The best songs by Oasis, ranking

“She’s Electric,” a deep cut from “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”, contains everything Oasis fans love about them. It’s unashamedly Beatles-esque, right down to the nod to “Because” in the closing notes. It’s a sturdy, bar-band-friendly rock song, belted out on jangly guitars that, in another era, could have been plucked by Don and Phil Everly. The whole thing is held together by blatantly silly wordplays like “She’s electric / She’s in a family full of eccentrics” and “She’s got a sister / And on the palm of her hand is a blister.” It’s not deep, but it’s a sing-along, snap-along fan favorite. – CL

The band’s fourth album, 2000’s Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, is a psychedelic-tinged affair that flirts with the bloatedness that comes with being the biggest band in the world. But the album’s first single, “Go Let It Out,” is a bona fide hit, pairing a stadium-ready chorus and guitars with artful instrumentation that adds sonic depth. The sly star of the show is Noel’s slinky Mellotron, in dialogue with Liam’s breathtaking growl. Though the Gallaghers tend toward self-aggrandizement, Noel was spot on when he called the song “the song that made us sound most like the modern Beatles.” — WE

In this beautiful, reflective piece from their 1997 album Be Here Now, Liam reaches the height of his vulnerability with this aching song about wanting to spend more time with an ailing parent. Noel’s simple lyrics sting with the certain effects of time, dropping any cleverness in favor of earnest meditations on the flights that take us to painful places. “Damn my education, I can’t find the words / With all the things trapped in my head,” Liam moans as mournful horns and a string section build his grief into a universal cacophony at the end. – WE

‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ is a blistering blues-rock anthem about perseverance and an ode to passing the time with darts and booze. But beneath the working-class disillusionment (‘Is it worth the effort / To get a job when there’s nothing worth working for?’) lies a yearning for greatness. ‘You’ve got to make it,’ repeats Liam on the chorus, referring to a series of youthful endeavours – ‘looking for some action’, quitting the 9-to-5 to become a rock’n’roll star, leaving Manchester and running off to the ‘sunshee-iiine’. On a more fundamental level, we can all relate to his devastating statement at some point in our lives: ‘All I need is cigarettes and booze.’ – ES

In the opening song of their debut album, the Gallagher brothers introduced themselves: “Today I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star!” Perhaps they expressed that; Definitely Maybe became the fastest-selling debut album in British history and Oasis almost instantly became the country’s most important band of the decade. In retrospect, the song’s wailing guitar riff sounds almost like a warning siren. A popular concert closer, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” with its blistering guitars and mouth-stretching Liam-isms shows Oasis at their most entertaining: “I live my life in the city… I need some time in the sun!” And with its titular proclamation, it speaks to the unspoken desires of every music fan, if only for five minutes. — ES

The Gallaghers take turns singing on this rollicking 1998 B-side that became a fan favorite. Although Noel sets the mood with his guitar, he also takes on the soaring and thoughtful vocals on the chorus, with the lyrics reading like a grudging acknowledgement of the brothers’ bond (“Because we need each other / We believe in each other”). While Noel predictably dismissed this fan theory as “total bullshit,” Liam’s sneer blends perfectly with his brother’s clear tone, proving that despite all the bickering, these two really are Do need each other. – WE

No acoustic guitar or London pub is safe from “Wonderwall,” one of Oasis’ flagship tracks. Named after the 1968 film “Wonderwall – From Psychedelia to Surrealism,” whose soundtrack was written by George Harrison, “Wonderwall” is the kind of song that builds toward an ending that never comes. Liam Gallagher sings his brother Noel’s lyrics with clarity and a little hope that there is an answer to some form of despair as the instruments swell around him. A solution never comes, but the feeling lingers as the song fades away. – SH

Noel may have given Liam “I said maaaybaaayyy,” but he saved the better chorus for himself with “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” which is – sorry, “Wonderwall” – the band’s best sing-along anthem. The title refers to the famous John Osborne play, and the piano opening is a nod to John Lennon’s “Imagine,” a bold move from someone who once boasted that Oasis were “bigger” than the Beatles (Noel later walked back that remark, saying he was “high” when he said it). A melancholy, arena-sized rejection of regret, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is built on one of rock’s greatest choruses: “Sooo, Sally can wait!” It was also the first Oasis single to feature Noel on vocals, proving that Liam wasn’t the only Gallagher to score a number one hit. – ES

The similarities between Oasis and AC/DC may not be obvious – and would probably provoke a torrent of swear words from the Gallagher brothers – but on many songs the pattern is the same: reptilian-brain simple chord progressions and lyrics, but with a melodic lift in the chorus that takes the song somewhere else. It’s a fusion of rock and pop that manages to be both hard and beautiful at the same time, and a prime example is this first single from their first album, “Definitely Maybe”, which got the ball rolling in April 1994. – JA

For all his combative words, Noel Gallagher has always paid respect to his forebears, and this song – the final track on what many consider to be the band’s best album, ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ – not only shows a depth and maturity in his songwriting that wasn’t so evident before, but also features some cutting guitar work from Paul Weller, whose work with The Jam in the late ’70s and early ’80s was a key influence on Oasis. – JA