Revisiting this year’s mammoth 30th Anniversary deluxe edition of their breakthrough premiere Definitely Maybe and invariably continuing on through the superior(?) second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? got us to thinking: What are our favorite Oasis songs that are not from those two landmark albums? B-sides? Deep cuts? Guest spots? Solo projects? Sprawling coke-fueled follow-ups? Once you’ve removed the arguable cream from the top, what delicious treats still remain in the cup?
Let’s find out.
“D’You Know What I Mean” from Be Here Now
In this time of division and hair-trigger arguments, at least we can all agree on one thing: Oasis’ Be Here Now was the best album of the 1990s.
Kicked off by the sound of overdriven airplane engines, the leadoff track devolves into guitar monstrosity nonsense and the most in-the-red drums ever recorded. The stories of cocaine, tomfoolery, and general excess are legendary at this point, but at the core of the song is a very melodic and chooglin’ tune. “Fool on the Hill” gets namechecked in the first verses, and the pre-chorus starts with the audacious phrase “I met my maker and made him cry” leaving all their ego-throbbing cards on the table.
The song is way too long and too busy and too loud, setting the table stakes for an album that is also way too long and also too busy and also too loud. Guitars trip over more guitars which have stumbled over the guitars that are already on the floor, and the whole thing tumbles in on itself like a football stadium demolition. It may not be the “Best” Oasis song, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t the “Most Oasis” Oasis song. — Zac Johnson
“Gas Panic!” from Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Having conquered the world with three albums in just 4 years, Oasis were in a tough spot. Be Here Now was a mega-seller, but was still considered a flop to the press and many fans (everything’s relative, right?). That perceived “failure” of a bloated album knocked them down a few pegs…which ended up being for the best. Their follow-ups — 2000’s Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and 2002’s Heathen Chemistry — are fascinating mid-period albums that are mostly forgotten whenever Oasis is discussed, but here’s my pitch: they are packed with goodies and some of the most interesting Oasis moments in their catalog. Transitionary and experimental, they explored the world outside of their usual formula, having shaken off the pressure of making another Morning Glory.
Which leads me to “Gas Panic!” off Shoulder of Giants. This epic merges the band’s traditional sound with electro-psychedelics, existential dread, and a soaring mid-song solo that merges “D’You Know What I Mean?” and Noel’s fantastic, trip-hoppy (and also worth finding) “Teotihuacan,” which was written a few years prior for the X-Files movie soundtrack. Even though these early ’00s sets couldn’t recapture their most accessible crowd favorites and were cast aside as soon as they “returned to form” in 2005, at least it was interesting to see them push their own boundaries a bit. Before falling back in line with those late-decade, pre-split LPs, Oasis demonstrated that, if only for a brief couple years, they could evolve a bit and those attempts at something new are absolutely worth checking out. — Neil Z. Yeung
“If I Had A Gun” from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
I’ve always been one for Noel‘s ballads, and the more intimate the better. For my money, the best of these include “If I Had a Gun…” with his High Flying Birds and, from the Oasis catalog, “Sittin’ Here in Silence (On My Own),” the B-side to “Let There Be Love” (Don’t Believe the Truth).
A melancholy, two-minute gem, it’s very pandemic era-appropriate, very soft-spoken, very demure. Sounding a bit like an unearthed indie pop demo, it even features glockenspiel. — Marcy Donelson
“Acquiesce” from Masterplan
It may have been relegated to the B-side of their first U.K. chart-topper “Some Might Say,” but that didn’t stop “Acquiesce” from becoming one of Oasis’ quintessential songs. The perfect blend of Definitely Maybe‘s swagger and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?‘s epic sweep, it hits surprisingly hard for a song about friendship; it’s about not just wanting, but requiring someone in your life.
It’s also one of a handful of Oasis songs where Liam and Noel Gallagher share lead vocals, and they play their roles perfectly. Liam‘s serrated sneer brings just enough skepticism to the verses to set Noel’s gruffly earnest plea in the choruses — “‘Cuz we nee-eed each other/We believe in one another” — aloft. Over the years, Noel has gone out of his way to deny that “Acquiesce” is about his relationship with “our kid.” While that may be the case, now that the reunion that seemed impossible is actually happening, it feels like the Gallaghers have acquiesced to the facts: To reach heights like these, they nee-eed each other. — Heather Phares
“Don’t Go Away” from Be Here Now
The fourth single released off 1997’s Be Here Now, “Don’t Go Away” is the epitome of what Oasis were kings of at the time — sweeping, minor key anthems packed with bittersweet romance and a sunken limousine’s worth of regret. It’s right in line with classics like “Wonderwall,” “Live Forever,” and “Champagne Supernova,” a vibe that makes even more sense after you find it out Noel Gallagher originally came up with the song during an early 1993 songwriting session with the band’s mentors, the proto-Britpop outfit the Real People.
For a good five year period in the mid-’90s into the early ’00s, if a rock artist wasn’t trying to sound like Nirvana, then they were trying to write a song like “Don’t Go Away;” see also arguably better songs like Radiohead‘s “High and Dry,” U2‘s “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” or anything by Coldplay and Travis. There are more memorable songs before it and more interesting songs that came after, but “Don’t Go Away” might just be the last great Oasis song of the ’90s. — Matt Collar
“Setting Sun” from Dig Your Own Hole
Look, I was never an Oasis guy. I was 100% team Blur during the ’90s, and maybe 75% team Pulp. Rave culture was far more important to me than Britpop anyway, so the closest I ever came to appreciating Oasis was Noel’s collaborations with the Chemical Brothers and Goldie, and I still love those songs. “Setting Sun” was a U.K. chart-topper, an unexpected MTV hit with its kinda creepy video, and the lead single from one of the defining albums of the electronica era.
But “Let Forever Be” from 1999’s Surrender was arguably a better song, and unquestionably a better video, with psychedelic dance sequences and effects perfectly matching the trippiness of the song itself, which is a wonderfully organic fusion of psychedelic rock and shuddering breakbeats. Easily one of director Michel Gondry‘s best works, along with his other groundbreaking clips for Björk, Kylie Minogue, and Cibo Matto. — Paul Simpson
