How they went Supersonic

Three decades ago, Oasis piled into a studio to record 'Bring It on Down' but, in a late U-turn, instead created a track that would go down in history. Hamish MacBain tells the story

- Hamish MacBain

Speculation is currently rife about which songs might be played when the Oasis reunion kicks off today in Cardiff. People are making fake videos of soundchecks that are being reported as actual news. "I've been in my pool all day doing underwater farts," Liam Gallagher replied to a fan enquiry on X (Twitter) on Monday about the legitimacy of one viral clip. Even “Wonderwall” was dropped from the setlist for a time in the early noughties. But one thing is for certain: their debut single is making the cut. “Supersonic” remains one of their most enduring songs, as loved by both Gallagher brothers as it is by their ever-expanding audience. (The Gen Z end of said audience are infatuated with a live version from Chicago in 1998, which features an elongated Noel Gallagher intro.)

Spontaneity has always played a huge part in Oasis, and never more so than when they first entered a studio to record the song that ended up being “Supersonic”. Everything went wrong... until suddenly it didn’t. Extracted from A Sound So Very Loud: The Inside Story Oo Every Song Oasis Recorded, below is one of the best ever tales surrounding a band who are not exactly short on good tales.

For a damp little island in the north Atlantic, Britain has an enviable history of culture-defining debut singles recorded by photogenic groups of disaffected youths. “Anarchy in the UK”. “Relax”. “I Can’t Explain”. “Hand in Glove”. “Transmission”. “Virginia Plain”. “Gangsters”. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” was pretty good, too, and as for “Hong Kong Garden”... The list goes on.

Has any debut single ever, though, so accurately predicted the entire decades-long career of an artist quite like the opening 50 seconds of Oasis’s “Supersonic”? Liam Gallagher, centre, said he had no interest in music until he was hit in the head with a hammer (Ian Dickson/Shutterstock)