The Oasis song that Liam Gallagher passionately hated
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Some songs become instant classics, while others take a while to grow on you. For the songwriters themselves, the revenue and fame that certain songs generate is enough to make certain tracks endearing. In the case of Oasis, songwriter Noel Gallagher had no shortage of hits during the band’s golden era in the 1990s, but their most important song was initially rejected by the other band members when Gallagher first wrote it.
With the release of their debut album Definitely maybein 1994, Oasis quickly established themselves as the rebellious voice of British rock in the age of Britpop. That first record contained a wide range of musical influences, most notably the almost punk rock style of tracks like “Bring It On Down” and the Britpop anthem of the group’s debut single, “Supersonic”. When it came to the next record, Noel had quite a difficult task ahead of him, but he tackled it with his usual nonchalance, writing a wealth of new tracks that would become breakthrough hits.
From the emotionally charged “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to the nonsensical poetry of “Champagne Supernova”, (What’s the story) Morning Glory contained some of Noel Gallagher’s most profound songs. One song took on a life of its own after it was first released as a single in 1995 and drew the ire of guitar shop employees around the world. We are, of course, referring to the smash hit “Wonderwall”.
With a title inspired by George Harrison’s solo album Wonderwall Musicthe song was certainly a tribute to Oasis’ influences. Sonically, however, it was a far cry from the youthful rock of earlier songs like “Supersonic” or even “Roll With It.” Usually, Oasis’ most vulnerable compositions – such as “Talk Tonight” – are B-sides at best, so the band were naturally quite apprehensive when Noel first floated the idea of ”Wonderwall.”
At a performance on This pedal show Last year, Noel revealed: “Everyone in the band said, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t f***ing believe it,'” when he was first presented with a draft of ‘Wonderwall’. Reportedly, the biggest resistance came from Noel’s brother Liam. The frontman preferred to sing cheeky, all-out rock songs rather than slow acoustic numbers like ‘Wonderwall’. “I remember Our Kid (Liam) saying – and I’ll never forget it – ‘Why do you write reggae songs?'” Noel recalled: “And I thought, this is a man who has never heard reggae.”
Although Liam’s genre confusion seems quite bizarre, he was certainly not the only band member who was confused by “Wonderwall.” Rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs later recalled, “It sounded like a reggae song to me. When (Noel) first came on, I just thought, ‘What the hell is that?'” Liam himself admitted, “I didn’t like it at first, I thought it was a bit funky.”
Luckily, Noel eventually managed to get the rest of Oasis to sing the song, and it quickly became one of their defining pieces. “Wonderwall” took the band to number two in the UK singles chart, was their biggest-selling record, and is still sung by everyone from buskers to drunk people at weddings.
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