Music lovers are only just realising what the hit Kasabian song L.S.F. stands for.
The band, now fronted by Serge Pizzorno, released L.S.F. back in 2004 and cracked the UK Top 10 for the first time. The song, which spent 75 weeks in the charts, may be a nostalgic classic for some as it featured in FIFA Football 2004. But fans of Kasabian had no idea what the song stood for until recently.
L.S.F., which has been dubbed a “masterpiece” by fans of the band, is a favourite of Kasabian live sets, played a total of 911 times so far, according to Setlist FM. But what the song stands for, plus the meaning behind it, has only just been realised by some who had been listening to the song for over a decade.
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A TikTok post celebrating the song prompted dozens comment with their memories of the song. One wrote: “Amazing track, it was constantly played in my MP3 player among 2,000 other brilliant songs until my gadget suddenly stopped working one day. I was devastated.”
L.S.F., which stands for Lost Souls Forever, was the band’s second single release ahead of their self-titled debut album. According to bassist Chris Edwards, the song uses modern conflicts like the Iraq War as part of its message.
Speaking to Clash Magazine said: “The first LP had military imagery because we were writing it as shit was happening abroad with the army. You’d go down the shops and see ‘THE TROOPS ARE ON FIRE’ in the paper and Serge wrote the lyrics and took influence from this. We weren’t for it or against. We just wrote about what was going on.”
The song had originally been named Good Souls Forever until the record company misread the G as an L, hence its L.S.F. title on the demo and beyond, according to Joe Schooman’s book, ‘Kasabian: Sound, Movement & Empire’.
Guitarist and later frontman Pizzorno, speaking to The Telegraph, shared the song is about enjoying life “while you’ve got it”. He added: “The message is to enjoy your life while you’ve got it. The world is insane and music’s maybe the last pure thing we’ve got, the one thing that can bring people together.
“When we play that song in the set you can hear that chant coming from the crowd and it’s louder than us. It’s hands in the air and it’s like we’re all in it together. It doesn’t matter if you’re the President of the United States or Jim from Sunderland, we’re all at risk, so while you’re here, sing a song.”
Kasabian’s self-titled debut album was released in 2004 and featured other nostalgia indie rock tracks like Club Foot and Reason is Treason. The album, which peaked at number four in the charts, was followed-up by their chart-topping album, Empire. The band released their shortest album to date last year, with Happenings clocking in at just 28 minutes. It peaked at number one in the UK charts.