Exclusively reported by The Times on Saturday (August 24) morning, it appears that an Oasis reunion may be imminent. Jonathan Dean wrote that the Gallagher brothers have squashed their long-standing beef with one another and agreed to play concerts at Heaton Park in Manchester in 2025. 15 years ago, Oasis played their then-final gig at V Festival and, since then, Liam and Noel have kept their distance and focused on their respective solo projects. Over the course of it all, England’s greatest living pair of brothers have publicly thrown jabs at one another—but that all seems to be water under the bridge. The summer of 2025 is looking impressive, with a 10-night stint at Wembley Stadium presumed to be on the table along with a Glastonbury headlining slot (the former of which would break Taylor Swift’s eight-concert record that she set this year). And with the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe hitting later this week, the rumors feel extra serendipitous.
Over the years, Paste has covered Oasis and the Gallagher brothers, but the magazine has never churned out an all-time greatest songs ranking—except for a greatest B-sides list, which you can read here. As the resident Britpop fan on the staff, I’m tackling this one and satiating the hunger of my teenage past—when I bought a used copy of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? just days after getting my driver’s license. I’d like to say that this list covers Oasis from 1994 through 2008, when they released their final LP Dig Out Your Soul, but even the most-hardcore Oasis stumpers will agree that the band’s post-2002 discog leaves a lot to be desired. So, don’t be shocked that this write-up is very Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory? heavy. It’s not my fault that one of the greatest English bands ever came out the gates with two masterpieces!
Anyways, here are the 15 greatest Oasis songs of all time. Feel free to sound off in the comments about what tracks deserved a spot, which inclusions should have been higher and, heck, why don’t you grab your parkas and tinted shades and let us know which Oasis tune is your all-time favorite! Without further ado…
15. “Acquiesce” (1998)
Originally the B-side to Oasis’ first #1 single in the UK (“Some Might Say”), “Acquiesce” found a home on The Masterplan compilation album in 1998. Noel wrote it, and he claims to have done so while waiting out a train delay during the recording period for Definitely Maybe. Alan McGee wanted Oasis to release the song as a single instead of “Some Might Say,” but Noel was apprehensive about it—on account of his belief that the track was not yet ready (he later walked that back and said it would have been strong enough to make the final tracklist of a record). The band played “Acquiesce” on Saturday Night Live in 1997, and Liam singing that “I don’t know what it is that makes me feel alive, I don’t know how to wake the things that sleep inside” sounded damn good ricocheting off Studio 8H’s walls.
14. “Bring It On Down” (1994)
Few things are as fun as when Oasis kick up a fuss and put on a punk wardrobe—and that’s exactly what they do on “Bring It On Down,” a tune stashed on the backside of Definitely Maybe, in-between “Supersonic” and “Cigarettes & Alcohol.” Noel’s portrait of working class Manchester on “Bring It On Down” is one of his very best, captured with a dichotomy of bliss and melancholy when Liam sings “You’re the outcast, you’re the underclass, but you don’t care because you’re living fast” and ruptures through the sound barrier. It’s a shot of adrenaline that gets delivered without pretension—just a couple of English kids reflecting on a busted system without any inflection of melodrama.
13. “Champagne Supernova” (1995)
Consistently one of the band’s most well-known tunes, “Champagne Supernova” closes (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? like a tender tempest. At seven-and-a-half minutes long, it’s the track that—in my opinion—best encapsulates the momentum Oasis had going into 1995 after Definitely Maybe crashed head-on into the British music zeitgeist. You can cite “Wonderwall” or “Don’t Look Back in Anger” as more definitive star-making moments for the Gallaghers, but “Champagne Supernova” is a tsunami thrashing through a cathedral—cathartic and galvanized in equal measure, told through intervals of sobering, cataclysmic walls of sound that tumble into tranquil waves crashing into Morning Glory?’s epitaph.
12. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (1994)
The first song on the first Oasis record, “Rock ‘n’ Roll” comes screaming into view like a Johnny Rotten-tinted kiss-off. One of the band’s greatest balances of lead and rhythm guitar, it’s a true, shining testament to how Noel and Paul Arthurs could scribble magic into the air with only their fingers. “I live my life for the stars that shine, people say it’s just a waste of time,” Liam sings like he wants your knees to buckle; he gets in your face and then, as a beastly, frenetic unit, Oasis tell you they’re the best band in the world just minutes into their introduction. It’s the act of not giving a fuck personified into a shit-eating smirk that’s heavy like a skull-splitting riff.
11. “The Masterplan” (1998)
Like “Acquiesce,” “The Masterplan” began as a B-side—this time as the B-side to “Wonderwall,” which peaked at #2 in the UK and #8 in the US. Written and sung by Noel, it’s one of those songs that you can’t believe wasn’t a hit single in its own right. It’s got a very Abbey Road aura to it—which makes sense when you hear Noel woozily singing “Octopus’s Garden” near the end of the track—and is a rather baroque installment in Oasis’ catalog. As the soaring riffs wane, a symphony shows its teeth and the whole arrangement becomes this lush, hypnotic scape of high-class, anthemic rock divinity. “All we know is that we don’t know” is Noel at his most sentimental.
10. “Columbia” (1994)
Definitely Maybe’s midway point, “Columbia” is nothing fancy and that’s what makes it pop. Oasis cobbled some chords together (A, D and C) with nonsensical lyrics and called it a day, and the result is a track with catchy, vibey repetition. Liam sings lines over and over, turning couples into double-takes while Noel and Arthurs’ guitars swirl around each other like water circling the drain. In an instant, Noel’s axe gets stuck on the B and E strings and melts the whole thing into a gripping, sensational sting of full-hearted, raspy rock ‘n’ roll. Someone once said “Columbia” was Oasis’ “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Listening back to it again recently, I think that assertion might be right on the money. What I’m certain of, however, is that the band’s performance of the song at Barrowlands in 2001 remains one of the greatest live moments ever captured.
9. “Morning Glory” (1995)
One of the greatest title tracks of its time and any time, “Morning Glory” showcases Noel’s long-standing affection for R.E.M. and how it sometimes translated into his songwriting. His opening riff is, to put it bluntly, iconic, and Liam singing “Well, what’s the story, morning glory?” will never leave my lexicon. Helicopters fly overhead and then, as destiny would have it, Noel turns in arguably his greatest guitar performance ever—conjuring hair-raising, muscular perfection that carries over into being one of their greatest live songs. “All your dreams are made when you’re chained to the mirror and the razor blade,” Liam howls at the heavens, and Noel’s fingers become a chasm while Alan White’s percussion sounds like machine guns. It was a perfect concoction 29 years ago and remains just as potent today.
8. “Stand By Me” (1997)
Given the successes of Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory?, Oasis had a tall task awaiting them when they went into the studios to record their third LP, Be Here Now. It’s their “colossal album,” smattered with guitar overdubs and longer, more epic tracks (the album’s runtime is 71 minutes!). It’s the final Oasis album to me, from a purist’s perspective—as Arthurs and bassist Paul McGuigan would exit the band in 1999—and single “Stand By Me” is easily its standout. A #2 hit in the UK, “Stand By Me” contains two great solos from Noel, one in the introduction and one during the song’s final cascade. Liam’s vocal sounds as good as ever, and the bridges choogle into warm, stadium-sized choruses. “Times are hard when things have got no meaning, I’ve found a key upon the floor. Maybe you and I will not believe in the things we find behind the door” remains one of my favorite Oasis verses, and “Stand By Me” remains one of the band’s greatest post-Morning Glory? tracks—a semi-autobiographical, “All the Young Dudes”-summoning wake written while Noel had food poisoning.
7. “Sad Song” (1994)
One of the best-sounding acoustic tracks ever recorded to tape, “Sad Song” was on the Japanese edition of Definitely Maybe and was a “lost song” for a while but has long been beloved by Oasis’ most longtime fans—and for good reason, as it’s a gripping, honest comedown from the often-flamboyant, braggadocious highs of Definitely Maybe. It’s a perfect example of Noel’s songcraft firing on all cylinders; “The sun is coming up and it’s going down, but it’s all just the same at the end of the day. And we cheat and we lie, nobody says it’s wrong, so we don’t ask why” are some of his most arresting and affecting lines, sung through a heart-melting lilt rid of its Manc bravado and backed by a lingering cushion of mellotron.
6. “Listen Up” (1998)
A B-side (surprise, surprise) to “Cigarettes & Alcohol” in 1994, “Listen Up” found a home on The Masterplan in 1998 and is one Oasis’ all-time best tracks. The melody and repetition of Noel’s guitar line are a potent cocktail of catchy, swaying righteousness, and Liam’s rasp tugs on the heartstrings while he sings some of the best lyrics his brother ever wrote for him: “I don’t believe in magic. Life is automatic, but I don’t mind being on my own.” I found new ways to love “Listen Up” during COVID-19 quarantine, and it’s continued to linger in my mixes ever since. It’s got one of my favorite guitar solos from Noel, and it sounds like it could’ve stretched far beyond the song’s six-minute runtime. “Listen Up” rips and hits; it’s a proper example of why The Masterplan stands shoulder-to-shoulder with any of Oasis’ other projects—compilation designation be damned.
5. “Supersonic” (1994)
The opening guitar line from Noel on “Supersonic” sounds, at least to my ears, like it was written in the same headspace as “Listen Up.” But “Supersonic” is, very likely, the song that got many of us hooked on Oasis in the first place (it’s okay, you can say it was this one and not “Wonderwall,” I won’t tell anyone). It’s quintessential Oasis, from Noel’s guitar playing all the way to Liam’s explosion as England’s best late-20th century frontman. Some of the most Oasis-y lyrics are here, too, like “I gotta be myself, I can’t be no one else” and “You can have it all, but how much do you want it?” Top to bottom, “Supersonic” is impressive and instantaneous. That post-chorus riff. The swagger. Those Beatle-esque harmonies that glow so subtly. It’s all a recipe for pure, instant-classic magic—and that’s exactly what it was 30 years ago.
4. “Some Might Say” (1995)
While “Wonderwall” remains the tune from Morning Glory? that broadly endures across generations, the album’s greatest moment comes in the form of “Some Might Say,” an electric beginning to the tracklist’s second half. It became their first UK #1 hit and for good reason: the chorus is phenomenal, catchy and, even in its most nonsensical moments, brandishes deeply profound nuggets of relentless truth. “Some might say they don’t believe in Heaven, go and tell it to the man who lives in Hell,” Liam sings at one point, only to make a domestic and mushy pivot to “Some might say you get what you’ve been given, if you don’t get yours I won’t get mine as well.” This is a prime example of Oasis at their peak: Noel’s songwriting is exponential and full of pleasure and hope; Liam’s vocals are crystalline; the band’s turns and upticks are well-oiled and unstoppably sublime. When Noel yells “Woo!” at the head of the song’s outro riff, good luck finding many moments in Oasis’ catalog that top it.
3. “Live Forever” (1994)
The third single from Definitely Maybe, “Live Forever” is one of the greatest British songs ever written—and a song so good that Arthurs didn’t believe that Noel wrote it. The “Maybe I will never be all the things that I wanna be” line—and the way Liam delivers it—remains my favorite single moment in the band’s catalog. The song conjures such colorful optimism, an exhibition of some Mancs trading in their obnoxiousness for an outstanding, career-defining melody that balances sorrow with power. “Live Forever” is one of the few songs that has “overrated” written all over it but never succumbs to such a fate—a true testament to Oasis’ timelessness even in a music industry that routinely falls in and out of love with Britpop. “Live Forever” will wash over you time and time again; never stop letting it. [Oh, and you should read former editor Lizzie Manno’s extraordinary piece about the song, too]
2. “Gas Panic!” (2000)
For the most part, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is not an Oasis album that I return to very often. But “Gas Panic!” is far and away one of the most exciting songs Noel ever wrote for the band. Have you heard the live performance of it at Wembley Stadium in 2000? Yeah, there’s no way the tectonic plates didn’t shift when that went down. More psychedelic than most of Oasis’ catalog, “Gas Panic!” is just as epic as “Champagne Supernova” and features some of Noel’s best lyrics (“My pulse pumps out a beat to the ghost dancer / My eyes are dead and my throat’s like a black hole,” I mean, c’mon!). Family and enemies intertwine, Liam’s vocal suffocates while Noel’s guitar chaotically screams for help. “You better get on your knees and pray,” Liam belts, and the band collapses inward. “Gas Panic!” perfectly encapsulates the equilibrium of Noel’s songcraft—in that, in less than a decade, he wrote about Oasis being the greatest band in the world and the throes of being alone at the bottom of that very mountain. What probably keeps “Gas Panic!” away from being top-of-mind is that it’s on an underrated record, but it rightfully deserves its place here in the echelons.
1. “Slide Away” (1994)
You could take any entry from this list and put it here, I’m sure—but, no song in Oasis’ catalog is as biblical as “Slide Away,” the penultimate track on Definitely Maybe. It’s not just the best Oasis song, but it’s one of the greatest love songs ever written. “Now that you’re mine, I’ll find a way of chasing the sun. Let me be the one that shines with you, in the morning when you don’t know what to do” is poetry that outmuscles Noel’s deluge of wall-crumbling guitar playing. It’s a tempest of heartbreak woven into hope; as Liam sings “slide away” over and over and Noel sings “I don’t know, I don’t care, all I know is you can take me there” behind him, every piece fastens beautifully into place. Listening to “Slide Away” is like speaking directly to God, and what a gift for the rest of us that we can do it over and over until our hearts decide to finally burst.
