Hear a rare acoustic version of Oasis song ‘Supersonic’
‘Supersonic’ was the beginning of everything. Oasis had already recorded and mixed the bulk of their 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe, but nobody in the band could decide which song should be the group’s first single. Creation owner Alan McGee suggested ‘Bring It On Down’, but Noel had issues with Tony McCarroll’s drumming, and the song was eventually discarded. ‘Supersonic’ was written in its place, giving Oasis their first taste of chart success – something they’d become very familiar with over the next two years.
“Someone had sent out for Chinese or fish and chips or summint,” Gallagher recalls during Supersonic. “I went into the back room, and as bizzare as it sounds, wrote ‘Supersonic’ in however long it takes for six other guys to eat a Chinese meal.” According to Bonehead, Noel then emerged from the backroom of the studio and announced: “Look, I’ve written a new song.” Others, including Tony McCarroll, have argued that Noel didn’t churn out the hit single from scratch but solidified material the band had already worked on together. In his book The Truth, the drummer argues that the song wouldn’t have sounded the way it did without the input of the entire band. Noel has, of course, dismissed such claims.
Either way, the song was as easily recorded as it was easily written. “We nailed it and mixed it that night, rapid,” Bonehead recalled, picking up the story, “Because that’s what we’d been doing every night in [Manchester rehearsal studio] the Boardwalk, you know, and it sounded massive, absolutely massive.”
Oasis didn’t make their debut TV appearance until the spring of 1994, but even in December 1993, there was a sense that they were on the cusp of something big. A few weeks before Christmas, they travelled to London’s Maida Vale studios to record an evening session for BBC Radio 1. This acoustic version of ‘Supersonic’ formed part of a six-song set comprised of ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’, ‘Shakermaker’, ‘Bring It On Down’, ‘Up In The Sky’, ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Married With Children’. Take a listen if you haven’t already.
