This will be a song of the week as well as a look at a single, as forces have conspired to make this possible. So it will actually be two songs this week since the single has a B-side.

There is a feature track of course, and that song today is the debut single from Oasis. This was the start of what would become a white-hot run through music in the mid-’90’s, no one was bigger than Oasis through 1995 and 1996. But today revisits their beginnings in 1994 so we’re not quite to their shit hot moment in the sun.

Supersonic was released on April 11, 1994 as the lead track from the debut album Definitely Maybe. The single charted modestly well for a debut band – it hit 31 in the main UK chart and popped up on several US alternative charts despite not making the Billboard Hot 100. The single would eventually be certified platinum in the UK. The album it hailed from moved over 8 million copies.

This version of the single I’m covering is the 30^th anniversary re-issue of the 7-inch version. While there are several other versions of the single out there, these two songs tie in nicely together due to the story of their creation.

The band set out to record their first single in early 1994, that song was supposed to be Bring It On Down, which became a non-single track from the debut album. Noel Gallagher wasn’t happy with the song and began messing with I Will Believe, which became a B-side for other versions of the single. Then totally off the cuff, Noel wrote Take Me Away, this single’s B-side.

On the last day of studio time, the band messed around with an instrumental. Also in the room were brothers Chris and Tony Griffiths of the band The Real People. Tony suggested that the bit Oasis were playing could be a hit song, so the band worked up what became Supersonic.

As a note on writing credits – Noel is the sole credit, though he did later confess that Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan helped him write the chords. Tony Griffiths also played some songwriting role but was not given a credit, Noel’s decision to leave the Griffiths brothers out of credits on the debut album was an issue that caused infighting in Oasis. I know, I know, no one could imagine the members of Oasis fighting among themselves.

Supersonic

The feature song opens with a bit of drumming then kicks in to a riff that plods along but has a bit of bite to it. The song’s run maintains this riff’s shape, with only minor alterations through the chorus. It is a pretty chill, laid-back affair with a bit of guitar work to provide a jolt of energy.

The lyrics open with a simple yet wise line – “I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.” It is also the only part of the words that make any kind of sense at all. All of the rest of the lyrics are nonsense rhyming exercises. It’s a song that is all vibes and no meaningful underpinning – trying to find a deeper meaning to Supersonic will land you on the bottom of the Mariana Trench with nothing to show for your dive. This is a song style Oasis would excel at in their early career.

There is a shout-out to The Beatles in the song, something Oasis would do a lot of through their run. This one is simple, it’s an open mention of Yellow Submarine as one of many vehicles discussed through the track.

Supersonic is a great song to put on to just chill and not have to give a damn about anything for a few minutes. I ranked this one lucky number 13 awhile back when I lined out my 20 favorite Oasis tracks.

Take Me Away

The B-side is an acoustic track with Noel also handling vocals, something he would do every so often through the Oasis run. It’s a very nice and simple tune about just sitting and chilling for a bit longer as everything around you falls apart. There are a few homages to Beatles lyrics in this one, I’ll leave you all to find them. This is one of many B-sides considered underrated by the Oasis fandom, which I guess would make it not underrated if everyone who cares about Oasis rates it highly.

That does it for this look at the first and also newest Oasis single. It would be the start of one hell of a run through music as these lads literally took over the world for a bit of time.