Supersonic (Oasis song)

Supersonic (Oasis song)
"Supersonic" is a song by English rock band Oasis, released as their debut single on 11 April 1994. It appeared on their debut studio album, Definitely Maybe (1994). The single reached number 31 on the UK Singles Chart, two on the UK Independent Singles Chart and 11 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also reached the top 40 in Ireland, Scotland, France and New Zealand.
"Supersonic" was written by lead guitarist Noel Gallagher and recorded in one session at the Pink Museum Studio (now the Motor Museum) in Liverpool, England in mid-December 1993. It was produced by Oasis and producer Mark Coyle, with no additional production through producer Owen Morris. Two music videos were produced for the song.
Writing
"Supersonic" was written and recorded in a single day at the Pink Museum Studio in Liverpool, on 19 December 1993. It was produced by Oasis with their live sound engineer, Mark Coyle. Guitarist Noel Gallagher claimed he wrote the song in half an hour, while his studio colleagues were taking a break from recording to eat a Chinese takeaway. Rather than joining them, Noel remained in the studio backroom working on his guitar riff and finished writing before they returned. Guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs recalled:
According to Noel, "Supersonic" was the only Oasis single written in the studio after another song, "Bring It on Down", was discarded. Although Noel is credited as the sole songwriter, he revealed in There We Were, Now Here We Are, a 2004 documentary commemorating the 10th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, that Bonehead and bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan assisted him in writing the chords.
In 2010, drummer Tony McCarroll wrote in his book The Truth: "Now, I know that Noel is the main songwriter for Oasis, but there were many instances like this where the band as a whole – and The Real People too – were integral to the composition of a song." McCarroll also recounted that Noel did not want to credit brothers Chris and Tony Griffiths of the Real People as co-producers of "Supersonic" or feature the band itself as a guest act on any future Oasis performance, leading to a verbal altercation between Noel and singer Liam Gallagher as well as constant problems with the rest of the band members.
Recording
Following a short local tour with the Verve, Oasis performed at the Krazy House club in Liverpool, supporting the Real People, on 16 December 1993. After the gig, they booked sessions at the Pink Museum with Coyle and engineer Dave Scott for a few days, funded by £300 per day, to record "Bring It on Down" for release as their then-upcoming debut single, at the request of Creation Records owner Alan McGee. However, according to Noel, the intended song recording was abandoned due to a disagreement over McCarroll's drumming. He said: "It would become apparent that session didn't work because our drummer at the time wasn't the most consistent from one fucking bar to the next, never mind one day to the next."
According to Scott, Oasis attempted to record a studio version for "I Will Believe", but he dismissed the result because it sounded like an early 1980s indie pop song. Scott later described the unreleased version as a "shoe-gazer shit." Instead, after unsuccessful attempts to record "I Will Believe", Noel wrote a new song, "Take Me Away", in less than five minutes, and recorded it acoustically in 15 minutes. Noel played an Epiphone acoustic guitar with a half-pint glass, creating a slide guitar sound that Coyle overdubbed through a Roland Space Echo before Scott mixing the track in another five minutes.
On the last day of the sessions after recording "Take Me Away", Oasis began jamming together, attempting to work on an instrumental they had played as a warm-up during the session of "Bring It on Down" and which would become "Supersonic". The jam session began with McCarroll playing a "lazy" drumbeat, which was quickly followed by Bonehead playing rhythm guitar and Liam rattling his tambourine over the beat. Noel soon joined them and played a guitar melody over the rhythm. Meanwhile, Scott asked the Griffiths brothers, who were present at the sessions, to give Oasis musical and technical advice. Instead of recording B-side songs, Tony Griffiths suggested them to develop their jam as it has the potential of a hit single.
After Tony's suggestion, Noel went to the corner and quickly wrote down the lyrics, and then Oasis began recording "Supersonic". To record the song, Scott had to remove a take of "I Will Believe" because he did not have a spare tape. Bonehead used a Gibson SG guitar owned by Scott and a Marshall JCM900 amplifier owned by Chris Griffiths. Noel played an Epiphone Les Paul guitar through a Watkins Dominator MKIII combo amp. For Noel's lead guitar, Scott added additional overdubs by placing the amp in the studio's stone room with close-and-distance microphones and slightly speeding up the tape to thicken the guitar tone over the track. Scott removed McCarroll's hi-hats to record tambourine and handclaps tracks.
After recording the backing tracks, Liam recorded his vocals in one single take, with Noel guiding him and Scott using a Lexicon PCM70 reverb and TC-2290 delay on the vocals. Tony contributed five layers of backing vocals to the song, influenced by the Beatles' backing vocal style. According to Scott, "Supersonic" was recorded and mixed in 11 hours, while Noel said it took eight hours to be completed. Although it was originally based as a demo, it was never re-recorded, and this refers to producer Owen Morris, who later reworked on some other tracks on Definitely Maybe prior to its release. After the recording was finished, the song was introduced to McGee as a potential alternate single; he was impressed. According to tour DJ Phil Smith, the song alone cost £100 to produce.
Composition
Music
"Supersonic" has been classified as a rock, Britpop, and alternative rock song, with elements of neo-psychedelia and American grunge music. It contains Blur-like vocals, "brief but smashing" guitar riffs and "catchy melodic" chorus. Along with the Definitely Maybe song "Live Forever", the basic rock rhythm of "Supersonic" is reminiscent of early 1970s music. The song's cascading guitars are influenced by the Sex Pistols' 1977 song "Pretty Vacant", and also draw influences from bands such as the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Stone Roses.
The song is played in the key of F-sharp minor in a time signature with a tempo of 104 beats per minute (BPM), while Liam's vocals span a range of E4 to F5. The chord progression follows a sequence of Fm11–Asus2–B7. As with "Bring It on Down", the power chord sequence of "Supersonic" is heavily influenced by Nirvana's Nevermind (1991); according to author Alex Niven, Noel adapted Kurt Cobain's guitar technique (specifically in the Nevermind hits "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come as You Are") by adding phaser effects for his overdubbed lead guitar to produce a "swirling, underwater" guitar sound.
"Supersonic" begins with a simple drumbeat played by McCarroll, followed by an arpeggiated guitar riff played by Noel. During the intro, Noel produces a pick scrape guitar effect; Scott suggested this technique after being dissatisfied with McCarroll's drum intro. According to Scott, he wanted it to sound like the intro to Peter Gabriel's 1980 song "Intruder", but Noel ended up producing a sound that was "slightly different and quicker." Noel's guitar solo has a striking resemblance to the opening riff of "My Sweet Lord" (1970) by George Harrison, with a slightly different guitar harmony. However, Noel has denied deliberately copying it.
Lyrics
The lyrics are often regarded as a distillation of "lumpen" nonsense poetry, with "forced" doggerel rhymes and "half-baked" allusions in multiple lines throughout the song, such as "I'm feeling supersonic / Give me gin and tonic", "He lives under a waterfall / Nobody can ever hear him call", "I know a girl called Elsa / She's into Alka-Seltzer", "And she makes me laugh / I got her autograph", "She done it with a doctor, on a helicopter" and "She's sniffing in a tissue, selling the Big Issue".
The lyrics are "simplistic" and exhort self-confidence, particularly in the opening lines: "I need to be myself / I can't be no-one else". Arun Starkey of Far Out described "Supersonic" as "a triumphant call to arms for those wanting self-determination." Like the Definitely Maybe song "Cigarettes & Alcohol", "Supersonic" has an alcoholism theme: "Give me gin and tonic"; this line was written after Scott gave Noel a gin and tonic drink instead of whiskey or beer that caused Noel to have a headache. The song mentions various vehicles, including cars, submarines, trains and helicopters. It also saw the band's first lyrical nod to their idols, the Beatles, with the line "You can sail with me in my yellow submarine", referring to their 1966 song "Yellow Submarine" or their 1968 film of the same name.
Most of the lyrics were inspired by the few days Noel experienced while Oasis were in Liverpool. For example, the line "Can I ride with you in your BMW?" was inspired by Tony Griffiths' car spotted by Noel. According to Noel, the main inspiration for writing "Supersonic" came from Scott's then nine-year-old Rottweiler dog, Elsa, who was suffering from flatulence and hiding under the mixing desk while the band were working in the studio, hence the lyric "I know a girl called Elsa / She's into Alka-Seltzer". Despite this, even after Noel revealed Elsa's identity, some Oasis fan girls with the same name claimed that the song was inspired by them. Some commentators interpreted the song to be about prostitution, but Noel also denied this, explaining: "It's usually lyricists that will tell you that the words are fucking everything. They are not, the words don't mean shit to anybody. It's the melody is what you remember. We all whistle tunes; it's always about the melody, and that's what I do."
Release
"Supersonic" was released as a single in Ireland on 5 April 1994, in the UK on 11 April, both by Creation, and in the US on 11 September, by Epic Records. It was included as the sixth track on Oasis' debut album Definitely Maybe, released on 29 August 1994. Upon its release, the single received extensive airplay on several independent radio stations in England, as well as late-night shows on BBC Radio 1. It reached number 31 on the UK Singles Chart on the week of 23 April 1994, and remained the band's lowest-peaking single until 2015, when "Half the World Away" debuted the chart at number 56.
"Supersonic" debuted on the UK Independent Singles Chart at number three on 30 April 1994, behind "Always" by Erasure and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by Prince, respectively. The song was included on the compilation Indie Top 20: Vol. 20, released in the UK on 28 October 1994 on the label Beechwood Music and sponsored by Melody Maker. A year later, on 1 July 1995, it re-entered and peaked the chart at number two, behind "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins. The CD release of "Supersonic" was included on Oasis' box sets Definitely Maybe Singles (1996) and Complete Single Collection '94–'05 (2006).
"Supersonic" was Oasis' first single to chart in the US; it debuted on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at number 33 on the issue dated 1 October 1994, and peaked at number 11 on 10 December, staying on the chart for a total of 16 weeks until 14 January 1995, at number 32. By the end of October 1994, "Supersonic" was played 215 times in total on 38 different American radio stations, and it would become the most-played track on the WENZ Cleveland radio station two months later. It also reached number 38 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart on the issue dated 24 December 1994.
"Supersonic" reached number 92 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart on 30 April 1994. It also charted in other countries including Ireland (24), Scotland (35), France (33), New Zealand (28), and Australia (122). In Japan, a CD extended play (EP), Supersonic, was released by Epic Records Japan on 14 July 1994, reaching number 81 on the Oricon Albums Chart. By February 1995, it had sold 25,000 copies following airplay on J-Wave's Pioneer Tokio Hot 100.
"Supersonic" was reissued in the UK in 2000 through Big Brother Recordings. The song was included on Oasis' greatest hits albums, Stop the Clocks (2006) and Time Flies... 1994–2009 (2010). On 19 April 2014, "Supersonic" was reissued as a remastered 12-inch single by Big Brother, as part of the 2014 Record Store Day. As of October 2016, "Supersonic" had sold over 240,000 copies, making it the band's 14th biggest-selling single in the UK, even outselling their 2002 number one single "The Hindu Times", and their 2005 number one hits "Lyla" and "The Importance of Being Idle".
Track listings
All tracks are written by Noel Gallagher, except "Shakermaker" by Gallagher, Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis.
UK single and European maxi-single (CD)
Australian single (CD, cassette)
"Supersonic" – 4:46
"Take Me Away" – 4:34
"I Will Believe" (live) – 3:46
"Columbia" (white label demo) – 5:24
UK single (12")
"Supersonic" – 4:46
"Take Me Away" – 4:34
"I Will Believe" (live) – 3:46
UK single and French jukebox single (7")
European single (CD)
"Supersonic" – 4:41
"Take Me Away" – 4:29
Japanese EP (CD)
"Supersonic" – 4:42
"Shakermaker" – 5:10
"Columbia" (white label demo) – 5:26
"Alive" (8-track demo) – 3:57
"D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?" – 2:41
"I Will Believe" (live) – 3:47
US promo (CD)
"Supersonic" (edit) – 3:40
"Supersonic" (LP version) – 4:40
US single (cassette)
"Supersonic" – 4:43
"Slide Away" – 6:32
Personnel
Credits adapted from the CD single liner notes, except where noted:
Oasis
Liam Gallagher lead vocals, tambourine
Noel Gallagher lead guitars, scrape effects
Paul Arthurs rhythm guitar
Paul McGuigan bass guitar
Tony McCarroll drums
Additional musicians
Tony Griffiths backing vocals
Technical
Oasis production
Mark Coyle production; mixing
Dave Scott engineering
Owen Morris mastering
Vlado Meller mastering
Ian Cooper remastering
Sleeve cover
Brian Cannon sleeve design, art direction
Michael Spencer Jones photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Notes and references
Footnotes
Citations
Sources
External links
Oasis (band) songs
1994 debut singles
1994 songs
Songs written by Noel Gallagher
Creation Records singles
Epic Records singles
Song recordings produced by Noel Gallagher
Song recordings produced by Liam Gallagher
Black-and-white music videos
Psychedelic songs
Songs about dogs
Songs about transport
Songs about alcohol