Best of the Rest is back with a spring in our step.
It’s FINALLY 2021, the vaccines are on the truck and the adults are back in charge.
Things are looking up, folks. Let’s tighten those masks and have a socially distant rump shake.
No? Jig, maybe? Your call—it’s your solo celebratory dance party.
To mark this occasion, I figured I’d offer you the opportunity to reminisce back to a time when things were simpler.
When the pants were baggier. The accents were thicker and the Brits were poppier.
From 1993 onwards, these mercurial Mancunians were massive (both in their own minds and in actuality.)
Oasis, people!
Yesssssssss…!
They literally owned Britain, btw. The Gallagher brothers stole, snorted, imbibed and suckerpunched each other on their way to north of 75 million albums sold.
Oasis perfected the “not giving a shit, while clearly giving a shit” thing, which likely helped stave off some of the “hey, that’s a Beatles song” talk that they actually seemed to quite enjoy.
To this day, there’s a confounding aura around the band. They famously torpedoed themselves in a flourish of tabloid nonsense and accompanying black eyes to the point that it’s reportedly been a great many years since the Gallaghers have even spoken.
You almost have to admire their dedication to the whole Rock and Roll premise. They fucking let the whole thing burn.
As huge a worldwide band as they were, they famously never quite cracked the code here in the United States. You might actually assume that they were huge here in their heyday, which relatively speaking, they really weren’t. The sales for their impenetrably righteous classics Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? were certainly massive in the U.S., but it didn’t sustain. As their faux-feud with Blur burned the Britpop moment into the UK history books and ignited wave after wave of new bands throughout the region, Oasis’ popularity on the charts just didn’t stick around on our shores.
Truthfully, that might actually have benefited their legacy in the long run. Their catalogue has intrinsically interesting twists and turns and great songs just litter their records.
To me, Oasis tunes have always occupied this really strange middle ground between indie rock street music and arena-sized singalong anthems. Precious few have been able to pull off that mighty trick.
We all know Oasis has HITS!
Inescapable as “Live Forever” and “Wonderwall” are, a dedicated study into the album tracks of their various albums reveals a treasure trove of fantastic material (some of it is also unlistenable, but that’s not the brief here).
As per usual, I’ve intrepidly culled together a playlist of 10 great non-hits for your perusal and listening pleasure. Due to the massive discrepancy between UK and U.S. “hits”, several of these tunes might have been somewhat hit-like, but no massive crowd singalongs here.
And for the record…fuck yeah I love Oasis. Always will.
Best of the Rest: Oasis Spotify Playlist