Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop

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Live Forever

UK theatrical poster by Damien Hirst
Directed by John Dower
Produced by John Battsek
Written by John Dower
Starring Noel Gallagher
Liam Gallagher
Damon Albarn
Jarvis Cocker
Editing by Jake Martin
Distributed by BBC
Release date(s) 21 March 2003
Running time 82 mins
Country UK
Language English
IMDb profile

Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Britpop is a 2003 documentary film written and directed by John Dower. The documentary is a study of popular culture in the United Kingdom during the mid to late 1990s.

The focus of the piece, as the title would suggest, is British popular music (or "Britpop") which underwent a resurgence during the mid-nineties and then seemingly retreated with similar haste towards the end of that decade.

The political landscape of the time also feautures. Much is made of Tony Blair and New Labour's efforts to align themselves with the distinctly British cultural resurgence that was underway.

The documentary features a number of prominent UK musical and artistic figures, but relies heavily on contributions from Noel & Liam Gallagher of Oasis, Damon Albarn of Blur and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp.

Other contributors inclued 3D from Massive Attack, Louise Wener from Sleeper, fashion designer Ozwald Boateng and modern artist Damien Hirst.

[edit] Criticism

A focal criticism of the documentary is its overlooking or exclusion of a number of Britpop's leading protagonists. Bands such as Radiohead, Supergrass and The Verve receive little more than passing mentions while Oasis and Blur in particular constitute the bulk of the material.

[edit] External links