Oasis

In one bold assault, Oasis changed the face of British rock forever. Here, we give you the songs that forced everyone to roll with it, from the bloke in the street to the man in Number Ten. Thanks to these cultured Manchester bruisers, the guitar reclaimed the thunder stolen from it by the vinyl cowboys of rave culture and — overnight — rock was once again thrilling, fierce, and loud. There was no finer statement of intent than "Cigarettes & Alcohol" from 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe, with frontman Liam Gallagher chewing syllables like gristle, and big brother Noel playing master-architect behind the band's mighty wall of rock 'n' roll noise. The big surprise? The ballads — "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger" — became national anthems. What's more, Dig Out Your Soul's first, digital-only single, "Falling Down", and the album's first full release, "The Shock of the Lightning", have confirmed that the honorary title Biggest Band in Britain belongs to no one else.

Noel takes an impressive turn on lead vocal, in Next Steps.

Brothers in rock 'n' roll bands always fight. And when Noel and Liam Gallagher fight, they make great rock 'n' roll. Most Oasis tracks place Liam front and centre, where he can cleave the air in two with a rough-edged rabble-rouser ("Shakermaker") or a mid-paced magic-carpet ride ("All Around the World"). But every now and again, older bro Noel steps up to the microphone: the way he takes control of the free-falling "Sunday Morning Call" can only be described as masterful, and there's a raw, immediate power to his handling of existential anthem "Little By Little". The latter track features on 2002's Heathen Chemistry, the first album written and recorded with new members Gem Archer (rhythm guitar) and Andy Bell (bass), who have since established themselves as mainstays of the rebooted Oasis 2.0 that's catapulting British rock through the '00s.

Stellar b-sides pepper our Oasis Deep Cuts.

As the 1998 B-sides compilation album The Masterplan makes abundantly clear, Noel Gallagher just can't stop writing songs that sound like hit singles — the likes of "Underneath the Sky" and "Stay Young" would have sprouted wings with any other outfit. With their cover of "I Am the Walrus" the band whips up a Force Ten storm of melody and high-voltage punk energy — small wonder they were given the complimentary moniker the Sex Beatles. And a couple of tracks here remind us exactly how Oasis managed to hit the ground not just running, but sprinting: "Columbia" was the band's first, unofficial single (released as a white-label demo) and stands proud as a glowering, trippy, three-chord adrenalin shot, while "Shakermaker" b-side "D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?" anticipates the softer side of Noel (on vocals) and the first-rate balladeer he would become.

Bigger than Jesus? How about bigger than the Beatles? That's what the Brothers Gallagher set out to do in 1994 with the wind-tunnel rush of early single "Supersonic". Within a year, Oasis had hit the top spot with "Some Might Say", the first single from masterwork (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, and a fair indication that the band's sights were set on world domination. Noel's assured songcraft, younger brother Liam's glorious vocal rasp, and the band's H-bomb delivery all amounted to the most perfect storm of rock 'n' roll energy and euphoria since the punk explosion. It was all about the rough and the smooth, the hoarse roar and the cultured strum, the soaring melody and the glowering swagger — a combination that gave a hopeful nation the perfect excuse for the revolution we called Britpop. Sure, Cool Britannia eventually sank beneath the waves, but Oasis is still with us, rockin' harder, bigger, and better than ever into the sunrise of the 21st century.