"Wonderwall" by Oasis

Reranked Position: #6

Last updated: March 09, 2014

Appearances

• All-Time 20 Years [2013]: #1
• All-Time 2009: #12
• 1995: #1

Wonderwall is a song that has stood the test of time. Released in October 1995, it peaked at number 1 in Australia, New Zealand and Spain, plus number 1 on the US Alternative chart and Canada's RPM Alternative 30. In addition, it was in the top 10 charts for Norway, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and France.

This got played a lot at my primary school's disco nights. It also gets broken out at least once whenever I end up somewhere with a jukebox or a karaoke machine and there's alcohol involved. We still thought fondly of it in 2009, when it placed 12th in that year's all-time list. And in 2013, almost 18 years after its release, a lot of people still think it's so damn awesome it's the hottest song in 20 years.

There's certainly a case for it. Year-end charts for 1996 had Wonderwall placed at 19 in Australia, 26 in Canada and 56 in the US. I can tell you right now that I'll have this stuck in my head for a little while. It's not the most effective earworm (my brain won't just repeat lyrics or riffs like I do with other songs), but it does stick.

Wonderwall, however, is not the most technical song out there. Tripod, an absolutely brilliant musical comedy group, have this to say on the matter:

Other people have done it too - the quality and/or amusingness varies.

From a recording perspective, Wonderwall is pretty damn terrible too. Wikipedia tells me that the producer, Owen Wilson, used a "technique" called brickwalling to "intensify" the song's sound.

BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD. Here's what the waveform looks like:

MP3 compression stuff aside (I really should hunt down the CD so I can use a Wave file instead), that is one square waveform. Basically, there's no headroom. When you listen to it closely, it just sounds like there's no life in the mix. Also, it's very flat dynamically... The only intensity in Wonderwall comes from the cello and Liam Gallagher's (slightly off-pitch at times; not a bad thing in this instance) vocal performance.

Despite all this, Wonderwall is still a powerful and decent enough song to have meaning to a lot of people, even if Noel Gallagher is a douche and changes his mind about who the song is about. In a book called Oasis Supersonic Supernova by Michael Krugman, I found the following (pg. 99):

"It's about my girlfriend, Meg Matthews," Noel explained to NME's Andy Richardson. "She had a company which folded and she was feeling a bit sorry for herself. The sentiment is that there was no point in her feeling down, she has to sort my life out for me because I'm in bits half the time."

And here's his backtrack in October 2002:

"The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it," said Gallagher.

"And how do you tell your Mrs it's not about her once she's read it is? It's a song about an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself."

Wonderwall, regardless of where it finally ends up on my charts once all of this is over, will remain a song I don't mind listening to and might even sing along to really badly if I'm drunk enough. Just don't expect me to be "ZOMG OASIS ARE THE BEST!!!!!1!!!!!!1!!!!!!!ELEVENTY-1!"