Twenty years ago, Youth Group recorded Forever Young, a bittersweet anthem that’s wired as tightly to the hearts of gen X indie kids as a pacemaker. The 1984 original, from German band Alphaville, was a gloriously histrionic ode to cold war anxiety. But in Youth Group’s hands, synths were replaced by mellow guitar and the song was set to footage of kids skateboarding in Sydney in 1978. It was pure sun-dappled nostalgia that shot to No 1 on the Aria charts in 2006 after it was used on The OC.
So how does the band, now middle-aged, regard their biggest hit with the passing of time?
