Tom Vegeris was feeling nostalgia, so decided to take a look back on the infamous Oasis classic.

Why did Noel Gallagher cross the road? Because the Beatles did it first, or so the old joke goes. What’s no joke is the Fab Four’s unmistakable influence on Oasis’ ten-track masterpiece, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?.

For instance, most of us – who am I kidding, all of us – are familiar with Britpop anthem, ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. But few realise that the opening piano riff is ripped straight from John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Noel has admitted that the line So I start a revolution from my bed is also lifted from Lennon. Need more proof? Well, the harmonised descent of ‘She’s Electric’ is remarkably similar to that of the Beatles’ ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’; ‘Wonderwall’ even takes its name from George Harrison’s debut album, ‘Wonderwall Music’.

Noel’s idolisation of the Beatles is hinted at in the Manchester outfit’s smash-hit debut, Definitely Maybe, but in Morning Glory? it is plainly evident. The raw intensity that characterized Definitely Maybe can still be heard on tracks such as ‘Hello’ and ‘Roll With It’. But it is the likes of ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Cast No Shadow’ – one of the band’s most underrated songs, in my opinion – where the Gallagher brothers shed some of that bravado, revealing a more sensitive side that elevates Morning Glory? to one of the seminal records of the 1990s.

Arguably, the album reaches its pinnacle with its psychedelic swansong, ‘Champagne Supernova’. The jangling guitar of ‘She’s Electric’ is another highlight, and that’s before we even get to ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, which Noel Gallagher perhaps aptly refers to as his ‘Hey Jude’. It is quite simply one of the most meaningful songs of all time.

All in all, Morning Glory? is an album that rivals John, Paul, George and Ringo’s finest work.

Tom Vegeris