldn't care for (beatles, lennon, dylan, stones... etc). If I made my own list, 'Love will tear us apart' would make it tho ;)
August 31, 200618 yr what a joke... as usual a STUPID 'poll' by a magazine simply trying to kow-tow to their readers tastes to make them feel better about liking bland/generic music. well looking at most of the mainstream tastes in the Indie and Alternative Rock Forum maybe its very apt. (the fukkking darkness still survive in here!!! why hasnt it been moved???)
August 31, 200618 yr If I made my own list, 'Love will tear us apart' would make it tho ;) Mine too.... And you are correct in your general assessment of Q as a whole.....
August 31, 200618 yr The fact that Q survives when many other much better magazines have to fold is ridiculous. But I can see their readers have more money than sense so fair enough. Oh...and interesting that Live Forever still wasn't deemed worthy of a place on the Oasis Best Of collection eh?
September 1, 200618 yr What about T.Rex--20th Century Boy, or T.Rex--Get It on???? their both classics, or El Presidente--Without You???? why isnt that on their???
September 1, 200618 yr another hilariously boring Q 'Best of' list...featuring, yet again, the same artists they ALWAYS include in ANY of their Best Of lists. Q... surely their time is up?
September 1, 200618 yr i'll take up a challange over the next couple weeks to list my top 10 songs... will be back!
September 1, 200618 yr Q... surely their time is up? You would think wouldn't you....? A truly dreadful mag...... :puke2: These days, I only ever read Fanzines or the Underground music press, that's about the only place you'll actually find good quality music journalism....
Create an account or sign in to comment