The Oasis song written to attack political musicians
Many artists have been guilty of putting their politics into their songs now and again. Even though a band like U2 have become one of the biggest bands in the world due to their massive hooks, just as many people are willing to write off Bono because of his insistence on jamming his ideology down people’s throats. Oasis was always a band of the people, though, and one of their first songs was about sticking up a middle finger to politics.
When first listening to any Oasis material, though, it’s hard to think of their songs meaning much of anything. While Noel Gallagher eventually blossomed into one of the most celebrated songwriters of his generation, no one necessarily needs a degree to figure out what songs like ‘Champagne Supernova’ are actually about outside of gibberish.
Though never the most intellectual band in the world, the greatest strength of Oasis was how well they could rework the rock scene that had been going on at the time. Since most mainstream rock music was still immersed in the grunge scene happening on the other side of the world, Noel was looking to inject some punk rock positivity back onto the charts the minute Definitely Maybe came out.
As opposed to the songs about disaffected youth, Liam Gallagher sang through his snide Manchester accent about the wonders of wanting to be a massive pop culture icon, letting everyone know that their signature brand of music would ‘Live Forever’. Outside of the worship of classic bands like T Rex and The Beatles, though, ‘Up in The Sky’ marked one of the grizzliest songs the band would ever create.
Part Sex Pistols and part Rolling Stones, the rock and roll track was built around a chord progression constantly revolving in a circle, creating a warped groove as Liam sings about the phonies that live up in the sky. Although Noel has admitted that the song was directed towards artists that try to lead through politics.
When discussing writing the song, Noel talked about his venom towards the political stripe of rock artists, saying, “It’s basically about people who think they’re the voice of a generation or the figurehead of a movement. It’s just saying, ‘Why are you lot down here looking up at him?’ This band is about the music; it’s about the songs. It’s not about us”.
Although the song has a defiant tone throughout, the main drawing point comes from the massive high notes that Liam hits in the chorus. Compared to the snarling guitars, Noel credited the tunefulness of the song to the fact that the band were listening to The Beatles’ Revolver endlessly during this period, giving the track a pure psychedelic tone.
Even though the distortion reinforces the bite of the lyric, Noel could manage to make that verbal venom cut just as deep on the acoustic version released as a B-side, sounding like a Bob Dylan cut if sung in tune. Although Oasis were among one of the biggest up-and-coming rock bands, they still knew how to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground.
