Applicability: Probably the reason why "Champagne Supernova", with its ridiculous lyrics, is a fan favourite is because it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. As Noel said in a 2009 interview:
This writer, he was going on about the lyrics to "Champagne Supernova", and he actually said to me: "You know, the one thing that's stopping it being a classic is the ridiculous lyrics". And I went: "What do you mean by that?" And he said: "Well, Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball — what's that mean?" And I went: "I don't know. But are you telling me, when you've got 60,000 people singing it, they don't know what it means? It means something different to every one of them".
Audience-Alienating Era: In a rare case of by the band's own admission, Noel Gallagher writes off much of the late '90s output, and also chunks of the mid '00s. On a greatest hits DVD, he even went so far as to ask why somebody didn't just to tell them to "stop".
Awesome Music: A lot of their songs are great, especially "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger", "Morning Glory" and "Supersonic".
Every album except the first two has fans arguing that it's good or bad. It's a good indication that when 100 fans were surveyed as to which songs should appear on their Greatest Hits Album that there was no song that appeared on everyone's list. Yes, that includes the popular, iconic Oasis songs like "Live Forever", "Supersonic", "Wonderwall", "Acquiesce" and "Don't Look Back in Anger". The base is just that broken.
The Gallagher brothers' constant quarreling and self-entitled behavior. Either you will love their awesome egos and say it improves the entire experience, suspend your disbelief that they're both jerkasses and just enjoy the music on its own, or you will absolutely loathe them both for constantly letting their personal baggage ruin the band's music and, to an extent, lead to their breakup.
Epileptic Trees: Just who 'Sally' from "Don't Look Back in Anger" is supposed to be has been debated among fans for years, despite Noel saying numerous times that it is not any specific person (Noel has stated in an interview he did alongside Liam, that the name was Liam's idea). This still hasn't stopped people pestering him about it. To this day, fans still come up with such Epileptic Trees theories as her being a former girlfriend of one of the bandmates, the same subject as The Stone Roses' song "Sally Cinnamon", and even being a metaphor for drugs.
With Blur. This rivalry actually holds a lot of sociopolitical significance, as it is strongly rooted in class and regional tensions in British society, with Oasis coming from the grittier working class in northern England and Blur from the more artsy, southern middle class. This led the "Battle of Britpop" chart war between Oasis' "Roll With It" and Blur's "Country House" to become not only a battle of musical preferences, but also of class conflict and British regionalism.
Then there's the much later one between fans of Beady Eye (and Liam's solo career) and High Flying Birds. There aren't many people that are fans of both.
Another rivalry seems to exist between Oasis fans and Radiohead fans, on account of the two band's wildly different musical styles and personalities, as well as the fact that Oasis and Radiohead were each the biggest representatives of early 90's and late 90's British rock, respectively. The nature of the Blur/Oasis rivalry also seems to be partly present here as well, due to Radiohead, like Blur, being a more artsy, southern band.
With Genesis, mainly due to Noel Gallagher's hatred of Phil Collins. Some Oasis fans agree with Noel and consider Genesis (especially the Phil era) to be lame and overwrought. While Genesis fans dislike Oasis for being derivative of other artists, compositionally simplistic, and often mock how Noel's favorite album by Genesis is the genrally forgettable debut From Genesis to Revelation.
First Installment Wins: All Oasis fans with very few exceptions like Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, and to the general public those albums (along with the non-album single "Whatever" and the B-sides from these album eras collected on The Masterplan, especially the Title Track, "Half the World Away", "Talk Tonight" and "Acquiesce") are Oasis. Granted, they have several popular and well-liked songs among their following material ("Stand by Me", "Stop Crying Your Heart out", "The Importance of Being Idle", "Songbird", "Little by Little"), but all in all their later albums lack the popularity and appreciation of the first two albums by the band.
"Don't Go Away" is a well-liked album track in the UK, but one of the band's biggest pop and rock radio hits in the United States. It's the reason they played it on Saturday Night Live in 1997 as opposed to their current single at the time, "Stand by Me".
Similarly, "Champagne Supernova" was not released as a single anywhere else but the United States, where it's probably their best known song outside of "Wonderwall".
"Whatever" seems to be very well-liked in Japan, having been used in TV advertisements. However, in other countries, not to the same extent.
Harsher in Hindsight: The video for "Live Forever" has the band members burying drummer Tony McCarroll. He would later leave the band following Definitely Maybe under very acrimonious circumstances.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The NME spoofed the band's thrall to The Beatles and their tendency to plagiarize with a fictitious interview in which Noel Gallagher claimed to be 'Bigger Than God'. He made exactly the same claim in real life just one year later.
Hype Backlash: At their peak, critics wrote the band off as nothing but self-important and unoriginal, only changing their tunes for Be Here Now (and even then, it was more an act of peer pressure, with most of them revoking their praise upon reconsideration after even fans of the band admitted that the album was a drastic step down in quality), while fans defended Noel Gallagher's shameless egotism and outright cannibalization of both The Beatles' music and mythos by arguing that his songs were just that good. Retrospective listeners, however, tend to side with the critics, especially when it comes to the ear-splitting volume of the recordings, Liam's questionable singing style and Noel's bad attitude in the name of "rock n roll" both in and beyond the music, to the point that many can't understand how the band had even a cult following, let alone were called one of the best bands of the 90s. Even their most popular song, "Wonderwall," is better known as a derisive joke about terrible beginner guitarists who just want to get girls.
Also, their detractors would even go so far as to call the band "overrated".
Memetic Mutation: "Anyway, here's 'Wonderwall'".ExplanationThanks to its fame, simple arrangement, and easy-to-learn melody, "Wonderwall" became a common fixture for amateur guitarists, especially at parties. The sheer prevalence of the song among this crowd resulted in it becoming a subject of jokes, often revolving around people segueing into cover versions of "Wonderwall" at comically inappropriate times.
Narm Charm: Are the lyrics to "Champagne Supernova" completely ridiculous, bordering on stupidity? Undoubtably. Do they stop the song from being awesome and catchy? Not in the slightest.
Signature Song: The band has many highly popular songs which could be candidates ("Live Forever", "Stand by Me", "Supersonic", "Stop Crying Your Heart Out") but "Wonderwall" is really their most massive hit and the only 90s song visible from space. Second place is "Don't Look Back in Anger" (overall and in the UK) and "Champagne Supernova" (in the U.S., otherwise third place all in all). Going by album we have:
Definitely Maybe: "Live Forever" and "Supersonic", though there are many very notable songs, such as "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Slide Away" and "Cigarettes and Alcohol".
Although not a single, "Married with Children" seems to have gained quite a lot in popularity. Then, the single "Shakermaker", though reasonably well-known, is often considered as a rather overproduced psychedelic rock pastiche, and... well, see Suspiciously Similar Song.
(What's the Story) Morning Glory: their aforementioned absolute signatures, of course, although, again, the list of notable songs here ("Some Might Say", "Roll With It", the Title Track...) is big.
A song that gained a lot in popularity despite not even being released as a single is "She's Electric".
Be Here Now: "Stand by Me" and, not far behind, "Don't Go Away". "D'You Know What I Mean?" and "All Around the World" are still well- known.
The Masterplan: "Half the World Away". "Acquiesce", "Talk Tonight" and the Title Track are not far behind.
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: "Go Let It Out".
Heathen Chemistry: "Stop Crying Your Heart Out". Also well-known are "Little by Little" and "Songbird"; the latter is also notable for being the first Oasis song released as a single to be written by Liam.
Don't Believe the Truth: "The Importance of Being Idle". "Lyla" and "Let There Be Love" are not far behind.
Dig Out Your Soul: "I'm Outta Time", although "The Shock of the Lightning" is close behind.
Among the band's non-album singles, their best-known song is "Whatever", very probably.
If you go by Noel and Liam, their signatures are respectively "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Wonderwall". Liam's signature as a songwriter is "Songbird" though.
NeilInnes sued the band over the similarity of their "Whatever" to his "How Sweet to Be an Idiot". This was settled out of court, with Innes receiving royalties and a writing credit. They have been accused of pilfering elements of other songs as well; for example, their song "Step Out" sounds a lot like Stevie Wonder's famous song "Uptight," to the point it became a B-side and Wonder got a writing credit.
To be precise, the verse of "Lyla" sounds remarkably similar to "Street Fighting Man" by The Rolling Stones; "Shakermaker" rips off "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)"; "Roll With It" sounds so like Status Quo that t-shirts were made with "Quoasis" on them (Noel even wore one.) Despite this, Noel Gallagher insists that his primary influences are "Ray Davies, John Lennon and Pete Townshend."
When Green Day was accused of ripping off "Wonderwall" for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Noel argued that he "at least plagiarizes dead people."
"They should have the decency to wait until I am dead (before stealing my music). I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy."
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many people had this reaction to Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, despite the demand for change from much of the music press following Be Here Now. When they vary their sound the press hounded them for it. Many fans see Giants (as well as Be Here Now) as misunderstood and unfairly maligned records, especially with tracks such as "Go Let It Out" and the fan favourite "Gas Panic!".
Tough Act to Follow: The albums they made after (What's the Story) Morning Glory were not as commercially successful, and are overall considered worse than either that album itself or Definitely Maybe.
, it is also famous for its appearance at the Top of the Pops show with Robbie Williams. As Oasis hate playback, they were deliberately mocking the audience, with Liam pretending to play guitar and Noel pretending to sing and play tambourine, also stopping moving his mouth during the song lyrics