Skip to main content

Oasis:The Greatest Band of the 90's

In the U.S., Oasis is a one hit wonder, known only for the song Wonderwall.  This is a huge shame, since Oasis is undoubtedly the best band of their era.  Most critics would disagree, citing Nirvana, which was monumentally influential, or Pavement, which was consistently brilliant in every facet (except singing in tune), as better options.

Certainly, it's easy to write off Oasis.  There's a litany of issues with the band's music: Noel wrote terrible lyrics, Liam doesn't have a traditionally good voice, and the other band members were mediocre at best.  All of that doesn't matter.  A great artists needs to do three things and three things only:
  1. Write great tunes.
  2. Sing them effortlessly.
  3. Believe 100% in the music.
Oasis in the mid-90's had all of the above in spades.  Noel, without any assistance, wrote the best set of tunes this side of the Beatles, and Liam sang those tunes with a power and verve that made him one of the best rock vocalist of his generation.  They defined an era in the UK (there's a reason Tony Blair invited Noel to No. 10 Downing Street after his election), and they are a large part of the reason why the Brits still care about guitar rock in a way America simply doesn't.

(Also, just one more reason to like Oasis: Noel Gallagher sold his home in Ibiza located near James Blunt because he "Can't stand living there in the knowledge that Blunt is nearby making terrible music.")

Now, go listen to some Oasis.  Trust me, it'll be time well spent.  Sit back and let the grandeur wash over you.  If you would like an idea of where to start, here a bit about each of their albums:
  1. Definitely Maybe: The most consistently great set of songs that Oasis ever managed, played with a swagger that they never recaptured. Live Forever, Supersonic, and Slide Away are particularly amazing.  Rating: 10.0
  2. (What's the Story) Morning Glory: Oasis' most famous and most successful album for good reason. It's far more varied sonically than Definitely Maybe and contains the most famous of Oasis' songs.  Everyone rightfully knows Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger, and Champagne Supernova. Rating: 10.0
  3. Be Here Now: It unfortunately has the reputation of being a bloated mess, but, once pared down and re-sequenced, it's even better than the first two.  I Hope, I Think, I Know and b-side Going Nowhere are among the best songs Noel's ever written.  Rating: 7.6
  4. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: More or less garbage.  Noel didn't care at this point and it shows.  He somehow manages one moments of brilliance, though: Go Let It Out.  Rating: 6.6
  5. Heathen Chemistry: Probably their best late era album.  A bit soulless and inconsistent, but there are a couple really good songs.  Stop Crying Your Heart Out and b-side Idler's Dream are the standouts. Rating: 7.9
  6. Don't Believe the Truth: Their In Rainbows/All That You Can't Leave Behind.  A back to basics return to form.  Consistently listenable but consistently unremarkable.  Rating: 7.5
  7. Dig Out Your Soul: Essentially a somewhat worse version of Don't Believe the Truth. Rating: 6.6

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greatest Song of All Time

The music business has its fair share of complexities, as you would expect from any business with such a long history, and that is, at its core, built upon international law (i.e. copyright). That complexity is almost always hidden from the listening public. However, one piece that is curiously exposed every year when the Grammys come around is the separation between what is a "record" and what is a "song". The second and third most prestigious awards at the Grammys are, respectively, "Song of the Year," and "Record of the Year." What's the difference? Most people, including most musicians, wouldn't be able to tell you. I couldn't either until I took a music industry course in college where someone finally explained it to me: A "song" is melody and lyrics. The best way I have to think if it is, if hear someone play a faithful-to-the-original, acoustic cover, the "song" is what would be the same between the orig...
Post a Comment
Read more

Best Musical Snippets of 2013

It's always great when you get a song that's consistently great from beginning to end, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.  Sometimes you get songs where a certain section clearly stands out from the rest. Here's a few from this year: The Chorus of Kanye West's Bound 2 : The soul sample that occupies the rest of the song is soul only in name.  It approximates College Dropout-era Kanye with none of the warmth and, well, soul that made those tracks great.  The chorus is the exact opposite.  It uses the electronic music technique of putting a soulful male voice over a bass-heavy beat to create something emotive and genuinely soulful. The 3rd Minute of Youth Lagoon's Mute : Most of the song is nothing but warm, hazy fuzz, but, for about a minute, Trevor Powers cuts through that fuzz with a soaring, uplifting melody that Bono would be jealous of. The Pre-Chorus of Vampire Weekend's Unbelievers : One of two things this year that absolutely blew me away...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top 10 Albums of 2011

At the end of the year, every single music publication put out a list of their top albums.  Who am I to buck the trend?  So, here's my list of the ten best albums of 2011.  I also included the score out of 10 for each album.  Here's what those mean: 10 - Top 40 Albums of All Time 9   - Classic 8   - Album of the Year Candidate 7   - Amazing 6   - Excellent 5   - Very Good 4   - Good 3   - Passable 2   - A Few Good Songs 1   - One Good Song 0   - Entirely Unremarkable Also, here's a Spotify playlist of all the good songs from the 6 of the 10 albums below.  Nostalgia, Ultra. and House of Balloons are left out because they were free mixtapes and are thus not out on Spotify.  Just download them, legally and for free, using the links below.  21 and Mylo Xyloto are left out because they're making too much money to be worth putting on Spotify, so I guess you'll have to just buy them...
Post a Comment
Read more