No matter how you feel about Oasis, you know their music. One of the foundational pillars of the 1990s Britpop craze, the group fronted by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher released seven albums and sold over 100 million total records worldwide. Their catalog includes genre-defining hits like “Supersonic,” “Wonderwall,” and “Champagne Supernova.”
Known as much for their legendary sibling rivalry as their music, the Gallaghers’ combustible public relationship encompassed decades of onstage bickering, backstage brawls, mid-tour walkouts, tabloid headlines, drug use, and snippy interview soundbites. After multiple lineup changes and departures, the band broke up for good in 2009 following a particularly brutal backstage blowup in Paris. From all reports, the brothers spent the better part of the next 15 years avoiding one another.
But, to paraphrase another British cultural institution (cough Doctor Who cough), sometimes impossible things just happen, and we call them miracles. Because not only did the Gallaghers apparently manage to untangle their complex personal relationship—if the recently released documentary on the subject is anything to go by—they put the band back together, too. The Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour, which is set to continue as Live ’27 next year, was a massive success, generating sellout crowds, glowing media coverage, and a groundswell of fresh enthusiasm for the group’s music from fans both old and new.
Now, the band is (finally!) about to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, Live ’25 film Don’t Look Back In Anger is playing in theaters, and tickets for next year’s shows are about to go on sale. It’s a wild time to be an Oasis fan, but an incredibly satisfying one too. For those who are new to this ride: Welcome. This Power Hour is for you.
When it comes to Oasis’ music, everyone probably recognizes the band’s hits, like “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” “Live Forever,” maybe even “D’You Know What I Mean?”. But this playlist is built from the band’s lesser-known, more underrated tracks. We’re skipping all the singles (save one) and most of the reunion tour’s setlist in favor of hidden gems, reworkings of established faves, and bangers from the group’s extensive cache of B-sides that outshine many of their album counterparts. It’s an hour’s worth of Oasis tracks that aren’t what anyone would call mainstream.
“Round Are Way” (1995)
A B-side on the “Wonderwall” single, “Round Are Way” is Oasis’ most overtly joyous song. The title is a Slade-inspired misspelling of the Mancunian saying for “in our neighborhood,” and it’s an utterly charming ode to the delights of a misspent working-class youth. The song’s rollicking lyrics about the glories of skipping school and football in the park are backed up by an exuberant blues harmonica and full brass orchestra, “Got To Get You Into My Life”-style. Is it kind of extra? Yes. But it’s also a straight-up good time, and the rare Oasis track that’s a celebration of the Gallaghers’ Manchester roots, rather than a meditation on whether it’s possible to escape them.
“Underneath The Sky” (1996)
Originally released as a B-side on the “Don’t Look Back In Anger” single before appearing on The Masterplan compilation, “Underneath The Sky” was inspired by a book of travel quotes in an airport bookshop while the group was traveling and perfectly captures the simple, freewheeling vibe of early Oasis. (“All we need is our lives in a suitcase / They belong to a friend of a friend’s /And as we drink to ourselves /We’ll amuse ourselves.”) It’s kickstarted by an epic guitar riff, the piano bit in the middle is a dual effort from Noel and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, and the multilayered backing tracks are some of the elder Gallagher’s best supporting vocals. It’s delightful.
“I Hope, I Think, I Know” (1997)
The fifth (and shortest!) track on the band’s often bombastic and unwieldy third album, Be Here Now, “I Hope, I Think, I Know” feels like nothing so much as a swaggering, energetic throwback to their earliest days. Among their contemporaries of the late ’90s, Oasis’ music was always the most unabashedly optimistic, and this is the Be Here Now track that manages to cut through all the blow and the noise to remind everyone of that fact. (“’Cause baby, after all, you’ll never forget my name.”) That the band never played this live is a travesty.
“Let’s All Make Believe” (2000)
It’s deeply unfortunate that the second B-side on “Go Let It Out,” the lead single from Oasis’ frequently (and often unfairly) maligned fourth album, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, isn’t more widely known. (I know I can’t be the only fan who would do anything for Noel to finally put together a second B-side compilation record.)
Liam has rarely sung anything better than this song, which feels like it predicted the end of the band nearly a decade before that actually happened. His aching vocals add an extra layer of emotion to Noel’s deeply cynical lyrics, which clearly reflect the tensions surrounding the departures of founding members Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan during the recording of this album. “Let’s all make believe / That we’re still friends and we like each other” is so painfully bitter, and the darkly pointed reference to the sibling unity vibes of “Acquiesce” is a straight-up gut punch.
“Gas Panic!” (2000)
If you ask any longtime Oasis fan—and certainly almost anyone who would have still admitted to being a hardcore Oasis enthusiast before last year’s reunion—this is the most underrated tune in the band’s entire discography. The fifth track on Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, “Gas Panic!” is dark, brooding, and largely unlike any other song the band ever made. According to Noel, he wrote it while getting off of cocaine, and the haunting lyrics reflect the anxiety attacks and withdrawal he was experiencing. Liam’s rasping vocals give the track a particularly edgy feel, and the lyrics are genuinely some of Noel’s strongest and most personal. Plus, “What tongueless ghost of sin crept through my curtains?” is an all-timer of an opening line.
“Listen Up” (1994)
A B-side on the “Cigarettes & Alcohol” single, “Listen Up” is probably the most Oasis-sounding Oasis song that isn’t on an actual album. (The Masterplan is a compilation, after all.) The band was always at their best daydreaming about what they wanted and didn’t have, and this track mixes peak Gallagher swagger with devastating yearning. A truly epic Liam vocal that is all over the place in the best way as his voice cracks and soars through some of Noel’s sharpest writing; the chorus is absolutely killer: “Sailing down a river alone, I’ve been tryin’ to find my way back home / But I don’t believe in magic, life is automatic / But I don’t mind being on my own.”
“Idler’s Dream” (2002)
The only Oasis song that’s just Noel and a piano, this B-side to “The Hindu Times” single is an oddity in the best way possible. Delicate and unabashedly romantic in a way this band rarely allows its music to be, this poignant ballad clocks in at under three minutes but packs an outsize punch. The interesting tonal shift mid-song gives its initial sappiness some real edge, and it feels like a prelude to many of the best efforts of Noel’s solo career. (If you’re unfamiliar, please look up Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds tracks “If I Had A Gun” or “Dead In The Water.” You’re welcome.)
“The Girl In The Dirty Shirt” (1997)
Be Here Now gets a lot of grief for its bombastic length and general full-of-itself vibes (a product of Noel’s heavy drug use during this period), but “The Girl In The Dirty Shirt” is one of the album’s true hidden gems. A surprisingly heartfelt song about self-worth and loving someone through all the not always perfect stages of their life, it’s romantic without being overly sentimental or cloying. (Oasis was always so good at this; see also: “Slide Away.”) Like pretty much every song on this album, it’s a bit overlong. But Noel’s underappreciated skill as a backing vocalist is on full display here, and the harmonies are absolutely next-level.
“I’m Outta Time” (2008)
The only song on this playlist that was actually released as a single, “I’m Outta Time,” is the fifth track on the band’s final album, Dig Out Your Soul. It seems strange to call any song that cracked the Top 20 on the U.K. chart underrated, but by the time we got to this record, the group’s mainstream appeal was a far cry from what it once was. (It was the first Oasis single since 1994’s “Shakermaker” to miss the Top 10.)
Probably the best song that Liam Gallagher’s ever written—well, this and “One of Us” from his second solo album—this wistful, moody track feels deeply personal. The lyric “If I’m to fall / Would you be there to applaud / Or would you hide behind them all?” is so painfully pointed, even more so when considered in the context of everything that happened just a year later when the band broke up. Liam gives in to his John Lennon obsession by sampling the man himself, and it’s just the right side of bold.
“Part Of The Queue” (2005)
The eighth track on Don’t Believe The Truth, “Part Of The Queue” is a dark, Noel-fronted banger that’s nothing at all like the songs he usually takes lead vocals on. Stripped of all the electronics and extras, this album is softer and looser than those that came before it, and for the first time in a long time it felt like Oasis was doing something other than “trying to recapture the heyday of Oasis.” This dark but strangely pretty track is half-acoustic, half-rock, with a bit of the chord progression from The Stranglers’ “Golden Brown” on top for good measure. (The elder Gallagher has always been one of rock music’s keenest magpies and doesn’t feel bad about it.) A meditation on isolation, individualism, and escape, Noel sounds great throughout, particularly the higher notes toward the end.
“Fade Away (War Child Version)” (1995)
The original “Fade Away” is a B-side on the full-of-bangers “Cigarettes & Alcohol” single, and it’s a raw punk-infused ode to the sobering realities of growing up that stands alone among the band’s more life-affirming tunes. (“While we’re living, the dreams we have as children fade away.”) The version that appears on the 1995 charity album Help! to benefit War Child is a slower, acoustic take that’s a fascinating switch-up of the original. One of the few times that Liam performs backing vocals to Noel’s lead, the result is a more melancholic take on the original with some truly delightful harmonies. There’s also some intriguing celebrity-added weirdness that includes Johnny Depp on guitar and his then-girlfriend, Kate Moss, playing the tambourine. The ’90s were a time, man.
“Roll It Over” (2000)
As Oasis albums go, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants gets a lot of flak. Heck, even Noel’s said he wished the band never made this record. It was poorly received both commercially and critically, and lots of fans disliked its tonal shift toward more experimental trip-hop and psychedelic vibes. (It’s a favorite of mine, if you couldn’t tell.) To be fair, the album has its share of clunkers—much as I love it, even I can’t defend “Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is”—but the anthemic closer “Roll It Over” is not one of them.
Much has been made of this record as Oasis’ ultimate comedown album after the excesses of both Be Here Now and a life of fame in general, and if that’s true, this song feels like the band finally getting real with themselves in a way they didn’t (or couldn’t) elsewhere on the record. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink in the mix (including a gospel choir!), this is a song that feels a bit like “Champagne Supernova’s” darker, more melancholy cousin.
“Acquiesce (Live From Wembley Stadium, 28 September ’25)” (2026)
The ultimate B-side banger from the (What’s The Story) Morning Glory era, “Acquiesce” is one of Oasis’ better-known non-album tracks, not to mention one of the best songs the band ever made. It’s so special precisely because it’s one of the few songs that requires the brothers to perform it together for it to sound its best. (Liam did attempt it several times with the help of the crowd doing Noel’s bit on his solo tours. For my money, it was never the same.)
This version was part of a handful of live tracks the band released during their reunion tour last summer. Recorded on their final night at London’s Wembley Stadium and included on War Child’s charity album HELP (2), it’s a deliriously satisfying snapshot of how far this band—and these brothers—have come. The crowd energy is electric, the band hasn’t sounded this good vocally in decades, and who would have ever thought we’d hear them sing a song with lines like “Because we need each other / We believe in each other” together ever again?
Running time: 59:37
