Oasis return to London tonight to play the first of seven sold-out Wembley gigs as part of their reunion tour.
Commandeered by Noel Gallagher, with lyrics sung by his charismatic younger brother Liam, the band have become one of the country’s biggest musical acts since they came on the scene in 1994.
Their countless hits have become the background music to a thousand pub singalongs, and the subject of their best songs has been a debate in many circles. With their London return, there couldn’t be a better time for us to join in and rank their top 10 biggest songs.
Stick them on and feel that warm fuzzy feeling grow.
10. The Masterplan (1994)
A B-side that should have been an A-side. Stripping back the anger and aggression in favour of something more laid back and considered, Noel has hailed it as one of the best songs he’s written. He also conceded that it was a mistake to release it as a B-side (agree) — “it’s only as the years have gone on I realised that was mental,” he told Music Week in 2020. “But we were all mad in the 90s — Alan McGee (the man who discovered the band) was off his tits and running the label.”
9. Cigarettes and Alcohol (1994)
This is a banger of a song: muscular, angry, and stuffed to the brim with blues-rock riffs. But there is more under the hood than the lyrics let on at first. An ode to passing the time by drinking and smoking, this song rings particularly true due to its examination of being young, working class, and disillusioned — but desperate to get out and make something of life.
“Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there’s nothing worth working for?” it asks. If that doesn’t scream Nineties angst, nothing does.
8. Wonderwall (1995)
Blessed with one of the most instantly recognisable opening lines in history (and ones that make me inexplicably well up every time I hear them), Wonderwall is a rocket of a song. From Liam’s opening sneer of “today” to the rising chorus, the younger Gallagher brother imbues Noel’s lyrics with despair, hopefulness, and a heavy dose of Oasis nostalgia. The song has no real resolution, but the cathartic joy of belting it out cannot be matched.
7. Rock ’n’ Roll Star (1994)
Has any song better encapsulated Liam’s entire style of living than this one? With its classical rock riffs (the first line sounds suspiciously like Proud Mary), it pays tribute to the dreaming-big songs of the 80s. “In my mind the dreams are real,” Liam sings: apt, considering this was released when Oasis were at the start of their journey.
It’s one of the songs that Noel Gallagher holds dearest — and one of three in which he said he was trying to “say something”, the other two being Live Forever and Cigarettes and Alcohol. The only snag was that Oasis grew so quickly that within a few months, this hymn to making it large was being performed by some of the most famous musicians on the planet (which tended to dilute the strength of its message somewhat).
6. Acquiesce (1995)
The B-side music fans love to geek out over. And for good reason. This spiky, vinegary single sees the Gallagher brothers trading lines over the sound of Noel’s slicing guitar. Interestingly, it’s one of the few songs that neither of the brothers played live since their acrimonious split, until Oasis reunited. Perhaps its grudging chorus of “Because we need each other / We believe in one another” explains why.
5. Supersonic (1994)
The debut track that sent the Gallagher brothers stratospheric. Released in 1994, Supersonic resulted from a studio jam and Noel’s scribbled lyrics. The “gin and tonic” line reportedly came from him drinking one before commencing work.
It features Liam singing what could well be the band’s signature statement: “I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.” Oasis had arrived — and they were here to stay.
4. Live Forever (1994)
This tribute to the down-and-out underdog never gets old — and catapulted the Gallagher brothers from the music industry’s best-kept secret to mainstream success. Released a few months after Kurt Cobain’s death, the lyrics speak powerfully to anybody who’s ever seen the world differently. “We’ll see things they’ll never see,” Liam croons. And how can you not love that sweeping, soaring chorus?
3. Champagne Supernova (1995)
This is pure, distilled Oasis in a seven-and-a-half minute song: the closing track to their album What’s the Story (Morning Glory)? Talk about saving the best until last.
The song, which features some of Noel’s most mature lyrics, combines melancholy and nostalgia, with the Gallagher brothers paying tribute to a passing moment in time: “Where were you when we were getting high?”
It also boasts cracking guitar work (courtesy of Paul Weller) and nonsensical lyrics made to be roared out to thousands of fans in a stadium — “slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball.”
“It means different things when I'm in different moods,” Noel told NME in 1995. “When I'm in a bad mood, being caught beneath a landslide is like being suffocated. The song is a bit of an epic. It's about when you're young and you see people in groups and you think about what they did for you and they did nothing.”
2. Slide Away (1994)
A love song, but make it Oasis. This intense rock song, sung by Liam at the peak of his swaggering, charismatic strut, somehow incorporates every relationship stage. There’s longing, euphoria, happiness, despair, and regret — all soundtracked by Noel’s snarling guitar which doesn’t let up for a second. This is a vast, giddy beast of a song that needs to be seen on stage to appreciate its full power. This is the band at their best.
And the winner is... 1. Don’t Look Back In Anger (1995)
It’s impossible to hear this song now and not conjure up an image of a grieving crowd singing along in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. But it’s a great example of how intertwined it has become with British culture and identity. It’s also a song of football terraces, stumbling back home drunk from the pub, and Christmas karaoke.
From the opening piano line (which is nicked from John Lennon’s Imagine) to the chorus, arguably one of rock music’s most famous — “Sooo, Sally can wait” — it’s an anthem designed to be belted out in stadiums. And it was also the first Oasis single where Noel provided lead vocals: proof if it were needed, that both Gallaghers can hold their own in front of the mike.
