Don’t look back in anger: the legacy of Oasis
In the lead-up to the highly anticipated Oasis tour, an ANU popular music expert reflects on the band that made both fans - and Sally - wait.
Article by:
Elaine Obran
ANU Reporter Senior Writer
Dust off your bucket hats, don your best polo shirt and cue the cool chaos – Oasis is officially back together.
Early this year, the British pop band made headlines – and crashed Ticketek – when they announced their 2025 reunion tour across Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland and Australia.
“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised,” wrote Liam Gallagher on Facebook when the tour was announced.
Oasis broke up 15 years ago, with brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher infamously unable to keep their feud from taking centre stage.
Professor Samantha Bennett is a popular music expert from The Australian National University (ANU). She isn’t surprised that the reunion has seen a multigenerational fanbase racing to snap up tickets.
“The songwriting is timeless. The band are present in broader Western mainstream popular culture as representative of the 1990s,” Bennett says.
“Gen Zs were raised by Gen X, who were the Oasis audience in the 1990s, so it makes perfect sense.”
Keep calm and get your 90s on
To help us understand the grip Oasis has maintained on the collective consciousness for three decades, Bennett transports us to the streets of Manchester, where the band first broke into the music scene.
The British city was at the forefront of shaping the 90s music scene. From the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, these homegrown bands were the soundtrack of a youth movement that celebrated music, drugs and art.
Riding this new wave was Oasis, who first formed in 1991.
“They were signed by Alan McGee who, as CEO of Creation Records, had already garnered a strong reputation as a maverick tastemaker and independent music curator with bands like My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream,” says Bennett.
“Oasis resonated over and beyond those bands with a combination of 1960s aesthetics and in a world where backing tracks, drum machines and synthetic music was becoming more popular, Oasis was committed to live rock performances.”
“And, of course, the biggest reason for their appeal: they were aspirational working-class men from a Manchester council estate who many people country-wide could relate to.”
Sibling rivalry
Historically, the legacy of Oasis extends far beyond their music, with the Gallagher brothers feud holding just as much weight as their success in the UK and US.
Over the years, Noel and Liam have both taken to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to remind fans why they broke up, with insults ranging from the explicit – “Mr. Kiss Arse,” (Liam about Noel) – to the creative – “a man with a fork in a world of soup” (Noel about Liam).
Bennett says their relationship has been critical in shaping both the band and the brothers’ careers outside Oasis.
“Both of them are reliant on each other for the band to work,” says Bennett.
“Liam Gallagher possesses the vocal ability, stage presence, and all-round frontman charisma, whereas Noel Gallagher is an accomplished songwriter and guitarist.
“Since Oasis broke up in the late 2000s, neither brother has been able to achieve the same success with other bands or with solo projects. Ultimately the band was always going to be a bigger entity than either of them as individuals.”
Family ties
While the 1995 hit Wonderwall continues to be the band’s most defining, songs such as Don’t Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova, and She’s Electric have also been memorable contributions to the canon. These songs are filled with nostalgia and emotion that have captivated listeners both young and old.
“I think ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ is one of their most accomplished songs from a writing perspective.
“It is an anthem and features what Dr Ruth Dockwray calls ‘unifying’ attributes. Its huge, ascending chorus top-line follows the last descending line of the bridge, ‘burn my heart out’. So there’s a sense of both music and lyrics fading out before a massive rise, which has a hugely uplifting effect.”
One of the band’s trademarks – narrative-free lyrics – is also a key part of their appeal.
“It is important to mention that Noel Gallagher is dyslexic and has spoken about this in the context of his writing many times,” Bennett says.
“Instead of focusing on the grammar and the whether the lines are ‘right’ from a story or narrative perspective, he instead focuses on the meter, rhyming words and including words with strong vowels that his brother can elongate in performance. Words like ‘shine’, ‘high’, ‘say’, ‘rain’, ‘know’, ‘grow’, are all words that feature heavily in Noel Gallagher’s writing.
“In many ways, his dyslexia has freed him from the pressures of writing more narratively.”
When the brothers sing together, it’s clear why they haven’t found the same level of success as solo performers.
“When family members harmonise, it resonates in especially synergistic ways,” Bennett says.
“We hear this with groups like The Bee Gees – the vocals connect and merge perfectly into a singular voice.”
Top image: Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis performing in San Diego on September 18, 2005. Photo: Will Fresch/Flickr.com
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