Overrated, Underrated, or Properly Rated: Oasis

Brendan Dentino provides an extensive primer on Britpop's most talented and prickly band

Hi! AWKSD readers might remember Brendan Dentino’s glorious essay on Bruce Springsteen from a few months back, and I’m very stoked that he wanted to write another piece on one of my biggest pop-culture holes: Oasis.

I knew the hits, and owned Definitely Maybe as a pre-teen (the intro to “Live Forever” nearly drove me to tears in frustration when I was learning how to play drums), but that’s the extent of my Oasis knowledge. Over the years, so many friends and acquaintances have professed their love for Oasis, but I was intimidated to really dive in, seeing as I had lived through their career and sort of felt like I blew my chance to be a real fan. But I found this essay supremely useful, and I’m excited to share it with you.

If you dig it, please subscribe to Brendan’s a newsletter of long-form sports writing and analysis through a sociopolitical lens, Out In Left. It’s very good.

- Ryan

My streaming app played “Don’t Look Back In Anger” on my way home from work one day and I was transported to the passenger seat of my mom’s ‘94 Corolla. I had only listened to Oasis as a kid, when Philly’s WMMR and Y100 played “Champagne Supernova” once an hour. Oasis wasn’t to be actively followed. They existed as part of the cultural ether, as something unconsciously accepted, like oxygen. Nothing changed over time, except Apple charging me ten dollars a month for that ubiquity. The song ended and as with breathing I stopped thinking about Oasis.

In quarantine a few years later, I came across an interview in which Deafheaven guitarist Kerry McCoy cited, surprisingly, Oasis' debut album Definitely, Maybe as an influence. I gave the album a spin and found God. Or rather Gods, since Oasis reduced to its essence is Noel and Liam Gallagher, generational musical talents who happen to be brothers. All I think about now is their possible reunion and the blood feud depriving me of it, as well as where the hell in Deafheaven’s blast beats and indecipherable screaming Oasis exists. 

The Nostalgia Industrial Complex today looks back at the nineties, dredging up for younger generations bucket hats, wired headphones, and music that sold an obscene amount of plastic discs. Oasis drove a lot of those CD sales, and fourteen years after their breakup the band seems more popular than ever. “Wonderwall” has been streamed 1.7 billion times on Spotify alone, and last year Noel claimed that Oasis sells as many albums now as they did in their prime. True or not, facts never stopped the Gallaghers from proclaiming their dominance.

But does omnipresence equate to quality? They were one of the biggest bands in the world; were they one of the best? Or are they an overplayed artifact destined for the casino concert circuit upon their reformation? With Noel and Liam again sparring in the media over reunion rumors, it’s important that the world receives an objective determination on whether Oasis is actually good or not. In the spirit of the Gallaghers, I am the only person for the job.

Studio Albums

Definitely Maybe

Definitely Maybe arguably ended the grunge era in popular music and overnight turned Noel the songwriter and Liam the frontman into icons. They knew their destiny: the first track is called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” though the album’s strength could rest solely on “Live Forever,” a song that, according to one restrained review, possesses a melody that “could wake the Pharaohs.” The album resonates decades later in part because of that optimism: of course we’re going to be stars and live forever.

That ethos can be cloying, juvenile, even. A track off Council Skies, Noel’s latest solo album, contains the lyric, “Don’t stop being happy/Don’t stop your clapping/Don’t stop your laughing.” It can also be swaggering and vulnerable and huge and sweet and original and universal, which is what it is on Definitely, Maybe. During my youth, their unapologetic embrace of life and self went over my head. During Covid, it was a call to arms. I wanted to deem the album underrated, if only because it rewired my brain back toward positivity and “Slide Away” is the most criminally overlooked love song, but Definitely, Maybe is widely and correctly considered one of the best debut albums ever. PROPERLY RATED. 

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?

Reflecting on (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? at its twenty-fifth anniversary, Noel rattled off eight B-sides he wrote–more on them later–that “were good enough to launch any band’s career.” The roster reflects Noel’s songwriting peak, which is one of the great runs in pop culture history. (Tom Hanks’ filmography from 1992-2002 is the GOAT, of course.) While it was released to mixed reviews, Morning Glory? became a phenomenon because the songs written around that time feel like they were created in the Big Bang and Noel was the mortal able to conjure them from the cosmos. “Some Might Say” is about God knows what, but I feel the opening riff in every cell of my body and so did the millions of people who made it Oasis’ first number-one hit. Noel is the most arrogant artist I follow and even he’s at a loss to explain the album. Stammering about “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” he said, “That song is mad. It’s fucking mad. I don’t even… why? Who knows.” There is no liking or disliking the songs of the Morning Glory? era. They just are. This album is one of the best-selling and best ever because it just is. PROPERLY RATED.

Be Here Now

I don’t care about Be Here Now being Oasis’ cocaine album. I don’t care about Noel writing much of it while partying with Mick Jagger, Johnny Depp, and Kate Moss on a private island in the Caribbean. I don’t care about the album’s overproduction, length, and indulgence. And I don’t care about it leading to the dissolution of the band’s classic lineup. I like indie music as much as the next politically liberal middle-class white guy, but in a world where The National is basically an arena act, I feel more than ever we need dozens of guitar tracks overdubbed onto a single song like on “My Big Mouth.” We need more “Hey Jude”-like singalongs like “All Around The World.” We need more perfectly structured, perfectly executed, and perfectly fine power ballads like “Stand By Me.” Like Kerri Strug, Oasis went for it all and stuck the landing, albeit painfully and barely intact. If Be Here Now isn’t Oasis at its best, then its Oasis at its most. It’s Oasis on, well, cocaine. Drugs are mostly bad, kids–what a mess “Magic Pie” is–but life is great, mostly. So is this album, mostly. UNDERRATED.

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

The Stones Roses, Noel and Liam’s idols and fellow Mancunians, released their eponymous debut album in 1989, and despite never again harnessing that greatness they became cult legends, a band’s band. Knowing about The Stone Roses, let alone liking them, makes you cooler. Oasis would have attained similar, if heightened status had they disbanded in February 2000 after releasing Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.

Their four-album catalog to this point, one short of the five-album test, forms a tragic narrative arc. After exploding onto the scene, reaching the mountain top, then flying too close to the sun, Oasis felt the wounds of fame, exhaustion, and decline. It’s the first time Noel let doubt and insecurity enter their music, making Standing on the Shoulder of Giants their most self-aware album. In my alternate universe, that contributes to the band’s critical reputation: they had something to say, they said it, then knew when to leave. More than it does now, the album would have demarcated the end of the nineties and its Britpop movement. It would have been a prescient look at the cynicism and distrust endemic to the new millennium. In the real world, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is Oasis’ first album that wasn’t culturally relevant and true believers like me scream into the void “It’s better than you remember!” UNDERRATED.

Heathen Chemistry

Obsessed with the Beatles and drunk in the studio recording Oasis’ fifth album, Noel put on the Abbey Road medley for inspiration. He reached “The End” and was reminded of its greatness. Strumming along with the track, Noel tweaked the guitar parts and then constructed his own song around them. This is how “Hung In A Bad Place,” Heathen Chemistry’s third track, was born. 

Just kidding. I made that up, but there must be no other explanation since Heathen Chemistry is a veritable (and horribly named) covers album. “The Hindu Times” steals from Stereophonics’ “Same Size Feet,” and “Better Man” is a repackaged version of “Love Spreads” by The Stones Roses. I had to check that “She Is Love” wasn’t a Counting Crows track, and “Born On A Different Cloud” is yet another corpse in the graveyard of “Across The Universe” wannabes. The songs not named here are to protect the innocent. 

Noel had always borrowed liberally from other artists, but by 2002 he had basically stopped trying: Heathen Chemistry is the first Oasis album that awarded songwriting credits to anyone outside the Gallagher family. Good team effort, but this album is not good. Somehow, Blender gave it a decent review upon its release. OVERRATED.

Don’t Believe the Truth

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? has sold 22 million copies, behind only Mariah Carey’s Daydream and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill among albums released in 1995. On the charts and in the tabloids, Oasis was dominating Blur in the Battle of Britpop. A decade later, Don’t Believe the Truth became the 99th-best selling album of 2005 and Blur frontman Damon Albarn could declare victory. His other band, Gorillaz, dropped a top-ten album in Demon Days and its lead single “Feel Good Inc.” was everywhere that year. But arguably the most potent force in music was Kanye West, who released the seminal Late Registration, then made Mike Myers extremely uncomfortable at a Hurricane Katrina relief event. Outside of their core fanbase in the U.K., Oasis’ new music basically didn’t exist. I can’t blame anyone for ignoring Don’t Believe the Truth. Heathen Chemistry is that bad, and as Kanye was releasing “Gold Digger,” Oasis was releasing “Let There Be Love,” which you would get if you took “All You Need Is Love” and drained it of charm. Oasis’ sound and rah-rah attitude meant nothing to the mainstream and that irrelevance defied consensus, even among critics in a single city. Chicago’s Pitchfork had skewered it. The A.V. Club called it a comeback. The truth—I couldn’t help it—is somewhere in the middle. PROPERLY RATED.

Dig Out Your Soul

Noel once said that, had their discography occurred in reverse, their latter albums would be looked at as stepping stones to greatness rather than comedowns by has-beens. As with all things, I look to Bruce Springsteen for guidance. Are Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle better in light of Born To Run? Certainly. But are Greetings and the E Street Shuffle better than Oasis’ last two albums? Certainly. Springsteen knew he needed a breakthrough with his third album or he’d be back to the club circuit down the shore. If Oasis’ make-or-break third album was Heathen Chemistry, then the Gallaghers would have been back on the dole in Manchester. There would have been no Morning Glory? or Definitely, Maybe. Noel’s is a fun thought experiment, but ultimately, greatness is like porn. You know it when you see it, and Oasis’ albums didn’t have it in the 2000s. 

In any event, Noel must have been thinking of Dig Out Your Soul as a debut. The performances are engaged and confident, the music is loose yet purposeful, and the sound and production are the best since their prime. It’s very obviously the first time in years the band had cared, which I think stems from Noel knowing he was going to leave the band after this album. If Oasis put this much effort into past records, then thought experiments wouldn’t be needed to salvage its reputation. UNDERRATED.

Singles, B-sides, Non-Album Tracks, and Outtakes

If Oasis sucked at albums, then they were among the best at songs. Starting at number forty, every entry in music critic Steven Hyden’s ranking of Oasis songs is popular, great, or both, and his top-fifteen includes one classic after another. Even three Heathen Chemistry tracks make the list! I usually resent bands whose best product on streaming apps is their Essentials playlist. For Oasis, it’s their raison d'être. They were pop-rock hitmakers. 

It’s frustrating Oasis buried some of their best songs on single releases, leaving at least one more great album on the table. Indeed, The Masterplan, a post hoc compilation of B-sides, is probably their third-best “album.” But singles and associated B-sides are what prevented them from being a weightless fad, as their releases throughout the nineties contained hidden gems that rewarded a dedicated fan base. I hope to one day feel in the streaming era what Gen X must have felt when they bought the “Some Might Say” single and then unexpectedly had their face melt off their head by “Acquisese,” “Headshrinker,” and “Talk Tonight.” (At the same time, Oasis’ “shuffle-ability” might be contributing to their resurgence in popularity.)

Oasis’ non-album tracks also include an interview with the Gallaghers recorded in April 1994. The band had just been deported from the Netherlands for starting fights on the ferry over, disrupting plans for some of their first overseas shows, and to an NME reporter Noel and Liam argued whether artistry or attitude is more important. (The back-and-forth inexplicably charted in 1995, after it was released as a single.) The recording reveals that the Gallaghers’ combative relationship was not a symptom of success or jealousy; it was taped before they had officially released any music. It was instead the foundation of the entire operation. It was the fuel that powered the rocket ship. PROPERLY RATED.

Live albums/recordings

In some shows, Liam proves he was not only one of the best frontmen of his generation, but also one of its best singers. In others, he sounds like a Kermit the Frog impersonator who’s in pain. For his part, Noel on stage oscillated between unrepentantly gleeful and utterly dour. It seemed you could never know which Oasis would show up, if they showed up at all. Liam infamously skipped out on their MTV Unplugged performance at a time when MTV Unplugged meant something, and he would often leave the stage mid-concert due to vocal problems or indifference. They submitted several legendary concerts, including the ‘96 Knebworth shows, but years later Liam admitted that they had performed better gigs that tour. As with any popular band, Oasis’ live performances–officially released or otherwise–are discussed ad nauseum on the internet. Unlike with other bands, the discussion isn’t centered around setlist choices and song variations. It’s about whether Liam has a voice and if Noel cares. OVERRATED.

Live experience

A reunion tour wouldn’t be complicated. The Gallaghers fly separately on private jets, they wait in different green rooms, and they tolerate each other a few hours every other day during sound check and the show. I don’t know whether to be impressed or annoyed by their not capitalizing on a payday certain to be in the tens of millions of dollars. TBD.

Music videos

Music can sound and feel timeless, as if it could have been made fifty years ago or yesterday. Music videos almost always feel dated and cheesy. Oasis did not break that mold, and Noel hilariously detests Oasis’ videos. They’re useful, though, in reflecting a world pre- and post-9/11, pre- and post-HD, and pre- and post-cellphones. The band stood for nothing except having a good time, which makes it easy to see into them whatever we want. UNDERRATED.

Album art

Oasis’ album and singles art went from downright artful to whatever Heathen Chemistry’s is. (I swear this is my last knock on that album.) I’m not saying their switch from an iconic brand identity to a more modern one is what caused their declining relevance in the 2000s, but I’m not not saying that. UNDERRATED.

Noel Gallagher’s solo career

I watched Noel perform a soulless and abbreviated opening set for a band called Garbage at a half-empty amphitheater. He had strained his voice earlier that day cheering on his beloved Manchester City Football Club in the Champions League final. He’s written a lot of good songs as a solo artist and a few great ones, but none of them are essential, which might be why he spends most of his promotional interviews these days complaining about his estranged younger brother. At this point, not even Noel Gallager is interested in Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. PROPERLY RATED.

Liam Gallagher’s solo career

For someone who attributes his interest in music to being beaten with a hammer and openly laments Oasis’ demise, Liam has put together a cogent and successful solo career. He has committed to a singing style that preserves his voice, and he’s unpretentious about his new albums. It’s just rock and roll, excuses to sing Oasis songs to people. Coincidentally or not, he’s the Gallagher still headlining festivals and selling out arenas. In the decades-long debate between artistry and attitude, we might have a winner. UNDERRATED.

Final verdict

In the documentary Oasis: Supersonic, erstwhile rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs said, “[After Knebworth] I honestly think we should have just went, ‘Thank you, every one of youse, for getting us here. We were Oasis, and good night,’ and walked off. We should have… disappeared into a puff of smoke.” It’s a sentiment that aligns with Noel’s fears: that Oasis was a band whose moment ended in 1996. I do think they would have a better critical reputation had they called it quits sooner, or had better managed their output in the 2000s, but even their latter albums had two or three songs that other bands would kill to write. Oasis was a singles band, after all. Noel wrote the tunes. Liam brought the best ones to life. Some of their contemporaries put out albums considered among the best ever. Radiohead’s discography, for example, is spoken about in the reverent whispers of an art museum. But when aliens discover our planet, touch down on our scorched remains, and wipe away the dust, they’ll find a mummy clutching a Discman, and in it will be “Wonderwall.” UNDERRATED.

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