My intro to this next number one amounts to four simple words: Thank God for Oasis.
The Hindu Times, by Oasis (their 6th of eight #1s)
1 week, from 21st – 28th April 2002
Not just for cleansing the palate after the Pop Idol syrup-fests that had hogged the charts for several weeks previous, but for returning guitars to the top spot after what has probably been their longest hiatus. Not counting George Harrison’s posthumous comeback, I think this is the first rock #1 since, gulp, Limp Bizkit in January 2001.
Yes, this isn’t one of their classics. But I also think ‘The Hindu Times’, and anything Oasis released post-1998, gets unfairly maligned. They were great at side one, track one songs like this (and ‘Hello’, and ‘Turn up the Sun’, and ‘Fuckin’ the Bushes’), songs the sole purpose of which is to reassure the listener that, yes, they are listening to Oasis.
And I love it when Oasis are being Oasis. If you aren’t a fan then you might struggle with a song so droning, so snarly, so unrepentantly simple, but that’s your loss. If you can’t appreciate the way Liam drags out the you’re my sunshine you’re my rain… line in the chorus, presumably a knowing nod to ‘Live Forever’, then Oasis simply aren’t for you.
Experimentation feels like a dirty word in an Oasis context, one that soft southerners might use. But there is a bit of that going on. The ‘sitar’ riff, the droning, the gigantic wall of sound feel. It’s as big and beefy as they’d sounded since ‘Definitely Maybe’, and it’s not completely crazy to suggest that a higher tempo ‘Hindu Times’ wouldn’t sound out of place on their debut album. Despite the sitar sound, and the title, Noel had not been spending time with the Maharishi like his ‘60s idols; he saw the title as a slogan on a t-shirt.
With this single, and the subsequent ‘Heathen Chemistry’ album, Oasis debuted two new members in Gem Archer and Andy Bell (not the Erasure Andy Bell, though that would have been a direction I’d love to have heard Oasis go in…) Archer and Bell remained in the band until their split in 2009, and have returned for the reunion tour. The album is okay – sixteen-year-old me thought it was amazing – but second single ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ is probably the one 21st century Oasis single that people are happy to compare with their nineties output. For me, though, I’d go with the lovely ‘Songbird’, the album’s fourth single and the first to be written by Liam. I was very disappointed to see that the only post-1998 song they were playing on their recent tour was ‘Little by Little’, which I’ve always thought a dull plodder.
Despite rock music being back, baby, it won’t be hanging around for long. No Oasis #1 ever spent more than a week on top, and the next identifiably ‘rock’ chart-topper is more than a year away… Luckily though, we’re about to embark on a run of pretty decent, non-rocking number ones, starting with a ‘00s girl group classic.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I had forgotten how this song sounds like because lets be honest I don’t really listen to 2000s Oasis that much, but within 10 seconds I remembered this song. Its really good. I like the raga/psychedelic feel of it. Always found it funny they actually started sounding like The Beatles in the 2000s when in the 90s despite all the comparisons they and the press made they were more Status Quo + Slade + Sex Pistols.
Probably the worst Oasis album though. Outside of the singles, extremely forgettable.
Yes you’re probably right. ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’ has worse songs, but it also has better songs. ‘Heathen Chemistry’, outside of maybe three or four tracks, is bland.
Bland is the perfect word. Heathen Chemistry isn’t a horrible album or anything, and the highlights on it – the singles – are really good, but the whole album feels very uninspired.
Did you get the chance to see Oasis on the reunion tour? I’m seeing them when they come to Sydney in November and I’m very excited. From the footage I’ve seen, the band sounds fantastic with that beefy three-guitar wall of sound and the big fat bass (Liam sounds the best he’s been since the 90s). Hopefully they don’t break up before they come down under.
No I tried to get tickets for Edinburgh but when I finally got through all that were left were terrible, single seats at horribly inflated prices. I’m still half hoping for another album…
Very Beatles-ey vibes in places, but then Whatever, started that trend way back. Shame they arent doing 00’s stuff on the tour, my top Oasis post 90’s track is The Importance Of Being Idle, as good as anything they did. Never seen Oasis, but I saw Noel last year which was a basically a High Flying Birds and Oasis gig of played tracks.
It’s odd that I can barely remember having heard this at all when it was out. Shows how far the charts had slipped downwards in my priorities over the years, I suppose. But listening to it properly now, it sounds like one of the best they had ever made. That wall of sound, the guitar riff and chord sequence really get into your head and stay there. Even Liam’s whiny vocal does little to spoil the flavour, though I’m not sure I can imagine the other Andy Bell stepping up to the mic instead!
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Yes it’s a simple riff, but effective. Liam’s voice works best on pure rock n roll tracks like this too.
I’m sure I’ve never heard this. The only thing I found even remotely appealing about it is the “I get so high I just can’t feel it” part. Ponderous!
Maolsheachlann
Damn, this is really good. I love that eastern sounding guitar…of course I didn’t know this one at all…but I like it.
BTW Stewart. I’m so sorry to get this far behind! I’ll try not to do this again but since September I’ve been so busy at work.
Not at all! Thanks for taking the time to catch up, when so many of these posts are not your sort of music!
I like your writing Stewart. Plus, knowledge is a good thing. I’m weird dude…even if I don’t like the song I like to know things about it.