The Oasis song that shows their optimistic rebellion ethos
In music, a handful of bands provide bleak social commentary on the state of their surroundings; some write about love and relationships, and there are others who throw their hands in the air and dedicate themselves to simply having a good time. Oasis falls into the latter category. Encapsulating all the excess, style, and youthful rebellion of the 1990s, the Manchester icons are one of the biggest British bands of the past 30 years.
Driven by the volatile relationship between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, the group rose to prominence in 1993 after signing with Alan McGee’s Creation Records. In the right place at the right time to capitalise on the Britpop boom of the mid-1990s, Oasis soon found themselves on the upper echelon of the UK music scene. Their incredible debut album, Definitely Maybe, quickly became the fastest-selling debut album in Britain, remaining high up on the list of best-selling albums to this day.
The band’s history is well documented. After a period of incredible success, tensions between the two brothers soon reached boiling point and ended the reign of Oasis. Despite constant reports about the possibility of a reunion, it seems unlikely that such a thing will ever happen – Liam is finding success as an Oasis tribute band, and Noel continues to release material with the High Flying Birds, to varying degrees of success.
Now ageing rock stars living in swanky areas of London and Hampshire, Oasis were once the spokespeople for Britain’s rebellious and disenfranchised youth. Although the band have often been criticised for lifting a great deal of their work from the likes of The Beatles, some of their earlier work is much more akin to punk and grunge than the Fab Four. In the documentary film Supersonic, Alan McGee talks about how it was the punk rebellion of tracks like ‘Bring It On Down’ that drew him to the band. The lyrics from that track, “You’re the outcast, you’re the underclass, but you don’t care, because you’re living fast”, act as a good summation of the band’s attitude towards music and life in general during those early years.
Their underdog attitude was expanded on throughout the whole Definitely Maybe album, but a particular stand-out comes in ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. Although Gallagher openly admits that the song’s riff is a direct copy of T. Rex’s ‘Get It On’, that’s about as much as it has in common with the glittery glam rock of Marc Bolan. The track is dirty, raw and strangely optimistic. “All the songs were about leaving Manchester and ending up in the sunshine, taking drugs and drinking for the rest of your life”, Noel once told Q Magazine, with ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ being a notable example.
“It’s all about escapism”, the songwriter continues, “a pint in one hand, your best mate in the other, and just having a good time”. Whereas the punk scene of the 1970s wanted social change, the tearing down of authority and the establishment, the musical rebellion of the 1990s was much more optimistic. ‘We’re going to enjoy ourselves, whether you like it or not’ seemed to be the prevailing attitude throughout much of the Britpop scene, but especially within the music of Oasis.
“‘Let’s have it’ was the main ethos,” confirms Gallagher, and it proved to be a popular ethos. Spending 79 weeks on the singles chart, ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ was one of the definitive tracks of the 1990s. Decades later, it has yet to lose its sense of optimistic rebellion.
