Oasis were a meme to me growing up – but everything’s changed now

Oasis was barely on my radar in the US (Picture: Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

For most of my life while living in the US, Oasis – to me – was ‘those guys who sang Wonderwall’.

It was a song I had condemned as an overly-earnest track that was more of a meme than a bona fide banger.

But when I moved from New York to London in 2022, this lifelong mentality changed.

I began to understand – via pub singalongs, the frequency with which a certain kind of Hinge date would brag about seeing Oasis on their final tour and a general sense of reverie – that Oasis means so much more than Wonderwall to many, many Brits. 

I realised that I had truly missed out on the heyday of one of the biggest British bands of all time. Now, even more so, after the Britpop band announced its 14-show reunion after exactly 15 years since they split up.

And yet, Oasis was barely on my radar in the US. As I looked more deeply into it, I discovered that this was for good reason.

At the advent of widespread internet use, young Americans were definitely aware of Oasis’ existence, but for a very specific reason: the ‘Anyway, here’s Wonderwall’ meme.

The meme poked fun at a stereotype, painting an image of a scene in which an anglophile 20-something-year-old in a beanie lectures some unsuspecting girl at a house party then takes out his guitar before she can escape, saying, ‘Anyways, here’s Wonderwall’ before forcing her to endure an off-rhythm rendition of the notoriously easy-to-play Oasis song.

Essentially, as soon as Oasis began to break through in the US, they became a joke to me and my peers and fell into the dreaded realm of ‘cringe.’

Even as my friends and I religiously read up on which Spice Girl we were most like, listened to Joy Division and generally idealised British musicians, we completely ignored or rolled our eyes at Oasis. 

All seven of Oasis’ studio albums reached the number one spot on the UK albums chart, whereas none did in the US.

Wonderwall was the only Oasis single to break into the Top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, whereas they racked up eight UK number one singles and a further 15 top 10 singles in the UK.

Noel Gallagher himself has bemoaned the band’s inability to truly leave a lasting impression Stateside, telling NME: ‘America, they couldn’t handle the fact that we didn’t give a f*** about anything.’

As soon as Oasis began to break through in the US, they became a joke to me and my peers (Picture: Redferns)

He went on to reveal his belief that Oasis was simply too authentic to break through in my homeland, saying: ‘That’s why we’ve never been nominated for a Grammy – you’ve got to do all that stuff over there, you’ve got to kind of fake it a little bit and we just we couldn’t do it which is why we’d always stall at number two.’

While there may be some truth to Noel’s slightly bitter take, it is also worth noting that during their defining years as a band, the US was repeatedly the site of some of Oasis’ biggest implosions. 

Perhaps most infamously, during their first-ever US tour in 1994 – with Definitely Maybe making some headway with American audiences – Oasis were scheduled to appear at the iconic Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles.

When it came time for the band to play to the LA audience, only Liam appeared on stage, telling the crowd: ‘The fookin’ band aren’t coming. You’ve just got me tonight.’

While his brother and the other musicians ultimately joined him, the show was a disaster that ended in Liam hitting his brother on the head with a tambourine before storming off stage. 

I feel like I’m truly experiencing the band for the first time (Picture: Simon Ritter/Redferns)

For a 90s American audience used to polished pop group’s and glamorous British rock stars, this came off as more embarrassing than rock and roll. 

Two years later, in 1996, it seemed like Oasis may become a phenomenon in America after Wonderwall climbed the charts, setting the band up for a US tour. 

But as the tour approached, Liam pulled out of some planned dates, with it later emerging that he had sold his house so he had to sort out somewhere for his wife to live. He subsequently joined the tour late.

Noel soon returned to the UK, cancelling a string of US dates entirely. He later said Liam missing the tour ‘killed [Oasis] stone dead in America.’

While the band eventually did tour successfully in the US, playing venues like Madison Square Garden, they never quite broke through the way they did in the UK. 

As a result, now, as Oasis reunites and prepares for a 2025 tour – sending the British music world into a bonafide frenzy of nostalgia and unibrow worship – I feel like I’m truly experiencing the band for the first time. 

I’ve discovered that the Manchester band is and was a group that represented the possibility and frustration of youth for so many working-class British people who had, up until Oasis appeared, felt unrepresented in mainstream music. There’s really nothing more rock and roll than that. 

As I wade through Oasis’ excellent discography, I can’t help but feel like a giddy teenager discovering my new favourite band for the first time.

I may be two decades late to the party, but now that I’m here, I plan to stick around long enough to unironically scream along to Wonderwall in a sweaty, pint-soaked crowd.

As Oasis enters the cultural consciousness of Americans again for the first time in years, I encourage my countrymen not to miss out on the band for a second time.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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