Every Oasis Song, Ranked

Oasis is back — or they’re about to be, assuming the famously contentious British rock band can stay together long enough to commence their planned 2025 world tour. The group, driven by the collaboration (and, sometimes, deep-seated hatred) between primary songwriter Noel Gallagher and his baby-brother frontman Liam, became one of the biggest rock bands in the world during the mid-’90s, with the Beatles-worshipping one-two punch of their albums Definitely Maybe (recently rereleased for its 30th anniversary) and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (the one with “Wonderwall”). Subsequent records were less universally beloved on either side of the pond, which might engender some bitter feelings from Oasis superfans witnessing global rejoicing over the reunion.

After all, it’s entirely possible that many, even a majority, of fans pining for the band’s return since their 2009 break-up haven’t actually heard much of the music the band was putting out in the years prior to Noel Gallagher leaving in a fit of pique. Some Oasis fans are seemingly in it for the five biggest hits and the endlessly entertaining and often rancorous interviews with the brothers, together or separately, in which they tend to issue ridiculous, hilarious and sometimes devastatingly honest assessments of the world at large, including each other. But Oasis is more than a novelty act, even if a bootleg of the Gallaghers arguing did actually chart in England in the ‘90s. In particular, the fact that Oasis split before the full implosion of the CD market means that they’ve got a vast wealth of B-sides, expanding their catalog well beyond the 75 or so tunes you might expect from a seven-album discography. Some of these extra tracks are as good as anything they’ve ever done; others are as bad as the duffest tracks from their least-loved albums. Put together, they add up to 125 songs released over the course of just 15 years. 

Many of these won’t be played at next year’s shows. But the band is headlining full-on stadiums, so they’ll have a lot of space and time to fill, which means it couldn’t hurt to study up on their full career, because, face it, you already know “Don’t Look Back in Anger” (or anyway, you can fake it well enough six beers in). So as a public service, we’ve ranked every single original Oasis song with some kind of commercial release (no covers, thanks) — except whatever we forgot. But it should all be here. Not all of this stuff is essential. Some of it is quite crap. (The really good stuff is in the top 50 or so.) But sometimes the great and the crap exist in the same Oasis song, side by side. So let’s listen up, slip inside the eye of your mind and don’t go away. This is every Oasis song, ranked.

125. “I Can See a Liar”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

Sometimes familiarity can breed as much contempt as warm-blanket comfort. There may be worse Oasis songs than this one from the near-decade of sometimes-middling work that followed it, but this bit of generic Liam sneering from their first 2000s-era record feels worse, because I’ve lived with it longer. And also because it features the immortal line “I can see a liar, sitting by the fire.” Oh, yeah? No comment on his pants, Noel? It does function as a tribute to Oasis unity: It’s a terrible song written by Noel that made the album because Liam loved it.

124. “Born on a Different Cloud”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

It’s funny how the band’s much-noted Beatles influence can creep in at inopportune times: For a little while, this Liam-penned lowlight does indeed sound a tiny bit like it could be the most plodding song off the White Album. Unfortunately, it’s the most plodding song off of Heathen Chemistry, which is, obviously, much worse.

123. “To Be Where There’s Life”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

To be honest, I have a compulsion to defend the inevitably much-derided contributions from outside a band’s primary songwriting circle, which in Oasis includes anyone not named Noel Gallagher (or, by extension, John Lennon or Paul McCartney). But this tune, penned by post-2000 Oasis guitarist Gem Archer, pretty much conforms to the stereotype; it’s a pale and repetitive imitation of what an Oasis song should sound like.

122. “Ain’t Got Nothin’”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

I mean… no arguments here.

121. “The Quiet Ones”

“The Importance of Being Idle” single, 2005

It’s important, even touching, that one of the non-quarrelsome members of Oasis wrote a song extolling the virtues of the “quiet ones.” It’s disappointing, however, that it wasn’t Guigsy in 1996. Also that the song is bad.

120. “Let There Be Love”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

One of a few shared Noel/Liam lead vocals in the band’s catalog; in Pacino/De Niro terms, this is more Righteous Kill than Heat.

119. “Won’t Let You Down”

“Lyla” single, 2005

A.I. capable of fumblingly imitating a famous singer’s voice did not exist in 2005, so I’m forced to conclude that Liam had access to a time machine. The only question is, when he went to the future and accessed some horrible A.I. program, did he ask it to imitate his younger self, or just John Lennon?

118. “The Nature of Reality”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

The back half of Dig Out Your Soul, the band’s final record to date, feels like a surrender. Frontloaded with some of Noel Gallagher’s best compositions of the 2000s, nearly half of the album’s songs come from other members of the band, and it doesn’t seem like an accident that four of those five are clumped together at the end. Bassist Andy Bell’s “The Nature of Reality,” despite a cringe-inducing title (and accompanying suggestion that said reality is — get this — “only in our minds”!), is just slightly more musically interesting than some of the other should-have-been-cast-offs it keeps company with. But only just.

117. “The Cage”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

This is an instrumental-only hidden track that, back in the CD days, you had to fast-forward about 30 minutes to reach (and in the early iPod era, created a single 40-minute mostly-silent track bookended by “Better Man” and this). The juice is not worth the squeeze.

116. “Soldier On”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

The best Oasis records — the best records in general, really — have really distinctive closers to place punctuation at the end of the album-length statement. The less-good Oasis albums tend to slink toward the exit with some kind of broad sentiment of vague hope; this might be the worst of the lot, especially because the first bunch of the record is quite good.

115. “One Way Road”

“Who Feels Love?” single, 2000

I guess this is one way to make sure “Who Feels Love?” isn’t overwhelmed by its support.

114. “Boy with the Blues”

Dig Out Your Soul bonus track, 2008

Repeatedly and somewhat inexplicably considered for its own single or EP before finally making the Dig Out Your Soul deluxe edition (and then a digital EP a year later), this Liam-penned tune supposedly boasted a gospel-worthy refrain at the end that Noel compared to Spiritualized. This may be in the running for nicest thing Noel has ever said about his baby bro.

113. “Carry Us All”

“Sunday Morning Call” single, 2000

This sounds like a demo. For Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

112. “Pass Me Down the Wine”

“The Importance of Being Idle” single, 2005

The non-album tracks of the band’s second decade are largely Noel plotting an escape plan, but once in a while, Liam emerges, kinda sounding like garbage, but also kinda sounding OK.

111. “Thank You for the Good Times”

“Stop Crying Your Heart Out” single, 2005

There are also certain stretches of Oasis B-sides in the 2000s where it sounds like one or both Gallaghers are preparing their career-capping send-off song, just in case.

110. “(Probably) All in the Mind”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

There are two notable things about this tune: It’s one of a handful of cases where 1.) Noel’s beloved “(Parenthetical Phrase) Before the Rest of the Title” structure actually makes sense and 2.) Alan White’s drum fills sound a bit like a Chemical Brothers song.

109. “Sitting Here in Silence (On My Own)”

“Let There Be Love” single, 2005

Congrats on the two-minute song, at least! Sorry you’re kinda moping about it anyway, Noel!

108. “Alive” (demo)

“Shakermaker” single, 1994

Am I crazy or does this sound a little like Weezer?

107. “Who Put the Weight of the World on My Shoulders?“

Goal! Music from the Motion Picture, 2005

Possibly the only Oasis soundtrack cut that doesn’t appear elsewhere in their discography, this is some real sad-bastard Noel stuff.

106. “Can Y’See It Now? (I Can See It Now!!)”

Don’t Believe the Truth bonus track, 2005

The first time I unearthed and played this song, I got so excited by its driving “Mucky Fingers”-y cranked-up drone-stomp. Even its weirdly punctuated title kind of goes around the horn and becomes delightful rather than stupid! After a glorious 90 seconds of what I assumed was a kickass intro, however, I grew increasingly disappointed as I realized that, save for the phrase “I can see it now!” coming in at the end, this is essentially an instrumental. Oh well! If the band ever finishes it, I’m all ears.

105. “Listen Up”

“Cigarettes & Alcohol,” 1994; The Masterplan, 1998

True Oasis fans know (and find lovable/frustrating) how Noel Gallagher spent a good portion of the ’90s chucking great songs onto the B-sides of single releases rather than proper albums, which made for some terrific four-track CDs (fetching a hefty price as imports in the U.S. back in the day!) and headslapping when listening to a duff track from the actual record. Somehow, Noel stayed true to this ethos even when assembling the 1998 B-sides collection The Masterplan, which manages to inexplicably overlook some of the band’s best B-sides even when explicitly looking for material to promote to a compilation album. Hence the inclusion of the six-minute “Supersonic” soundalike “Listen Up” over half a dozen vastly superior songs from the band’s ’90s era.

104. “Shakermaker”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

I know this is a single from one of the band’s few unimpeachable albums and even in possession of a rare stab at humility from our boys. But doesn’t this also sound kind of like the stupid Coca-Cola jingle from the 1970s?

103. “Let’s All Make Believe”

“Go Let It Out” single, 2000

“Let’s all make believe in the end we gonna need each other.” Ouch! A stinging rebuke to a much better and much more popular Oasis B-side. Points for chutzpah but the song itself is tedious (and kind of a bummer).

102. “Angel Child” (demo)

“D’You Know What I Mean” single, 1997

This is a demo and very much sounds like it, but it was on that “D’You Know What I Mean” single, so it has to be included here, even if Noel couldn’t be arsed to finish it.

101. “I Believe in All”

Dig Out Your Soul bonus track, 2008

This digital-era B-side sees Liam competing with Noel in one notable way: By writing a song that is actually much better than at least some of the songs he wrote for the proper album.

100. “Roll With It”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995

In the so-called “Battle of Britpop” in the late summer of 1995, advance singles from Blur’s The Great Escape and Oasis’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? were pitted against each other in the war for chart dominance. Blur prevailed by deploying “Country House,” an extremely catchy uptempo number that also had multiple single releases with different B-sides — which now seems a bit like bringing a machine-gun to butter-knife fight, given that Oasis had decided to send out… the worst fucking song on their new album! A classic bit of Noel Gallagher half-assery, “Roll With It” admittedly has a catchy melody and bridge, but the lyrics — even for Oasis — are a bunch of nonsensical cheer-section advice about rolling with it, taking your time and not letting anybody get in your way, which contributes the sing-song-y, tossed-off feel. But maybe it was a genius tactical move, because imagine hearing “Roll With It” as a big lead single, and then finding out the album actually has “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”! Playing the long game, eh, boys? Clever, but doesn’t save “Roll With It” from the skip button.

99. “Eyeball Tickler”

“Lyla” single, 2005

Say this for Gem Archer: He sounds excited to be writing songs for Oasis, which is not always true of Noel in this period, at least not beyond his contributions to the proper albums.

98. “D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?”

“Shakermaker” single, 1994

Almost unconscionably ditty-like for the usual go-big-or-get-pished Oasis, but, as such, kind of cute, like a dorky elementary-school photo of a cool pop star.

97. “A Quick Peep”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

A short and painless listen, but there’s one great Oasis instrumental track, and this ain’t it.

96. “The Swamp Song”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995 and The Masterplan, 1998

This ain’t it either, despite it actually working OK as a shortened recurring transitional track on Morning Glory. Again: Why on earth did the full version make the Masterplan cut?!

95. “Take Me Away”

“Supersonic” single, 1994

One of the earliest Noel-sung tracks backs up the “Supersonic” single and almost sounds like a different band; the arrangement is acoustically understated and Noel’s voice sounds like, well, a guy you’d probably confine to back-ups and B-sides if you had Liam in the band. Still, a country-ish Oasis song is novel enough to escape the bottom of the barrel.

94. “(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

Why is “Get Off Your” the parenthetical phrase here?!

93. “Put Yer Money Where Your Mouth Is”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

I choose to believe this semi-listless rocker is just Noel softening the listener up for the premiere of the Liam-penned “Little James,” which follows it, and sounds heavenly by comparison.

92. “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

The pun is about the extent of this one.

91. “Hey Now”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995

Well, it’s not “Roll With It.”

90. “Love Like a Bomb”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

Liam and Gem Archer teamed up to write this one, and while it’s mostly standard-issue psychedelia-adjacent later-period Oasis, it’s pleasant enough.

89. “Rockin’ Chair”

“Roll With It” single, 1995; The Masterplan, 1998

You know, for all of the different aforementioned B-sides Blur released with “Country House,” they only featured one original, called “One Born Every Minute.” (Think about that one for about 10 seconds.) It’s neck and neck whether that or “Rockin’ Chair” is better; they both feel like rehashes of material the band has recorded better elsewhere.

88. “If We Shadows” (demo)

Be Here Now reissue, 2022

Perhaps a questionable inclusion, because a finished version wasn’t properly released. But the song has apparently been kicking around since 1992, and the Noel-solo version included in the massive Be Here Now reissue is, at least, better than some of the band’s other outtakes and lowlights, if still grammatically sketchy.

87. “My Sister Lover”

Stand By Me single, 1997

Incredibly, it’s not the off-putting title that’s the problem here but the mind-numbing repetition. I’m usually a sucker for the Be Here Now-era overkill approach to Oasising, but this B-side just hammers its catchiness home for six numbing minutes.

86. “Those Swollen Hand Blues”

“Falling Down” single, 2008

There’s a whistle break in this that I absolutely adore.

85. “A Bell Will Ring”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

Actually, the drums on this Gem Archer song also sound a bit Chemical Brothers-y. Said drums, by the way, were provided by Zak Starkey, the drummer on the final two Oasis records and the literal son of Ringo Starr, who reportedly liked this track in particular. Good enough!

84. “Full On”

“Sunday Morning Call” single, 2000

Makes a reasonable attempt to live up to its title. Luckily, they never titled one “Mega.”

83. “It’s Better People”

“Roll With It” single, 1995

An unusually strummy and relatively spare song that is both no great shakes and, yes, solidly better than the A-side it accompanies.

82. “(I Got) The Fever”

“Stand By Me” single, 1997

This one includes a chorus killer enough that you immediately suspect the melody was wholesale lifted from another band or possibly just another Oasis song. In other words, some fatigue was creeping into their ‘90s golden era.

81. “(You’ve Got) the Heart of a Star”

“Songbird” single, 2005

Is that… twang?!

80. “My Big Mouth”

Be Here Now, 1997

A friend of mine once astutely described Be Here Now, the overblown, beyond-hyped 1997 album that helped drive Oasis into a ditch following the massive success of Morning Glory, as a record that’s metatextually about the experience of a rock band being given a massive platform with the biggest, loudest speakers imaginable… with absolutely nothing to say. (He reported this with no small degree of affection for the resulting coke-fueled 80-minute monstrosity.) There’s definitely something to that theory, yet “My Big Mouth,” the second track from Be Here Now, most assuredly has something to say; with Noel Gallagher writing lyrics about his big-mouthed insensitivity for his equally loutish brother Liam to sing, it may be the most self-effacing song on this album. It’s also, weirdly (or maybe appropriately), the least purely enjoyable Be Here Now track, a noisy semi-confessional that manages to feel just as repetitive as songs twice as long.

79. “Hung in a Bad Place”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

I don’t know what this means, and I suspect I don’t want to.

78. “(It’s Good) To Be Free”

“Whatever” single, 1994; The Masterplan, 1998

Look, “Whatever” is a classic stand-alone single, about which you can read more much further up this list. Asking for the B-sides to be anywhere near as good is probably a fool’s errand. I agree, freedom is good and little things make us happy.

77. “Shout It Out Loud”

“Stop Crying Your Heart Out” single, 2005

There are far fewer “should’ve made the record” Oasis B-sides from the 21st century, but this definitely could have passed muster on Don’t Believe the Truth.

76. “Who Feels Love?”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

It’s just never that convincing when the Gallagher boys are discussing love directly, you know? Saying “your music’s shite, it keeps me up all night, up all night” has a way of sounding more sincerely affectionate than when they whinge on about feeling love over lite psychedelia.

75. “Just Getting Older”

“The Hindu Times” single, 2002

“Am I cracking up, or just getting older?” Sing it, Noel.

74. “Idler’s Dream”

“The Hindu Times” single, 2002

The rare — possibly only? — just-Noel-and-a-piano song.

73. “(As Long as They’ve Got) Cigarettes in Hell”

“Go Let It Out” single, 2000

As you probably know by now if you didn’t already, some Oasis B-sides blatantly outshine their A-sides (or at least other tracks from the album that supplied the A-sides). This one tries a different tactic: The chugging keyboard-y noise that drives the first half of the song really makes it feel like an extension of “Go Let It Out,” the song it supports.

72. “Falling Down”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

One of several instances of Oasis sounding just the faintest bit like electronica, although in 2008 it was pretty well past the trendiness of their initial flirtation. I still think David Bowie’s Earthling slaps, so on-trend electronica isn’t that important to me. But this isn’t as good as anything on Earthling.

71. “Stop Crying Your Heart Out”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

This is a perfectly OK 2000s-era Oasis ballad, which loses some credibility in large part because the band was so clearly aiming for a heart-soaring smash — and incredibly, no less than Rolling Stone played along, calling it an album/career highlight at the time. Even within the realm of Oasis lyrics that wind up sounding insincere because of how dumb they are, this song feels particularly unlikely to offer any of the comfort it’s supposed to. The catchy chorus (and orchestral bits, and aaahhh-ing backing vocals) makes it plenty listenable, but doesn’t do much about the smarm.

70. “Cloudburst”

“Live Forever” single, 1994

This sounds like Definitely Maybe-era Oasis, all right, and it is, so what’s wrong with that? Nothing, really, but with greater distance there’s something uncanny about it, from the guitar tone to the signature self-distortion Liam places on certain syllables (“change” becomes “chay-ange”), that makes it sound specifically like a composite of songs they already had in their repertoire, which is kind of a wild thing to be happening within a year of your debut album. It’s a nice reminder that those Definitely Maybe vibes couldn’t last forever.

69. “Underneath the Sky”

“Don’t Look Back in Anger” single, 1995

As far as prepositions accompany the sky in the Oasis catalog, “Up in the Sky” is the way to go here, though this one is perfectly fine.

68. “Force of Nature”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

What’s cool about this song is that it feels like Noel is kinda trying to sing it like Liam, all sneering accusations and elongated syllables. It’s not the same, of course, but it does give yet another routine midtempo number some extra spice.

67. “Roll It Over”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

Honestly, as long as we’re not rolling with it, fine.

66. “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down”

Single, 2007

An outtake repurposed for a 2007 Oasis documentary, a stand-alone single release (the band’s first since “Whatever” back in 1994) let “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down” slip through the cracks to some extent. A nimbler, less overproduced classic-rock homage than the band was sometimes playing during this period, it could have improved virtually any of the band’s 2000s-era records (though, knowing Noel’s capricious song-selection process, he likely would have only included it by swapping out another good tune).

65. “I Will Believe”

“Supersonic” single, 1994

Another Definitely Maybe mimeograph, but one with a little more melodic novelty.

64. “Little James”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

Perhaps recipient of outsized mockery as Mr. Liam Gallagher’s first foray into songwriting on an Oasis record, this is, in truth, a perfectly sweet little song Liam wrote for his stepson. I’d daresay that “I’m singing this song for you and your mom, that’s all” is a pretty effective shield, lyrically speaking. Even the attempt to swell into something a bit bigger in the second half is perfectly forgivable. After all, who among the various members of Oasis haven’t failed to write “Hey Jude”?

63. “The Importance of Being Idle”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

Rhys Ifans clicks his heels together in the music video, which is more than reason enough for this to exist.

62. “Bring It On Down”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

The dirty secret of Definitely Maybe — a great record, to be clear — is that it’s got nearly as many pretty-good-but-unremarkable rock-song workouts as later-period Oasis albums, despite being roughly 100 times better regarded. Everyone just sounds a bit fresher — or maybe that’s the Guigsy/Bonehead difference at work, as bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs were present only for the band’s ’90s records.

61. “Step Out”

“Don’t Look Back in Anger” single, 1995

Famously pulled from (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? due to legally actionable similarities to Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight,” “Step Out” turned up as a B-side to “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” with properly augmented songwriting credits. It’s hard to hear it divorced from that context, but it’s certainly a fun uptempo song from the band’s prime years.

60. “Hello”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995

Even through their less-loved 2000s output, Oasis seemed to understand the value of a ripping album-opener. So it’s a shock to realize that their weakest contribution in this department actually heads up (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, their most commercially successful record. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Fuckin’ in the Bushes,” “The Hindu Times,” “Bag it Up”… ringing statements of purpose that subsequent tracks sometimes have trouble living up to. “Hello,” by contrast, is an opening track that seems to exist primarily to take some heat off of “Roll With It,” and that’s even before you realize it interpolates a Gary Glitter song. On the other hand, it’s got a propulsive guitar line and Liam is still in fine form here.

59. “I’m Outta Time”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

Another relative highlight of Liam’s songwriting career, with a light touch (and, yes, a soothing John Lennon sound) he seemed more comfortable bringing back out as the band neared the end of its time together.

58. “The Meaning of Soul”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

This unfussy, rhythmic little rocker is another Liam-penned semi-gem; our kid done well!

57. “Part of the Queue”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

A lot of rock bands, Oasis included, struggle with writing songs later in their career that aren’t essentially about touring or being in a rich and famous rock band – or, in an attempt to avoid this pitfall, go super vague. But “Part of the Queue” does a respectable job of slipping back into the voice of a non-famous person as Noel conveys the experience of feeling lost and out of place in your own city.

56. “The Turning”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

The usual guitar-bass-drums-more-guitar are joined by a piano line and a backing choir, signaling a halfway return to Be Here Now-style maximalism for this Dig Out Your Soul selection, and hey, this does sound more energized than much of the album that preceded it. “When the rapture takes me, be the fallen angel by my side” isn’t bad for a late-period Noel-ism.

55. “Waiting for the Rapture”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

A song called “Waiting for the Rapture,” immediately following a song with a lyric about “when the rapture takes me”? Hold up, is Dig Out Your Soul a concept album?! (Cue Robbie Williams: “The concept is that it’s brilliant.”) Probably not, but the stompiness of its first three tracks makes it feel less grab-baggy than other Oasis records of this era.

54. “Better Man”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

A bluesy closer for Heathen Chemistry, not a Pearl Jam cover. The overall sentiment isn’t dissimilar to the Beatles song “Getting Better,” which is only weird because there’s actually another Oasis song with “Getting Better” in the title. And also “Man.” Look, there are only so many words.

53. “It’s Getting Better (Man!!)”

Be Here Now, 1997

Speaking of which: As a lad, I loved this 11-minute marathon of positive feelings. Yeah! Things are getting better (man!!)! In retrospect, it’s easier to read this as the band lying to itself at great length. There’s a certain poetic justice in releasing an 11-minute song with this title, and then, on your next album, including a song called “Where Did It All Go Wrong?”

52. “Sunday Morning Call”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

There are two more tracks after this one on Giants, but it feels like the real closer to the record, and could have made a perfectly fitting capper to the boys’ hangover era.

51. “Columbia”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

An earlier and therefore less remarked-upon instance of the band’s “just let it run” ethos.

50. “Gas Panic”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

This may be the track where Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, which now feels at least as ill-regarded as Be Here Now, most effectively sequelizes its druggy, hubristic predecessor, using the production-heavy muchness of that style to convey a sinister sense of paranoia and loneliness. Inspired by Noel’s comedown from addiction, it feels personal and specific in a way that so many Oasis songs, later period or otherwise, are not.

49. “Going Nowhere”

“Stand By Me” single, 1997; The Masterplan, 1998

A song so gentle and non-bombastic that it was years before I realized it came out during the Be Here Now era.

48. “Be Here Now”

Be Here Now, 1997

Fun as a reference compendium: the title is a Lennon quote, naturally; the lyrics implore you to “play a song for me, one from Let It Be” (either the Gallaghers were ahead of the curve on appreciating perhaps the most underrated Beatles record, or it was the easiest rhyme); they even throw in a Bowie-style “you betcha!”

47. “Up in the Sky”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

If they ever do a Classic Britpop version of Kidz Bop, well, they shouldn’t, but this one would be an easy inclusion, though I guess they’d have to change the bit about “how does it feel when you’re inside me?” (Honestly not sure what that’s about in this context, anyway.)

46. “Flashbax”

“All Around the World” B-side, 1998

Both the original B-sides accompanying the release of “All Around the World” are Noel-sung bangers; this is the slightly weaker of the two, but they both best their A-side handily, proving the band’s era-of-plenty hadn’t quite closed out yet.

45. “All Around the World”

Be Here Now, 1997

Almost all of Be Here Now sounds like it was conceived by people whose two favorite songs in the world are “Hey Jude” by the Beatles and “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis. The problem with “Hey Jude”-ing across your whole album is that it’s hard even for a nine-minute singalong opus (complete with regal reprise to close out the album) to have any kind of impact. Yet there is something daftly delightful about the nah-nah-nah infinity of this insane overreach, which comes complete with a Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris music video, as was the style at the time.

44. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

A little on the nose, innit?

43. “Songbird”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

Liam Gallagher will never ascend to a position higher than “second-best songwriter in Oasis,” and on some days, even that might feel like a stretch. But “Songbird,” easily the best song Liam ever wrote for the band, is a great example of what the singer can do when he chills out on his rock-star swagger: produce an unfussy, short-and-sweet two-minute gem.

42. “Sad Song”

Definitely Maybe bonus track, 1994

Exiled even by the standards of Oasis B-sides — it appeared only a Japanese edition of Definitely Maybe, not even a B-side eligible for inclusion on The Masterplan, until it was snagged for various Definitely Maybe anniversary reissues — “Sad Song” sounded revelatory in 1994, when Noel sang on zero Oasis album tracks. These days, it’s a nicely melancholy little number notable largely for being dismissed when it would have been most exciting to hear.

41. “Cigarettes & Alcohol”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

A lot on the nose, innit?

40. “Morning Glory”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995

According to this list, this is their best title track. (They have two title tracks.) Actually, the way this propulsive penultimate song from Morning Glory emerges from a noisy racket is pretty close to an ideal deployment of the title-track system.

39. “The Shock of the Lightning”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

“Love is a time machine, up on the silver screen.” OK, buddy. Apart from the placeholder lyrics, though, this song rips harder than most later-2000s Oasis songs, maybe because it breaks through their default midtempo trudge.

38. “Half the World Away”

“Whatever” single, 1994; The Masterplan, 1998

A seemingly straightforward song with a bizarre series of backstories: Apparently it was largely stolen from a Burt Bacharach song called “This Guy’s in Love with You”; caused a rift between Noel and drummer Tony McCarroll (Noel performs the drum part on the recording); served as the theme song to the BBC sitcom The Royle Family; and includes some self-plagiarized lyrics (“you said your body was young but your mind was very old”) that Noel would later self-plagiarize again for his contribution to the Chemical Brothers’ tune “Setting Sun.”

37. “Magic Pie”

Be Here Now, 1997

In the Be Here Now era, Noel was still just allotted a single song to sing per album, and this lead-vocal contribution is not one of his most beloved; makes sense, as his voice has always been the secret weapon to kill it on the soaring ballads, and “Magic Pie” matches the hundred-guitar crescendo of the rest of this record in its hubris. But on a wall-of-coke album, there’s something novel about hearing yearning Noel backed by those hundred-or-so overdubs.

36. “She Is Love”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

Not to be outdone by Liam’s less-is-more ballad “Songbird,” Noel comes up with his own jauntily stripped-down number for the same record, complete with handclaps.

35. “Where Did It All Go Wrong?”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

Giants often feels lost in the shuffle these days, as is often the case with transitional records, and maybe there’s not much honor in setting the template for the sometimes-uninspired solid craft of albums that aren’t as good as earlier albums. But this is definitely the record where Noel starts asserting himself more as a vocalist — it’s the first Oasis album where he sings lead on more than one song, and the superior of the two is this mournful widescreen epic.

34. “The Fame”

“All Around the World” single, 1997

“It’s maybe the fame” maybe feels like a massive understatement for Oasis circa ‘97, but this rave-up — the first of Noel’s two-song filibuster on the B-side of “All Around the World” — still kicks ass.

33. “Digsy’s Dinner”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

This song is a delightful lark, but I cannot stop thinking about how fucking terrible the lasagna they’re singing about must be.

32. “Fade In-Out”

Be Here Now, 1997

An extremely menacing song even before you learn that Johnny Depp played slide guitar on it.

31. “She’s Electric”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995

As much as the Gallaghers obviously love the Beatles, it really feels as if they love John Lennon the best, an understandable if vaguely basic opinion that’s nicely undermined by “She’s Electric,” which much more closely approximates the Paul McCartney brand of oodly-doodly frip-frappery without the ostentatiously twee curlicues that Noel probably incorrectly associates with Blur.

30. “I Hope, I Think, I Know”

Be Here Now, 1997

“I ain’t got much to say / you’re gonna miss me when I’m not there / you know I don’t care.” Truer words, perhaps, Liam has never sung, in the most concise stand-alone song on Be Here Now. Plus a million points for not being called “(I Hope) (I Think) I Know” or any variation thereof.

29. “Bonehead’s Bank Holiday”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? bonus track, 1995

What’s weirder: that Morning Glory is a beloved classic yet the B-sides and bonus tracks of its era indicate that it could have easily been an all-killer contender for best British rock album ever; or that one of said brilliant discarded tracks is about the vacation antics of Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, who was supposed to sing it himself until he got too nervous-drunk and lost his voice? Noel likened it to when the Beatles would get Ringo to sing the odd song for them. Luckily, Bonehead’s presence in the song’s title immortalizes him (in what some fans have described as a “piss take” of Blur!) whether he was ready for it or not.

28. “Stand By Me”

Be Here Now, 1997

On a record full of songs titled to sound Beatles-y (“Magic Pie,” “All Around the World”), the Gallagher brain trust couldn’t leave well enough alone and named their wannabe midtempo sing-along after an exceedingly famous old song (they also throw a “God only knows” into a later iteration of the chorus, though it seems entirely possible that the Beach Boys passed Noel by entirely). But honestly, on a record that wasn’t cranked to “11” for 85 percent of its runtime, “Stand By Me” probably would have been considered a pleasantly over-the-top Oasis song with orchestral flourishes and easy-to-remember chorus.

27. “Headshrinker”

“Some Might Say” single, 1995; The Masterplan, 1998

Oasis songs tend to be a bit too lumbering to touch punk rock, even with Liam’s roughest, most goading deliveries. But “Headshrinker” comes admirably close to what I assume Liam would call “me Sex Pistols song!”

26. “Cast No Shadow”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, 1995

You may have gathered by this point that one fun thing about Oasis is that they offer a lot of opinions about their own music. With that in mind, Noel has described these lyrics as potentially his best ever, written for and about Richard Ashcroft from the Verve. They’re certainly in the running — “as he faced the sun he cast no shadow” is very Oasis-y near-nonsense, but manages to be poetically evocative rather than ridiculous — and the production of the song really supports them. The airy backing vocals, for example, are a great example of Oasis effortlessly recalling the Beatles, rather than the great exertion you can sometimes hear on other songs.

25. “Little by Little”

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

The lyrics on the verses are a potent combo of clunkers and groaners, but man, that chorus. Traditionally, Noel is better-known for singing some lovely Oasis ballads, and with good cause, but he absolutely crushes it on the soaring chorus, perhaps emboldened by the immediate pre-chorus line “my God woke up on the wrong side of His bed,” which is pretty solid.

24. “Supersonic”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

This might seem controversially low on the list, considering how closely identified it is with the band’s whole thing. It’s a great song! It kicks ass! It’s just had a lot of time to get a little too much play, and some of those lyrics get a touch nursery-rhyme-y. Killer bridge, though.

23. “Talk Tonight”

“Some Might Say” single, 1995; The Masterplan, 1998

This whole thing is just unaccountably lovely, right down to the fact that it was apparently written about a woman Noel met at a show in San Francisco, who he hung out with in the aftermath of a near-breakup of the band in 1994. But my favorite part is the soft but insistent percussion — possibly just a clap? — that sounds like someone keeping time with himself.

22. “Married with Children”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

Give or take a “Champagne Supernova,” this could be in the running for the band’s best album-closer. On an album after 2000, it almost certainly would have been punted to Noel, but hearing Liam sing in such a light, unadorned register still hits all these years later — maybe moreso.

21. “D’You Know What I Mean?”

Be Here Now, 1997

If it’s not clear, I generally love Be Here Now, and it might actually be my favorite Oasis record. But I understand why no one else feels that way. The thing about “D’You Know What I Mean?” — the record’s opening salvo and first single in America — is that for seven minutes and change, it really sounds like the band pulled it off. A rock song that sounds like soaring helicopters even when it’s not literally piping in helicopter sounds, where the band’s trademark plodding becomes epic slow-mo and there’s no such thing as too many guitars. A second coming of Second Coming, if you will. (Note: For this to make sense, you also have to really like the Stone Roses’ second album Second Coming.) Again, this song on its own, rather than a harbinger of what follows it, would probably have a much better rep.

20. “Lyla”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

In a classic bit of Oasis mixed messaging, Noel had initially dismissed “Lyla” — the lead-off single from the band’s first new album in three years, mind — as a last-minute addition selected for its poppiness, rating it well outside the top five songs on the record. He seems to have come around on it, perhaps owing to the fact that it is in fact the best song on Don’t Believe the Truth in a walk. A swagger, even. Sometimes a simple song of devotion does the trick. With love, I say: Glad you got your head out of your arse on this one, Noel.

19. “Fade Away”

“Cigarettes & Alcohol” single, 1994; The Masterplan, 1998

A lot of early Oasis songs now play like what-if scenarios from an alternate world where the band never spends any time on top of the charts and has to fuck off back to Manchester. “Fade Away,” which has been done up as both an acoustic number and the more widely distributed rocker version, is one of their finest, most plainspoken expressions of this sentiment: “While we’re living, the dreams we had as children fade away.” Fun fact: Blur also put out a song called “Fade Away,” the very next year. Though Blur arguably won the artistic war — they still occasionally make new records, have experimented far more with their style while remaining recognizably themselves, and have a best-of that can stand to any band in Britpop — Oasis definitely has the better “Fade Away.”

18. “The Girl in the Dirty Shirt”

Be Here Now, 1997

Like “Stand By Me” but even more direct, this feels like a classic Oasis tune lost in the noise surrounding their attempt to make the biggest-ever rock record. Check out that slide-y guitar noise on the chorus! (I don’t think it’s actual slide guitar.) Check out the sweet-not-goopy love-story lyrics! Check out the Noel back-up vocals! This song is charming. It’s also super-fun to play on the guitar, if unlikely to usurp “Wonderwall” in the tablature-student department anytime soon.

17. “Bag It Up”

Dig Out Your Soul, 2008

The best song off Dig Out Your Soul is the very first track, a late-period stomper that makes great use of Liam’s increasing hoarseness. It is also, I believe, the only Oasis song that shares a title with a song by Geri Halliwell (also known as Ginger Spice).

16. “Mucky Fingers”

Don’t Believe the Truth, 2005

Oasis is known for their self-professed Beatles-pilfering, and, secondarily, for all the bands they might actually resemble more consistently than the Beatles, like T. Rex or, if you will, the Moody Blues. “Mucky Fingers” is the short but glorious answer to the question, “What if the lads liked cooler bands?” Being influenced by the Velvet Underground isn’t exactly a novelty, nor is it a shock that Noel takes to them about as literally as possible, simply nicking the pounding-chord rhythm of “Waiting for the Man” for this mid-2000s track. But it’s really quite astonishing how much novelty the blatant theft opens up for the band, proving that they were still capable of ear-catching surprises relatively late into their career. (Also: “You get your history from the Union Jack” is a pretty solid dis.)

15. “Stay Young”

“D’You Know What I Mean” single, 1997; The Masterplan, 1998

A wistful companion piece to “Fade Away,” right down to it not making a proper record where it would have been one of the best songs on it. Bonus points for soundtracking the end credits of the 1998 film The Faculty.

14. “Whatever”

Stand-alone single, 1994; Time Flies compilation, 2009

How quaint that back in 1994, a song running a mere 6:21 could count as the band’s longest single to date! Released on a variety of CD singles (and, in Japan, leading a full EP) in between the first and second records, it portends a more elaborate, acoustic-orchestral sound that the band never really pursued full-time, though there are hints of it on plenty of subsequent releases. Thirty years later, it still sounds like a special stand-alone single.

13. “Don’t Go Away”

Be Here Now, 1997

My recollection was that this single was released a little too late to salvage Be Here Now sales, at least in the U.S., but my local alt-rock station played it a hell of a lot in the autumn of my senior year of high school, which pretty much sealed my fate, didn’t it? Beyond my personal sense memory of having an amazing time with my friends while simultaneously aware of the ticking clock on that whole enterprise — shades of a rock band realizing their time at the top can’t last, innit? — this is a welcome respite from the whole Be Here Now thing (even if there are still orchestral swells in this, the chillest song on that record), and one of the band’s best, most pleading ballads.

Heathen Chemistry, 2002

You might gather from its songs’ placement throughout this list that Heathen Chemistry is an uneven album. Liam himself ranked it last among every record he’s been involved with, though apparently more for its forgettable qualities than any particular bone to pick. But its kickoff track is one of the band’s best of the 2000s, easily, with great riffs both musical (the Indian-ish guitar riff that was apparently nicked from a Stereophonics tune) and lyrical (“God give me a soul in your rock and roll, babe”). If there was ever a singer born to append a sneering “babe” to the end of a sentence, it’s Liam Gallagher.

“Wonderwall” single, 1995; The Masterplan, 1998

Many fans’ pick for the flat-out best song in the Oasis catalog, the namesake of the band’s B-sides collection is maybe a touch too orchestrally melodramatic to crack the top 10 — but it’s a really damn good top 10, so there’s no shame in this spot for the song Noel has often designated his best ever. It’s hard to argue with him (and now please enjoy 10 more blurbs implicitly arguing with him).

10. “Slide Away”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

A grower from the first record, it doesn’t jump out at you the same way that “Superonic” or “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” do, but hear me out: So many Oasis songs have the pacing and sentiment of a ballad, the sing-along enticements of an anthem, and the musical muscularity of an anthem. The six-and-a-half-minute “Slide Away” is the sound of the band perfecting that formula, mixing those elements even more smoothly than on the more popular (and, yeah, even more anthemic) next song on this list.

9. “Champagne Supernova”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory, 1995

The lads tried to recapture this vibe any number of ways — multiple times on Be Here Now alone — but never quite nailed the thrill of this song going fully electric at the 1:59 mark. Even live, the pristine open dreaminess of the song doesn’t quite translate; good luck recapturing the magic at massive stadiums next summer, boys!

8. “Round Are Way”

“Wonderwall” single, 1995

Perhaps the most purely raucous, boisterous, joyful Oasis song of the whole lot, and for my money, the non-album track I most crave to hear over and over again. Bonus points for soundtracking the end credits to the 1997 film A Life Less Ordinary.

7. “Fuckin’ in the Bushes”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

Before Standing on the Shoulder of Giants came out, there were rumors that it was going to incorporate more electronic textures and samples, perhaps reflecting Noel’s dalliances as a Chemical Brothers guest vocalist. Those turned out to be mostly untrue; the album is mildly more psychedelic than earlier Oasis records, but that’s about it. But if any and all experimental instincts were simply poured into the single instrumental track “Fuckin’ in the Bushes,” fair enough; whatever gets this perfect walk-up music out there in the world. Full disclosure: My best friend and I used it as the theme song for our college-station radio show for years.

6. “Some Might Say”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory, 1995

A secret weapon on Morning Glory: An upbeat rocker nearly as good as the more overplayed, ballad-skewing numbers, more than enough to make up the difference on the album’s most underwhelming tracks. Here’s how in the pocket Noel was at this point in the mid-’90s: “Some might say they don’t believe in heaven / go and tell it to the man who lives in hell” is like a halfway decent U2 lyric.

5. “Wonderwall”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory, 1995

Perhaps the most prominently spite-covered song of all time — Radiohead and Pavement both made mocking versions to knock its mid-’90s ubiquitousness — broke Oasis in America, and may have inadvertently ended them here, too. After all, it’s rare that you get such sweet gentleness from the Gallagher boys, and likely more than a few impulse purchases of Morning Glory resulted in disappointment over the lack of similarly/vaguely heartrending ballads. Regardless, it’s an undeniable single — and so fun to play that I have to think that on some level, Radiohead and Pavement and whoever else ever played it sarcastically may have gotten some sincere enjoyment out of it.

4. “Live Forever”

Definitely Maybe, 1994

This might be the single best Liam Gallagher vocal performance of his career. That’s not to dismiss him by saying he peaked early, in the traditional high-status track-three spot on his rock-and-roll vocalist debut. It’s just that all of his affectations sound natural and even touching on this take, exactly the kind of midtempo number, halfway between rocker and ballad, that has made the band so beloved. God, that little “gonna live forever” falsetto! Did he ever do anything quite so affecting?

3. “Go Let It Out!”

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, 2000

Here’s the ingredient list for how a post-’90s Oasis song cracks the band’s all-time top five: a “two, three, four” count-in; an off-mic “can I get a little bass?” before, indeed, the bass kicks in; a prominently deployed mellotron; and, later, during a pre-chorus breakdown, what sounds like a whistle. (Can you picture it as anything else when you’re dealing with Soccer Hooligans: The Band?) The lyrics are standard Noel bromides and vagueness, but man oh man, does it all come together in a song that never rises above midtempo but always feels like it’s finding new ways to keep continually kicking in.

2. “Don’t Look Back in Anger”

(What’s the Story) Morning Glory, 1995

Or, Noel’s revenge. Liam has spoken of being presented with this and “Wonderwall” and told to choose one; Noel would sing the other. He frames it as being a great stroke of luck and/or instinct that he picked “Wonderwall” for himself, because of course that was the bigger worldwide hit. But with the fullness of time, doesn’t it seem possible that “Don’t Look Back in Anger” could outlast it? From its stolen “Imagine” piano lick on, Oasis is just plain on their game here, and that includes those Noel vocals imbuing his semi-nonsense lyrics with soaring feeling that Liam’s sneer might not have been up for, at least not in a way that makes this such an accessible pub slur-a-long for the ages.

1. “Acquiesce”

“Some Might Say” B-side, 1995; The Masterplan, 1998

Maybe it’s a bit too tidy, to hand the No. 1 spot over to one of just a few songs where Liam and Noel Gallagher share lead vocals — and one where they sing about how they need each other and believe in each other, no less! But Oasis has never been a left-field type of band, so if a choice for this spot is going to be even a little bit left-field, it ought to be kind of obvious, too, right? Also: In the wake of so many years’ worth of tragicomic fights and fissures in the band, this musical truce feels ever-more appropriate. The time they played this as one of their two songs on Saturday Night Live — how many acts of the past 30 years have dared bust out a B-side on that stage? — cemented “Acquiesce” as the band’s signature tune, one that gives you just about everything you want in an Oasis song in a single shot.