Supersonic//Oasis//Definitely Maybe//29th August 1994

Ever heard of Wonderwall? Well these are the guys that gave the world that exceedingly heartfelt yet overplayed song. This song used to be something of a horror for me because ‘SuperSonic’ is something people have always teased me with and I was a little repulsed that one of my favorite songs was my namesake. Oasis has always been one of favorite bands, mostly because of their punk sound but without the usual tone of rage or disappointment. In this song, they have effectively delved into the themes of having a sense of individuality and expectations whilst presenting us with characters who are quite odd yet raw.

One of my favorite lines in this song is “You can have it all but how much do you want it?” because it makes me reevaluate the whole aspect of people making themselves vulnerable to someone, but only if they could know how much the latter really wanted all of the former. We tend to crave only the physical aspect of a person, that’s our fatal flaw as a human. So would you be willing to have all of a person, with all your heart or just for the sake of it, if you knew that there would be immense baggage? Although, I suppose they were talking in terms of gin and tonic, but the best part about Oasis is that when taken out of context, their lyrics are much deeper than it may seem. It is also interesting to note how we are presented with a ‘friend’ who is represented as a loner who is quite earnest to help. There is a certain tone of sadness as ‘no one hears him call’, as we see that his nature as a loner wasn’t by choice and perhaps now he had become accustomed to it, since he had obviously chosen this life. I always relate this idea of chosen loneliness to a sense of disappointment with the world. However, it is quite unfortunate that regardless of such choices, we always wish for a certain escape from ourselves. Incidentally, they also talk about a certain ‘Elsa’ in the song, which is actually the name of a dog (thus she sniffs so much!) and I guess that’s how you know they’re punks. It also helps that Liam and Noel Gallagher are two of the most notoriously truthful musicians, dissing everything from Nirvana to new age music; and I’ve always believed that punk is about doing what you want.

I also enjoy how the guitar in the beginning of the song acts as a smooth way to introduce Liam Gallagher’s drawly voice. It’s the kind of song you’d listen to regardless of what you feel because it’s talk about everything. It’s about accepting a person who is unlikely to open up to anyone unless they felt like they could offer their 100% to that person, without any judgement. It’s about the lack of pretense in a relationship and understanding the other person without the involvement of a third party. And it’s also about drinking gin and tonic and being with someone for the simple reason that they make you smile. One of my favorite characteristics of Oasis is, that despite the rocky relationship between Liam Gallagher (the lead vocalist) and Noel Gallagher(lead guitarist). their music is incredible and completely separate from it. Wonderwall is perhaps one of their divergent songs; most of their songs are less romantic and focus on elements from life, about individuality, speaking one’s mind, forgetting anger or just being who we are. Supersonic manages to encapsulate all these elements with sheer elegance with a tinge of distortion . Oasis has taught me lot about life and, I’m sure, they could teach you too.