The Gallagher brothers are assholes.
That’s not exactly news to anyone, but I wanted to get that out of the way up front. Yes, they thought they were God’s gift to music listeners everywhere and wanted the world to know it. Yes, they were slavishly devoted to recreating The Beatles sound on every single album. And yes, despite millions of fans around the world, the brothers were hated with just as much passion (though no one hated them more than each other).
All that aside, they did manage to churn out some truly great songs in the 15 years they were together.
The biggest surprise off of Time Flies, the just-released double disc, best of collection from the band, is just how many popular songs Oasis turned in over the years. From “Champagne Supernova” and “D’You Know What I Mean” to “Cigarettes & Alcohol” and “Wonderwall” the band had the recipe for putting together fantastic pop songs with strong hooks and choruses that stuck in your head for days. Lyrically, the band is on their own in trying to defend themselves (just try and makes sense out of the words to “Champagne Supernova”), but R.E.M. has the same rep for writing nonsensical tunes and they are arguably one of the best American bands to come out of the 80’s/90’s.
If Oasis had not broken up last year (and let’s take a moment to acknowledge what a remarkable feat it was that they had managed to stay together up to that point) they would likely have enough material for a whole new collection of hits 10 years from now. I’ll just be patiently waiting for the reunion.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Top tracks: “Cigarettes & Alcohol” and “Champagne Supernova”
Oasis – Time Flies… 1994-2009 (2 CDs/2010/27 tracks/Legacy Records