Andy Starkey, from the Midlands, who fronts the 90s tribute band Britpop Reunion: I was 19 when “Wonderwall” was released. I remember buying the album from Woolworths, having that on constantly in the Fiat Panda that I had rolling around town.
Lucy Gillam, from Somerset, who’s a member of the r/Oasis subreddit: I remember hearing Definitely, Maybe in the background constantly, and as a five-year-old, not knowing what I was listening to, but very much enjoying it. My brother Dom was obsessed with Oasis, and passed away at school March 29, 1995—we have an underlying heart condition in the family. So when (What’s the Story) came out, it felt very poignant. It sounds kind of cheesy, but it felt like a link to him.
Matt Roberts, from Florida, whose love of the band snowballed into an obsession with the Manchester City soccer franchise: Growing up, my dad was very big into British culture. The first music I ever remember listening to with him was The Beatles. I probably saw the video for “Wonderwall” on MTV.
Paul Thomas, who has taught guitar at a school in southwest London since 1991: It was a good time for me as a teacher, because that was a real revival in guitar. At one point, my teaching went up to five days [a week]; when I first started, I was doing one day. Subsequently, it really fell off after the first three [Oasis] albums.
Despite not leading the album campaign, “Wonderwall” quickly became a standout.
Simon Cope, the superfan from Middlesbrough: People picked it early. It was one of those where you’d walk into a bar and it’d be playing, you’d have a couple of beers, you got to the next bar and it’d be playing [there]. ’95 was the first time I saw [Oasis] play live, at Manchester NYNEX. (What’s the Story) had just come out. [The audience was] was a lot of younger fans; it had a real student vibe to it. Noel did an acoustic version [of “Wonderwall”]. It was genuinely one of those moments that will stay with you forever.
Cover bands and football clubs
All the “Wonderwall” covers—the delicate Ryan Adams version; the mocking Jay-Z version, which he opened his Glastonbury set with after Noel Gallagher said a rapper shouldn’t headline the festival—are a core part of its lore. One of the earliest was a jaunty easy-listening version by The Mike Flowers Pops, which reached number two in the UK charts (as high as the original) in December 1995.
Mike Flowers, frontman, The Mike Flowers Pops: I wasn’t very aware of Oasis; I was in my mid-30s, so already a bit out of touch. [But] it tends to be what everyone remembers [our] act for. We got to tour around the world. 100 per cent of the publishing royalties went to Noel. In the early 2000s, I bumped into [him] browsing second-hand records off Tottenham Court Road. I introduced myself. He goes, “Oh, thanks, mate. You bought me a swimming pool.” We helped canonize it, I think—we took [“Wonderwall”] seriously as a piece of music; as a song rather than a recording. It’s very sing-songy. The long, drawn-out vowels lend it well to being an anthem, because it doesn’t rush; you don’t have to sing it quickly. You can stretch out the words for a football crowd. It’s studiously classic songwriting.
