Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis

"Don't Look Back in Anger" music video
"Don't Look Back in Anger" live performance

Reasons that people give for hating Oasis’ music:

- Liam and Noel Gallagher have abrasive personalities
- They rip-off the Beatles
- Gallagher brothers act like spoiled brats
- The band members have massive egos
- The music is lame
- They haven’t done anything interesting since their first album
- They want people to die of AIDs

These are all direct quotes I found online. Now people do have a way of saying things in the seemingly anonymous world of the internet that are exaggerated, however these comments do reflect a general disdain for the Oasis' that many people express.

People really don't like Noel and Liam Gallagher, the brothers who are at the core of the band. These brothers have made controversial comments and consistently act in ways that many people find distasteful and irritating. I doubt that the Gallagher brothers actually want people to die of AIDs but I wouldn't be surprised if they made a comment that could be interpreted with that meaning.

Most of the criticism I have read of Oasis is inconsequential to the music that they produce. I’m fine supporting an artist who may be a jerk. I’m interested in the music. There are times when it’s difficult to separate the art from the artists but unless the artist is a serial rapist I don’t really care all that much about artist's personality.

It is a great feeling to support and artist who you believe is doing good things with their lives and works hard to use their celebrity to make the world a better place. I see this more as the exception than the norm. When a musician does great things the music endears itself to me because I know there is something positive behind it. When there is something negative behind a song, it does change the context of the song but at the same time it doesn’t change the song itself.

At the same time I was discovering the Beatles in high school Oasis released their break out album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? and their first single “Wonderwall” catapulted Oasis up the charts. I bought the CD single for “Wonderwall” but wasn’t too interesting in buying the album until I heard an MTV news report (MTV used to have news reports ten minutes before every hour) discussing the controversy around Oasis' new single. The song they cited was “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and the controversy had to do with its similarity to John Lennon’s “Imagine.” After hearing "Don't Look Back in Anger," I was hooked and bought Oasis' album immediately.

The MTV news report compared the piano introduction of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to the piano line in “Imagine.” They are similar in the fact that they are both eighth note patterns punctuated every two measures by an upward line. Noel Gallagher commented on this similarity saying, "In the case of Don't Look Back in Anger - I mean, the opening piano riff's Imagine. 50% of it's put in there to wind people up, and the other 50% is saying 'look, this is how songs like Don't Look Back In Anger come about - because they're inspired by songs like Imagine'. And no matter what people might think, there will be some 13 year old kid out there who'll read an interview and think 'Imagine? I've never heard that song' and he might go and buy the album, you know what I mean?"

Oasis came out in a time when rap music was freely sampling from all types of music so it seems strange that anyone would be annoyed by this similarity, but people looked down on Oasis' nods to the Beatles. It was because Noel would say stuff like, “50% of it’s put in there to wind people up.” He’s saying he put it there just to annoy and aggravate people which is a horrible reason to make a musical choice. Even though Noel makes a good point that his song might bring attention to “Imagine," his comment is self-defeated because of the way he responds to the criticism.

Is this enough reason to bring on the Oasis hate? Not really, so they’re a little cocky. That doesn't change the fact that “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is still a great pop song. The beginning of the verses starts with a energized high note that draws in the listener and the reflective chorus expresses a sense of sentimentality, regret and hope. Gallagher admits he has doing drugs when writing the song and has no idea what it means, but the song itself brings a powerful sense of expression despite it’s author’s intentions.

The piano line is taken from John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The structure of the song is a basic rock form that the Beatles helped define and the guitar solo is reminiscent of solos by George Harrison featured in Beatles' songs. However, Oasis is not copying the Beatles. The melody has dynamic contours and the even though the lyrics quote John Lennon (“I’m going to start a revolution form my bed”), they have different lilt than Beatles' songs do.

Is Oasis' voice similar to the Beatles’ voice? Yes, but is it their voice? No.

Having listened to almost all of their recorded work, I can say that the more that you listen to Oasis less they sound like Beatles.

I can’t really say if Oasis “deserves” the scorn that they get, but I really love “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and if you don’t, that’s fine. The “hate” is silly. It’s a waste life to focus on how much we dislike things. If you spend time focusing on things that annoy you then you will spend most of your life being annoyed, however if you spend your time with things that you will love then you will have a positive and joyful life.

If you think fondly of Oasis, revel in it, if not move on with your life focus on things that bring you happiness and don’t look back in anger.