Champagne Supernova

"Champagne Supernova" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It was released as a single in non UK countries in 1996 and it is the final track on the band's second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. The Jam frontman Paul Weller appears as a guest guitarist and backing vocalist on the track. A music video for the song, directed by Nigel Dick, was released in 1996.[1] The single was not released in the UK.

For the astronomical event observed in 2003, named after the song, see SN 2003fg.

"Champagne Supernova"
Single by Oasis
from the album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
B-side"Slide Away"
Released13 May 1996
RecordedMay 1995
Genre
Length
  • 7:27 (album version)
  • 5:08 (radio edit)
LabelCreation
Songwriter(s)Noel Gallagher
Producer(s)
Oasis singles chronology
"Don't Look Back in Anger"
(1996)		 "Champagne Supernova"
(1996)		 "D'You Know What I Mean?"
(1997)
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? track listing
12 tracks
  1. "Hello"
  2. "Roll with It"
  3. "Wonderwall"
  4. "Don't Look Back in Anger"
  5. "Hey Now!"
  6. Untitled
  7. "Some Might Say"
  8. "Cast No Shadow"
  9. "She's Electric"
  10. "Morning Glory"
  11. Untitled
  12. "Champagne Supernova"
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

The song was released in the U.S. as a radio single to great success, becoming the band's second No. 1 single on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, becoming the band's third top 40 single on that chart. The song is included on the band's greatest hits album Stop the Clocks and on the U.S. release of Time Flies... 1994–2009. Supernova SN 2003fg was nicknamed "Champagne Supernova" after the song.

Background

Noel Gallagher claimed in 2005 that he had still not made up his mind as to what the song actually is about, having previously told an NME interviewer in 1995:

It means different things when I'm in different moods. When I'm in a bad mood, being caught beneath a landslide is like being suffocated. The song is a bit of an epic. It's about when you're young and you see people in groups and you think about what they did for you and they did nothing. As a kid, you always believed the Sex Pistols were going to conquer the world and kill everybody in the process. Bands like the Clash just petered out. Punk rock was supposed to be the revolution but what did it do? Fuck all. The Manchester thing was going to be the greatest movement on earth but it was fuck all. When we started, we decided we weren't going to do anything for anybody, we just thought we'd leave a bunch of great songs. But some of the words are about nothing. One is about Bracket the Butler, who used to be on Camberwick Green or Trumpton or something. He used to take about 20 minutes to go down the hall. And then I couldn't think of anything that rhymed with "hall" apart from "cannonball" so I wrote, "Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball." And people were like, "Wow, man." There's also the line, "Where were you while we were getting high?" because that's what we always say to each other. But the number of people who've started clubs called Champagne Supernova is fucking unbelievable. And the album isn't even released yet.[2]

In a 2009 interview, Gallagher told the following anecdote:

This writer, he was going on about the lyrics to "Champagne Supernova", and he actually said to me, "You know, the one thing that's stopping it being a classic is the ridiculous lyrics." And I went, "What do you mean by that?" And he said, "Well, Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball — what's that mean?" And I went, "I don't know. But are you telling me, when you've got 60,000 people singing it, they don't know what it means? It means something different to every one of them."[3]

Music video

The video for the song was directed by Nigel Dick and was filmed at Ealing Studios on 15 and 16 February 1996.[4]

Live performances

The song was played at the majority of Oasis concerts. Noel Gallagher has stated, "I think it's the only song, since it was written, that we've played every night." During the Morning Glory Tour in 1995/96 and the Be Here Now Tour in 1997/98, the song's ending was usually stretched out by five or so minutes, with Noel playing a long improvised guitar solo. An example of one of these performances can be seen on the DVD ...There and Then.

Oasis performed the song at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, with lead vocalist Liam Gallagher making rude gestures at his brother Noel as he was playing his guitar solo and then spitting beer all over the stage before storming off. At Oasis' Knebworth performance, Stone Roses guitarist John Squire made a guest appearance.

After Noel's abrupt departure from Oasis in August 2009 and the band's subsequent dissolution, "Champagne Supernova" became the last original song they performed live together; the last song was a cover of "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles, as was the case with most of their concerts.[5]

Since Oasis' split, the song has been performed by Noel's follow-up band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Liam's follow-up band Beady Eye,[6] and Liam during his solo career.[7]

Alternate versions

Brendan Lynch was hired to produce an alternate mix and a remix. The alternate mix was eventually released on the Deluxe Edition of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? while the remix was issued on the B-side on a promo-only 12" of Oasis' cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel the Noize". Known as the "Lynchmob Beats Mix", this remix has been reissued on promotional material for the band's greatest hits album Stop the Clocks.

Live versions of the track were released on ...There and Then and Familiar to Millions. A "clean" version, editing out the waves sound effects at the start of the track, was released on Assorted, a free CD issued with the January 1996 edition of Q magazine. It is also available on the Time Flies... 1994–2009 retrospective collection.

Notable cover versions

Track listing

1996 single (US: Epic ESK 7719, SME 11-003393-17, France: Helter Skelter SAMP 3393)

  1. "Champagne Supernova" (radio edit) – 5:08
  2. "Champagne Supernova" (album version) – 7:28

1996 CD Maxi (Australia: SME 663344 1)

  1. "Champagne Supernova" (radio edit) – 5:08
  2. "Champagne Supernova" (album version) – 7:31
  3. "Slide Away" – 6:29

Personnel

Oasis

Additional personnel

Charts and sales

References
  1. Oasis' official YouTube channel, video for Champagne Supernova on YouTube
  2. "Noel Gallagher - NME". Oasis Interviews Archive. 30 September 1995. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. Cairns, Dan (8 March 2009). "Noel Gallagher on how Oasis got their groove back". The Times. London, UK. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  4. "PRODUCTIONS 1996". Nigel Dick - Director.
  5. "Oasis V Festival Set List 2009 ~ "The Spaghetti Incident?"". Thespaghettiincident.com. 23 August 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  6. "Beady Eye perform 'Champagne Supernova' live in Japan – watch - NME". NME. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  7. Binns, Simon (18 August 2018). "Review: Liam Gallagher at Emirates Old Trafford". men. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  8. Radio 1 - The Net - Oasis stop Champagne Supernova Cover Version. YouTube: BBC Radio. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  9. "Hear OneRepublic's Vibrant Cover of Oasis' 'Champagne Supernova'". 25 July 2017.
  10. "Listen to OneRepublic's Cover of Oasis 'Champagne Supernova'". www.billboard.com.
  11. "Australian-charts.com – Oasis – Champagne Supernova". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  12. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2990." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  13. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 2991." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  14. "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 8485." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  15. "Charts.nz – Oasis – Champagne Supernova". Top 40 Singles.
  16. "Notowanie nr762" (in Polish). LP3. 6 September 1996. Retrieved 26 February 2019. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  17. "Oasis Chart History (Radio Songs)". Billboard.
  18. "Oasis Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard.
  19. "Oasis Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  20. "Oasis Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard.
  21. "Oasis Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard.
  22. "Oasis Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  23. "RPM Year End Top 100 Hit Tracks". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  24. "RPM Year End Alternative Top 50". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  25. "Top AFP – Audiogest – Top 3000 Singles + EPs Digitais" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  26. "British single certifications – Oasis – Champagne Supernova". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  27. "American single certifications – Oasis – Champagne Supernova". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 August 2017. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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