1001 Songs Challenge #817: Champagne Supernova (1995)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be…

 

Oasis – Champagne Supernova (1995)

 

 

We’re leaving Iceland today, dear reader, and find ourselves back in the UK and in Manchester. Oasis appeared in 1994 with Live Forever and it marked the point where they were establishing themselves with Definitely Maybe proving to be a huge debut album success. It’s now 1995 and Oasis are all set for global stardom with their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? From this album 1001 Songs have spent a long time deciding but ultimately gone with Champagne Supernova.

Champagne Supernova is the closing track on Oasis’ second album and is one of their grandest affairs. Songwriter Noel Gallagher has commented in interviews that he is not sure what the song is about and that it changes in definition depending on his mood and outlook. The song evokes a feeling of disillusioned youth with talk of getting high and even contemplating the reality of life and death, that we are mere specks in an ever swirling world. The song suggests two states: the youth getting high and having their community, and those outside this circle experiencing the world in a different way. The “champagne supernova” evokes images of celebration amongst the stars but with the song’s own composer giving little away it is hard for us to fully garner its true meaning. 

Champagne Supernova was not released as a single in the UK but it was elsewhere in the world and fared well in the charts. This was the peak of Oasis and I remember receiving this album as a Christmas gift from my father in 1995, along with Green Day’s Insomniac. Those were the days. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? was a huge success for the band and it stands up as an exceptional album to this day. Oasis would never be this great again and by 2009 the band had disbanded with brothers – Liam and Noel – still at loggerheads to this day.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Ultravox – Vienna (1980)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (1994)