‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ isn’t Oasis’s best song (that is a question for a different post, but it would probably be something from their debut album). ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ is, though, probably the ultimate Oasis song. Oasis at their Oasisest.
Don’t Look Back in Anger, by Oasis (their 2nd of eight #1s)
1 week, from 24th February – 3rd March 1996
They set out their stall in the opening seconds, with the piano line from ‘Imagine’ which, according to Noel, was a deliberate middle finger to those who claimed Oasis were musical copycats. It hooks you in, declaring that the next five minutes are going to be epic. In fact, every part of this song, from that intro onwards, is a hook.
You can be the type of person who jots down every little chord, lyric or guitar lick that Oasis nicked – and I am that person sometimes – or you can be someone who admires the way they managed to distil British rock history into an elite-level run of singles (and two excellent albums), who admits that when they were good, they were very good. The drum-fill before the final, soaring chorus here is, no hyperbole, one of pop music’s great moments.
‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ also features some of Noel’s more coherent lyrics. My personal favourite is the Please don’t put your life in the hands, Of a rock n roll band, Who’ll throw it all away… with the squealing guitars in between. A lot of the lines are still nonsense, but they work somehow. I assume it’s about a break-up, given all the stuff about walking on by, and not looking back. Or maybe it’s a mantra for living positively, not lingering on mistakes. Don’t go thinking that ‘Sally’ is anyone important, though. ‘It’s just a word that fit, y’know,’ says Noel. ‘Might as well throw a girl’s name in there.’
A song written and led by Noel has to beg the question: what of Liam? Well, despite having nothing to do, he spends the video mooching around the garden of a stately home in his shades, and still manages to be the star of the show. He is apparently responsible for the song’s most famous line: So Sally can wait… having misheard what Noel was really singing while writing it.
Despite what I wrote earlier, I’m going to briefly be the guy that points out the bits that Oasis nicked. I just now noticed that while everyone was distracted by the ‘Imagine’ piano in the intro, the floaty guitar in the outro is a rip-off of ‘Octopus’s Garden’. Is that common knowledge, or have I just unearthed another, previously undiscovered fossil?
‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ was the 4th single from an album that had already sold in the multi-millions, and so the fact that it made number one is testament to how truly massive Oasis were in 1996. Over the past twenty-eight (!!!) years, it has gone from a pop song to almost a hymn, or an alternate national anthem. In the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, gathering crowds spontaneously began singing it, giving the lyrics an even more resonant feel.
Meanwhile, it has also been voted the 4th Most Popular #1 Single ever, the 2nd greatest Britpop song (after ‘Common People’), and the Greatest Song of the 1990s. (And, most importantly, the 2nd Best Song to Sing Along to While Drunk – controversially robbed of top spot in that poll by Aerosmith’s God-awful ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’.) It is also by far the best of Oasis’s eight number ones… and I hope that’s not too much of a spoiler for what’s to come!
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I think it only took a few listens for many of us to realise that Oasis did come of age with this one, and that it would be one of the greatest records of the 1990s. Not that ‘the best Beatles single the Beatles didn’t make’ had much competition. (Oh, and thanks to Robson and Jerome for not releasing another single the same week).
Had Take That chosen to release their goodbye single a week earlier it could have been a close thing… That would have been Robson and Jerome levels of unfairness!
I love Oasis (well, their 90s stuff anyway, besides a few 2000s singles) and I adore this song. There was a period where I thought it was a bit overrated, but I’ve come back to the light. Same with “Wonderwall”. I think as an Aussie, we hear Oasis songs quite a bit, but there’s not so omnipresent in life that they become entrenched in culture that it’s hard to appreciate the songs in their own terms. Feel sorry for you Brits there. I think technically on the Hot 100 it was a minor hit in the US, though I think “Champagne Supernova” received more airplay overall.
Just a masterpiece. Great vocal from Noel. Not the most Beatle-esque song off the album – “She’s Electric” is Oasis at their most Beatles on the album. Lyrics are some of his best even if they don’t make a lot of sense when examined all together, but there are some poetic lines. I always thought the line “Please don’t put your life in the hands, Of a rock n roll band, Who’ll throw it all away” was a sly dig at Nirvana.
I can quite happily not hear ‘Wonderwall’ ever again, but ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ hasn’t paled in the same way. I’ve always thought that ‘She’s Electric’ was more Kinks-influence – the ‘I see you and you see me…’ line is liften straight from ‘Wonderboy’.
And interesting on the Nirvana dig – what makes you think that? I know that Oasis were quite down on grunge, but then they were down on pretty much all their contemporaries.
Love this, and top level Oasis ballads like Live Forever, Wonderwall and Whatever. Their rocky stuff never quite did it as much for me, though Morning Glory is also a great album, loads of great tracks on it, bought it in Florida – just to be different (and it was cheaper than the UK). Future chart-toppers for Oasis? I stand by me (arf!) rating The Importance Of Being Idle as a classic, if not their best record…..:)
Ooh yeah, I’d have ‘The Importance of Being Idle’ as their 2nd best #1… Their worst being a toss-up between ‘Go Let it Out’ and ‘The Hindu Times’ (neither of which are terrible, just Oasis-by-numbers). I have a soft spot for the ridiculous size of ‘All Around the World’, and for pretty much all of ‘Be Here Now’ to be honest.
I’ve not heard All Around The World since the 90s I think, radio never plays it for some reason, hah. My abiding memory is of helicopters and a video that never ended. I’m sure there’s a good song in there though cos I did like it at the time. 🙂
There must have been a radio edit at some point! I think the helicopters are the ‘D’You Know What I Mean’ video… ‘All Around the World’ was a sort of ‘Yellow Submarine’ tribute. Both completely ridiculous tracks that I’m looking forward to hearing again!
ah thanks, I must have got them mixed up – in which case I’m not sure I even saw the video for All Around The World – maybe I was in Florida on my hols at the time! Checking it out now…no I don’t recall ever seeing it. Epic! Looking forward to that post then, the vid makes me love it!
I’ve probably heard this once or twice…I LOVE this…much more than those silly dance songs that love the Number 1 position. Again…this is more like it. I so wish they would have hit over here with more than just two songs. This is brilliant!
Thought you’d like this! I can’t imagine a world where someone’s only heard this once or twice…! ‘Wonderwall’ I could happily never hear again, but this one remains a classic.
Oh yea…it’s right up my alley…this is the kind of stuff I love. We just didn’t hear this stuff over here…only those two huge hits.
I will have to blog this one…one day.
Yes, this and the Bluetones! : )
I’ve wrote up this song. I linked you twice on it… I hope you don’t mind. I quoted you and credited you because I copied your last paragraph. I think I will post it either tomorrow or Friday. I hate doing that without your approval so I’ll take it off if you don’t want it. I made sure that people knew I didn’t write the last paragraph. Thanks!
Hey, absolutely no problem at all! Thanks for giving me the shout outs! Looking forward to reading it
Thank you….I’m posting it tomorrow…