Single, November 2004.
From the album Employment
(March 2005)
“Watching the people get lairy / It's not very pretty I tell thee…”
Kaiser Chiefs’ second single was released in 2004 and was inspired by drummer Nick Hodgson’s time as a club DJ in Leeds city centre.
The song reached Number 22 in the charts on its initial release, but when reissued a year later, it broke the Top 10 and quickly shot the band to stardom.
It was included on the debut Kaiser Chiefs album, Employment.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, May 2010
From the album Only Revolutions
(November 2009)
“When we collide we come together / If we don't we'll always be apart / I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it / When you hit me, hit me hard…”
The fourth single to be taken from Biffy’s mammoth Only Revolutions album, Many Of Horror quickly became the band’s signature song when it gained a whole new audience.
At Christmas 2010, The X Factor winner Matt Cardle covered the song as When We Collide, and beat the Number 8 position that the Biff achieved by taking his version all the way to the top of the UK charts.
According to drummer Ben Johnston, “Many Of Horror” was actually the name of an imaginary band made up by Biffy that apparently played “dark country songs”.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, March 1998
From the album Urban Hymns
(September 1997)
“Yes, there's love if you want it / Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord.”
Sonnet was the final single to be released from The Verve’s third album Urban Hymns, and proved to be another hit for this by now very established group.
Sonnet is another peerless ballad from Richard Ashcroft, which sees the singer singer beseeching the Lord as he’s “looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye”.
Urban Hymns proved Ashcroft was one of British rock’s most enigmatic and emotional troubadours.
Photo: John Mather / EMPICS Entertainment
Single, July 2006
From the album Panic Prevention
(January 2007)
"Sheila goes out with her mate Stella / It gets poured all over her fella / 'Cause she's says, "Man, he ain't no better / Than the next man kicking up fuss..."
A typically well-observed slice of life from the pen of Jamie Treays, this was the singer-songwriter's debut single back in the summer of 2006. It paved the way for his acclaimed debut album Panic Prevention.
The song samples the poet John Betjeman proclaiming "Good heavens you boys! Blue-blooded murder of the English tongue" and the late Bob Hoskins stars in the memorable video, placing Jamie T firmly in the tradition of great English artists.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, May 2015
From the album Keep The Village Alive
(September 2015)
“So set me free, c’est la vie / I said, come on pretty baby, take a chance on me.”
Written in 45 minutes (according to legend), this manic ode to the rigours of life was the lead single from Stereophonics ninth album.
C’est La Vie also opened Keep The Village Alive and the quirky video featured actors Antonia Thomas, Aneurin Barnard and Mathew Aubrey
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, March 2013
From the album Opposites
(January 2013)
“Let's make this biblical / And hang from our invisible cords.”
The second single to be taken from the mammoth album Opposites, frontman Simon Neil told MetroWeekly: “That song was about me and my wife trying to get through a really tough time in our life.”
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreFrom the album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
(October 1995)
“As they took his soul they stole his pride / And as he faced the sun he cast no shadow.”
A quieter moment on the barnstorming second album from the Burnage lads, this song was famously dedicated to the mercurial singer of The Verve, Richard Ashcroft.
Never released as a single, the song was released just as The Verve were about to go stellar with their own music.
Noel Gallagher told Select in 1997: "I played him the song, and he nearly started crying. I was like, 'Come on, hold yourself together, son!
"In a way, it's about all my friends who were in groups. We are bound with the weight of all the words we have to say. We're always looking for more."
Photo: Doug Peters / EMPICS Entertainment / PA
Find Out MoreFrom the album Wish You Were Here
(September 1975)
The follow-up to the incredibly successful Dark Side Of The Moon, the influence of original Floyd frontman Syd Barrett hangs over Wish You Were Here.
Opening the album with an extended, spacey intro, Shine On Your Crazy Diamond seemed to be about the singer’s withdrawal from the world: “Remember when you were young? You shone like the sun.”
Ironically the man himself visited Abbey Road while the song was being recorded, but was initially not recognised by his former bandmates.
Now overweight with a shaved head, Barrett was a shadow of his former self, adding extra poignancy to this tribute.
Photo: MJ Kim/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreFrom the album Led Zeppelin III
(October 1970)
Opening with the terrifying hiss of an echo unit cranking up, this storming entry in the Led Zep pantheon kicked off the band’s epic third album and with that, the beginning of heavy metal as a genre to be reckoned with.
Inspired by the band’s trip to Iceland earlier that year, the song tells of Viking hordes rampaging across Europe - in much the same way as Zeppelin were doing in the US with their enormous, block-busting tours: “Valhalla, I am coming!”
Photo: Jay Thompson/ Zuma Press/ PA Images
Find Out MoreB-Side, April 1995
The B-side of Some Might Say, Talk Tonight was written after the first of Noel Gallagher’s many famous walk-outs. This occasion was after a disastrous show in LA, when the band fouled up a high-profile showcase and Noel high tailed it to San Francisco to fume about the band.
It’s another of the elder Gallagher’s gentler moments, where he opens up about the friend who “saved my life”.
After decades of mystery, Melissa Lim revealed that she was the girl who spent with Noel and has claimed to be the inspiration of much more than just one song.
Photo: Eamonn Clarke/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, November 1998
From the album Performance And Cocktails
(March 1999)
“The bartender and the thief are lovers / Steal what they need like sisters and brothers.”
Crowning the glory of their debut album Word Gets Around, Stereophonics held a sold-out homecoming show at Cardiff Castle in the summer of 1998.
Having already started work on the second album, Performance And Cocktails, the band debuted the new song The Bartender And The Thief in front of 10,000 fans.
The song was inspired by two girls’ drunken exploits at the bar owned by Crowded House’s Neil Finn in Auckland.
Photo: Sue Moore/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out More
Single, May 2016
From the album The Ride (May 2016)
“And I'd beg you but you know I'm never home / And I love you but I need another year alone…”
Fresh off the back of winning a BRIT Award for Best British Breakthrough act, Llandudno's Van McCann took his band to the next level with their second album The Ride, released that May.
7 is the lead-off track on the LP and shows a more reflective side of McCann's writing, offering a bittersweet commentary on relationships, which was more than likely a by-product of the Bottlemen's relentless touring schedule.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, July 1995
From the album Stanley Road
(June 1995)
"You do something to me / Something deep inside / I'm hanging on the wire / For a love I'll never find..."
Weller surpassed the acclaim he garnered with his original band The Jam on his third solo album Stanley Road.
Released in the summer of Britpop 1995, the third single to be taken from the LP was this simple, honest and immediate love song.
It stands as one of Weller's most direct works and made Number 9 in the UK charts.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, November 1976
From the album A Day At The Races
(December 1976)
How do you follow an album like A Night At The Opera, and a massive hit single like Bohemian Rhapsody? Why, you get even more extravagant.
Freddie Mercury leads a gospel choir of himself, Brian May and Roger Taylor double-tracked endlessly as they had been on Bo Rhap, cooking up an emotional song as the singer tries to find some kind of fulfilment in love.
It’s another great single for Queen: after kicking off the second side of the album, the track also made Number 2 in the UK charts.
Photo: Topham Picturepoint/ Press Association
Find Out MoreSingle, June 1971
From the album Who’s Next (August 1971)
“Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss.”
The climax of The Who's epic Who's Next album, Won't Get Fooled Again was originally to be the conclusion of the aborted "Lifehouse" rock opera and warned that revolution didn't always give you what you wanted.
The intro was worked up by Pete Townshend on his VCS-3 synthesiser and showcased both Roger Daltrey's impressive rock voice and Keith Moon's idiosyncratic "lead drumming".
The track was issued as a preview for the Who's Next album, making Number 9 in the UK charts.
Photo: Topham Picturepoint/ Press Association
Find Out MoreSingle, July 1967
“There's nothing you can do that can't be done / Nothing you can sing that can't be sung / Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game / It's easy…”
This song for the “Summer of Love” in 1967 was written especially by John Lennon for a TV special that saw a global satellite link-up connect different countries and continents for the first time.
The lyrics are simple and direct… but hold true to this day.
Photo: PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1969
From the album Abbey Road
(September 1969)
“Here come old flat top / He come groovin' up slowly…”
Originally planned as a campaign song for psychedelic guru Timothy Leary on his quest to become a politician, it wound up as the opening track of the last Beatles album to be recorded: 1969’s Abbey Road.
Surprisingly funky for the Fab Four, and with a marvellous Lennon lyric, the words later came back to haunt him when legal action was taken over some “borrowed” phrases from Chuck Berry’s 1956 song You Can’t Catch Me.
Photo: Central Press/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, April 2007
From the album Favourite Worst Nightmare
(April 2007)
“Brian, top marks for not trying…”
The keenly-awaited follow-up to Arctic Monkeys’ debut album was trailed by this frenetic, pun-filled single, which hit the UK charts at Number 2.
Apparently based on a guy who appeared backstage at one of the band’s gig in Tokyo, the song announced the arrival of the Favourite worst Nightmare.
Life imitated art in October 2017, when the real Storm Brian hit the UK for a few days, offering winds of up to 78 miles per hour.
Photo: CARL DE SOUZA/ AFP/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreFrom the album The Stone Roses (May 1989).
"I'd like to leave the country / For a month of Sundays / Burn the town where I was born..."
An epic album track from the Roses' peerless debut LP, originally written in 1985 when the band recorded with legendary Joy Division producer Martin Hannett.
The song later became famous as Manchester United's walk-on music.
Photo: Ryan Phillips/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreFrom the album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
(June 1972)
“Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly / And the spiders from Mars….”
This was the album that propelled David Bowie from a footnote in pop history to a genuine superstar.
A concept album about an alien who tries to help humanity during the apocalypse was the definitive glam rock statement, the title track warns that “When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band…”
And break up the band he did - Bowie called time on the Spiders From Mars at a show in London in July 1973 much to the horror of the audience. But Bowie’s career was ready to move on to the next level…
Photo: Steve Wood/ Express/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, June 2000
From the album Parachutes (July 2000)
“Look at the stars, look how they shine for you…”
Inspired by the clear night skies in Wales where Coldplay’s first album was recorded, Yellow brought the band to the world’s attention back in 2000, making an impressive Number 4 in the UK charts.
The single had a memorable video, filmed on a rain-soaked beach in Dorset, as dawn breaks behind singer Chris Martin.
Photo: Press
Single, September 2014.
From the album The Balcony (September 2014).
“F**k it if they talk / F**k it if they try and get to us / Cause I'd rather go blind / Than let you down…”
Signed to the influential Communion Records, Llandudno’s Catfish And The Bottlemen released a series of well-received singles, before issuing their confident debut album The Balcony in the autumn of 2014.
Cocoon was the single that accompanied the release of the LP. Speaking to Radio X about the track, frontman Van McCann said "It's explosive. I'm just dead proud of the fact that it's saying something. I don't think there's much music around that says much."
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, May 2004
From the album Kasabian
(September 2004)
Although written a long time before it was a hit, when Club Foot finally landed in 2004, it was bigger than anything the band could have imagined.
Kasabian proved that there was still a market for gun-slinging guitar music and the Leicester lads dedicated this stomper to Czech student Jan Palach, who committed suicide as a political protest.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, June 2008
From the album The Seldom Seen Kid (March 2008)
“So throw those curtains wide / One day like this a year'd see me right.”
Elbow’s biggest hit was taken from the conceptual album The Seldom Seen Kid, which details the life of a late friend of the band - the “kid” of the title.
The album went on to win the 2008 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize and established the band as one of Britain’s favourite collectives.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, April 1997
From the album Blur
(February 1997)
“Woo-hoo! When I feel heavy-metal / And I'm pins and I'm needles”
Song 2 was the second track on the eponymously-titled fifth album from Blur, released on 10 February 1997. Originally “Song 2” was just a working title, but the original name - along with Damon Albarn’s guide vocal - made it through to the finished article,
Pleasingly, it lasts exactly 2 minutes and 2 seconds. And it made Number 2 in the UK singles chart. Woo-hoo!
Photo: Dominic Lipinski/ PA Archive
From the album Led Zeppelin II
(October 1969)
"You need cooling / Baby I'm not fooling..."
As with many classic Zeppelin tunes, Whole Lotta Love wasn't released as a single in their native Britain during the band's lifetime, but the song was big enough to become world famous.
Guitarist Jimmy Page based his legendary guitar figure on an old blues riff and singer Robert Plant gave a literally orgasmic performance as he went through every euphemism for sex in the book.
The song was famous enough for an instrumental cover to become the theme tune to the BBC's Top Of The Pops TV show for a great many years.
Photo: Jay Thompson/ Zuma Press/ PA Images
Find Out MoreFrom the album Abbey Road
(September 1969)
Fed up with the constant meetings about The Beatles’ struggling Apple company, George Harrison skived off one Spring morning and hid in a garden that belonged to his friend Eric Clapton.
The change of season inspired him to write this shining guitar song that opened the second side of 1969’s Abbey Road album.
It's one of the very few Beatles songs to feature a synthesiser - George had recently bought one of the first Moog synths from America.
Photo: Sydsvenskan/ TT News Agency/ Press Association
Find Out MoreFrom the album Physical Graffiti
(February 1975)
"Oh let the sun beat down upon my face / And stars fill my dream..."
By the mid-1970s, Led Zeppelin had outgrown their blues roots and created a whole new genre: heavy rock. Their album Physical Graffiti had a number of older outtakes, but the new material showed how far they'd come from their simple beginnings.
Kashmir was a case in point: a brutal John Bonham drum beat is given extra scope by John Paul Jones' delicate score for strings. The frontline of singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page made this a rock classic.
Photo: Jay Thompson/ Zuma Press/ PA Images
Find Out MoreB-Side, December 1994
“I would like to leave this city / This old town don't smell too pretty.”
Now best known as the theme music to domestic comedy The Royle Family, Noel said that this tune was influenced by Burt Bacharach’s song This Guy’s In Love With You.
First released as the B-side to Whatever in December 1994, it’s since taken on a life of its own. In July 2016, Noel performed the song in tribute to Royle Family actress Caroline Aherne, who had just died of cancer, aged 52.
Photo: Eamonn Clarke/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, August 2004
From the album Kasabian
(September 2004)
In early band rehearsals, Kasabian’s charismatic singer Tom Meighan would jump off amps and shout things like “C’mon Glastonbury!” As guitarist Serge Pizzorno points out, “You are never going to get there if you can’t see it."
This drive would serve the Leicester band well, as they got bigger and bigger.
Originally written on an acoustic guitar, L.S.F. is one of Kasabian’s earliest songs that has since taken a life of its own when played live - the refrain of “Oh, c’mon, we’ve got our backs to the wall” has been sung vehemently from Glastonbury to Fuji Rocks.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1965
From the album My Generation
(December 1965)
“People try to put us down / Just because we get around…”
The band's highest charting single from 1965, and a bona fide Mod anthem, which made Number 2 in the UK.
Pete Townshend has offered many differing anecdotes to explain My Generation's genesis.
One of the best (if not the most likely) is that it was written after the Queen Mother had his car, a hearse, towed away from his Belgravia home for being unsightly.
Photo: Keystone/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, July 1969
From the album Space Oddity
(November 1969)
“Planet Earth is blue / And there’s nothing I can do.”
Bowie had spent most of the 1960s trying to become a pop star, but it was this song, designed to cash in on the Apollo 11 moon landings, that finally made it happen.
The single was released ten days before the astronauts touched down on the moon and the song made the Top 10, but Bowie struggled to follow it up.
By the time it was reissued in 1975, he was a superstar and it shot to Number 1.
Photo: Ray Stevenson/ REX/ Shutterstock
Find Out MoreSingle, March 1997
From the album Word Gets Around
(August 1997)
Following rejection after rejection, Stereophonics were all set to call it a day until the new label V2 signed them in 1997.
The rest is history and Local Boy In The Photograph was a standout song from their first album.
It tells the grim but mundane story of a local lad who was killed by a train near the town where Kelly Jones lived.
On its initial release, the song made Number 51 in the charts; following a re-release a year later, it crashed the Top 20 at 14.
Photo: Andy Fordham/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, August 1980
From the album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
(September 1980)
“My mama said to get things done / You better not mess with Major Tom.”
A belated follow-up to Space Oddity, this 1980 classic was Bowie’s farewell to the 70s, reviving his “strung out” character from a decade earlier and making a fantastic video that reinvented the whole medium.
Bowie fans in Britain sent it to Number 1 and the New Romantic movement took a few notes.
Photo: Keystone Features/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1981
From the album Hot Space
(May 1982)
"It's the terror of knowing what this world is about / Watching some good friends screaming, 'Let me out!'"
Two of the most significant artists in rock - together! Originally Bowie was due to add vocals to another Queen song while the band were recording in Montreux, Switzerland.
However, the star wasn’t happy with the take, so the supergroup moved onto another track, originally called Feel Like, but which later became Under Pressure with a lyric about the horrors of everyday life.
The memorable bassline was conjured up by Queen’s John Deacon, and later formed the backbone to Vanilla Ice’s 1990 Number 1 track Ice Ice Baby.
A unique collaboration, this passionate and intense song went to the top of the UK charts for two weeks in November 1981.
Photo: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, September 2005
From the album X&Y
(June 2005)
“Lights will guide you home / And ignite your bones / And I will try to fix you.”
A tender moment from 2005’s X&Y album, which made Number 4 in the UK charts when released as a single.
The song was said to be written by Chris Martin for his then-wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, after the death of her father in 2002.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, January 1979
From the album Jazz
(November 1978)
"Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time..."
Freddie Mercury’s ode to enjoying oneself during an evening’s socialising with friends was originally included on Queen’s 1978 album Jazz. It later had a life of its own when it was released as a single, making Number 9 in the UK charts.
The record has been used in countless TV shows, films and adverts, and in a 2015 survey conducted by electronics giant Alba, Don’t Stop Me Now was named as the “ultimate feel-good song”.
Photo: Media Press/ REX/ Shutterstock
Find Out MoreSingle, May 1966
"I see a red door and I want it painted, black."
This 1966 single marked The Rolling Stones move away from traditional R&B to the darker world of psychedelia, thanks to Brian Jones’ use of a sitar.
Another Number 1 for the group in both the UK and the US, it proved that there was much more to The Stones than the blues.
Photo: Keystone/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, March 1989
From the album The Stone Roses
(May 1989)
“Sometimes I fantasise / When the streets are cold and lonely / And the cars they burn below me.”
Released in early 1989 as a teaser for the forthcoming debut album, this was one of The Stone Roses’ most enigmatic songs.
They memorably performed it live on BBC 2’s Late Show, only to have a power cut stop them in mid-flow.
Photo: Joel Phillips/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, April 1972
From the album Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
(June 1972)
“There's a starman waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us / But he thinks he'd blow our minds.”
This wistful ode to alien influences almost didn’t make it onto the Ziggy Stardust album, but its effect on the youth of Great Britain was immeasurable.
Bowie’s appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1972 performing this song prompted thousands to experiment with clothes, make-up, sexuality and music.
Photo: Express/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, May 1997
From the album OK Computer
(June 1997)
"Rain down, rain down / Come on rain down on me..."
Named after Marvin, the morose robot from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, this was the lead single from the classic OK Computer album in May 1997.
Despite its challenging time signature changes and six-minutes-plus length, it made Number 3 in the UK.
Photo: AAD/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, February 2012
From the album AM
(September 2013)
“I'm a puppet on a string / Tracy Island, time-travelling diamond…”
The subtly-rockier sound of the AM album was given a preview with this compelling single that was released as a special purple vinyl 7” disc for Record Store Day in 2012.
The song was co-written by frontman Alex Turner and Arctic Monkeys bassist Nick O’Malley. The track made Number 23 in the UK charts.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, December 2003
From the album Absolution
(September 2003)
“I want you now I'll feel my heart implode…"
From the band's third album Absolution, the song made Number 17 in the UK charts and was later used in a perfume ad.
Photo: Press
B-Side, April 1995
“Because we need each other / We believe in one another.”
Another great Oasis B-side masquerading as an A-side, the flip side to the Number 1 single Some Might Say in 1995 saw both Liam and Noel Gallagher share the vocal duties.
The track was also issued as a single to promote the Oasis compilation The Masterplan.
Photo: PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, December 1994
This was a Noel Gallagher song that was released as a single between the epic Definitely Maybe and the titanic What's The Story in December 1994.
The opening line bore a similarity to the melody of a song called How Sweet To Be An Idiot, which comedian/musician Neil Innes wrote in 1973 and performed at some of Monty Python's live shows.
His publishers jumped in and claimed a piece of the publishing - which was unfortunate as this was the first Oasis single to break into the Top 5.
Photo: Stefan Rousseau/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, June 1992
From the album Generation Terrorists
(February 1992)
"All we want from you are the kicks you've given us."
A melodic moment from the early Manics, taken from their debut album Generation Terrorists.
Despite their confrontational stance and occasional battles with the press, the track made Number 17 in the UK charts in the summer of 1992.
Photo: Andre Csillag/ REX/ Shutterstock
Find Out MoreSingle, April 1995
From the album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
(October 1995)
"'Cause I've been standing at the station / In need of education in the rain"
The sixth Oasis single was also their first Number 1. Kicking off with a T. Rex-style guitar intro, the song was the first preview of the band’s hugely-anticipated second album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Noel Gallagher later said that the track “defines what Oasis is”.
Released in April 1995, it signalled the beginning of the imperial phase of Britpop, but also marked the end of an era - original Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll bowed out on this recording, with new boy Alan White waiting in the wings.
Photo: All Action/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, June 2009
From the album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
(June 2009)
Fire was based on an idea that Serge Pizzorno had as a potential B-side from the Empire sessions, but was so enraptured with its bizarre structure that he decided to hold it back.
The song re-emerged while he was writing and recording new album material in his new home studio in Leicestershire.
he said that “It was the song that everyone I played it to went ‘What the fuck is that?’ It just didn’t sound like anything else.”
it became Kasabian’s biggest hit in the UK to date, making Number 3 in June 2009.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, August 2003
"And they'll never forgive you but they wont let you go, oh no."
Based around the songwriting duo of Carl Barat and Pete Doherty, the Libertines released this stand alone single in the summer of 2003.
It was produced by none other than Bernard Butler, former guitarist with Britpop heroes Suede and made Number 11 in the UK charts.
Photo: Roger Sargent/ Press
Find Out MoreSingle, June 1980
"We're changing our ways / Taking different roads.”
The swansong of one of Manchester’s most influential bands was released after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis on 18 May 1980.
Constant touring was exacerbating his epilepsy, while his marriage was running into trouble.
By the time Love With Tear Us Apart made it to Number 13 in the UK charts during the June of 1980, Curtis was already dead.
This devastatingly beautiful song literally became his epitaph.
Photo: Steve Richards/ REX/ Shutterstock
Single, December 1979
From the album London Calling
(December 1979)
"London calling: yes, I was there, too / And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true”.
The title track to the classic double album, the single made No 11 in the UK charts in December 1979.
An apocalyptic rant about the state of the world and Britain in particular, Joe Strummer claims that “Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust…”
Photo: Epic Records/ Hulton Archive/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, June 2013
From the album AM
(September 2013)
“Do I wanna know… if this feeling flows both ways?” muses a cautious Alex Turner in a complex tale of relationships.
The lead single from 2013’s AM album, this sly track showed off the grungier, darker Arctic Monkeys sound that was prompted by recording in Joshua Tree, California where Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age would stop by.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, August 1997
From the album Word Gets Around
(August 1997)
"It only takes one tree to make a thousand matches, it only takes one match to burn a thousand trees."
A phrase from the back of a box of England’s Glory matches was coupled with the story of a local football coach whose career ended in scandal.
This typically observational Kelly Jones lyric led off the Welsh band’s debut album Word Gets Around in 1997.
Photo: Andy Fordham/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
From the album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
(October 1995)
“All your dreams are made / When you’re chained to the mirror and the razor blade.”
With its helicopter sound effect opening and blatant drug references, this one song sums up the confidence and the swagger of Britpop in 1995.
The title track to the vinyl behemoth that was the band’s second album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, it was claimed that within a year of its released, one in five UK households owned a copy.
Photo: Stefan Rousseau/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, July 2007
From the album Favourite Worst Nightmare
(April 2007)
"Oh that boy's a slag / The best you ever had."
Taken from the band’s second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), this is another musing on life and getting older as seen by singer and lyricist Alex Turner.
Turner co-wrote the song with his girlfriend Johanna Bennett and the video was directed by The IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade. The single made Number 5 in the UK charts in the summer of 2007.
Photo: Danny Lawson/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, November 1997
From the album Urban Hymns
(September 1997)
“Happiness, more or less / It's just a change in me, something in my liberty.”
The third single to be taken from the excellent Urban Hymns album, apparently Lucky Man is one of six songs U2's Bono had wished he'd written.
It made Number 7 in November 1997.
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreFrom the album Who’s Next
(August 1971)
"Don't cry / Don't raise your eye / It's only teenage wasteland.”
Originally written for Pete Townshend's aborted Lifehouse project, this was the lead track from the 1971 Who's Next album.
Baba O'Riley's stadium rock style was partially offset by Townshend's use of In C by minimalist composer Terry Riley as inspiration for the song.
Riley is there in the title, the other half being a reference to Meher Baba, Townshend's spiritual guru at the time.
Photo: Steve Wood/ Express/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, August 1968
"Hey Jude, don't make it bad / Take a sad song and make it better / Remember to let her into your heart / Then you can start to make it better..."
Written by Paul McCartney for John Lennon’s estranged son Julian, the finished song was over seven minutes long thanks to the huge fade-out chorus, but the Beatles weren’t worried that radio stations wouldn’t play it.
The single was was a monster hit in August 1968 and the first release on the Fab Four's Apple label, back with John’s storming Revolution.
Photo: Keystone Features/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, September 1997
From the album Urban Hymns
(September 1997)
"All this talk of getting old, it's getting me down my love / Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown, this time I'm comin' down..."
An incredibly moving and personal piece from Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft - a song about the death of his father.
The record went to Number 1 in the UK the week of Princess Diana's death, giving this already emotionally-loaded track extra poignancy.
Photo: Samir Hussein/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, April 1996
From the album Everything Must Go
(May 1996)
“Libraries gave us power / Then work came and made us free.”
A statement of intent following the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards, A Design For Life made Number 2 in 1996 and marks one of the greatest triumphs over adversity in musical history.
Touching on themes of class and privilege and the struggles of post-Thatcher Britain, A Design For Life became an unofficial anthem for South Wales.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreFrom the album Definitely Maybe
(August 1994)
"I live my life in the city / There ain't no easy way out."
The first song on the first Oasis album, this set out the band’s stall nicely.
Noel Gallagher later said: “I pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say in Rock ’N’ Roll Star, Live Forever and Cigarettes And Alcohol: after that, I’m repeating myself.”
Photo: Adam Butler/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, January 2006
From the album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
(January 2006)
"What a scummy man / Just give him half a chance / I bet he'll rob you if he can."
Originally titled Scummy, the band's follow up single to I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor confirmed the hype around the Sheffield four-piece.
It went straight to Number 1 in the UK charts in 2006, paving the way for the debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
Photo: ALAIN JOCARD/ AFP/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1994
From the album Definitely Maybe
(August 1994)
A brilliant track made even better by a snarling Liam Gallagher adding a good few syllables on to the words “imagination” and “action”.
This was the moment when the voice of a generation stood up to be counted. The song made Number 7 in the charts in October 1994.
Photo: Suzan Moore/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, September 1992
From the album Pablo Honey (1993)
"You're so f**king special / I wish I was special".
The band's first single proper from September 1992 flopped on its initial release, but became a massive radio hit, despite the F-bomb contain within.
When it was reissued a year later, it made Number 7, becoming something of a millstone around the band’s collective neck.
Photo: AAD/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreFrom the album Beggars Banquet
(December 1968)
“Please allow me to introduce myself / I’m a man of wealth and taste.”
Jagger and Richard's Satanic samba opened the 1968 album Beggars Banquet in December 1968, but was never issued as a single in the UK in the '60s.
They performed it at the ill-fated San Francisco festival Altamont, which saw an audience member murdered by a biker gang.
“Something very funny always happens when we start that number,” pondered a nervous Mick.
Photo: PA Archive/
Find Out MoreSingle, December 1991
From the album The Stone Roses
(May 1989)
“She’ll carry on through it all… She’s a waterfall…”
Over two years after the release of their self-titled debut album, this indie club favourite was released as a belated fourth single, featuring guitarist John Squire's Jackson Pollock-inspired take on the Union Jack as a cover.
Photo: David Jensen/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, March 1983
“How does it feel? To treat me like you do.”
The biggest-selling 12" in history, this dancefloor monster took New Order out of the shadow of their previous incarnation as Joy Division in 1983.
Packaged in a memorably-expensive sleeve by Peter Saville that aped a computer floppy disk, it made electronic music human again.
The track wasn’t included on the band’s accompanying album, Power Corruption And Lies, and was remixed five years later by American producer Quincey Jones, upon which the track made the charts all over again, peaking at Number 3.
Photo: Keith Dellor/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, March 2001
From the album Origin Of Symmetry
(July 2001)
"My plug in baby / Crucifies my enemies / When I'm tired of giving."
The standout track from the Devon trio’s second album Origin Of Symmetry, Plug In Baby was the track that put Muse on the map for good and made number 11 in the UK charts in 2001.
Matt Bellamy has given a number of explanations as to what the song's about: was it inspired by a sex shop that Muse used to rehearse next to? Is it based on something spotted in an Argos catalogue? Who can tell...
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreFrom the album Favourite Worst Nightmare
(April 2007)
"But I crumble completely when you cry, / It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye.”
Another Monkeys album track that has installed itself into the hearts of the nation, this emotionally-challenging song rounds off the band’s second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, released in 2007.
"505" is the number of the room where Turner's obsession is currently residing...
The song samples an organ sound taken from Ennio Morricone's score for the Italian Western, The Good The Bad And The Ugly.
Photo: Anthony Devlin/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, June 2006
From the album Black Holes And Revelations
(July 2006)
This epic track closes the Teignmouth trio's 2006 album Black Holes And Revelations.
It may be a work of sprawling imagination, but the band has never sounded more accomplished than they do here.
"No one's gonna take me alive… the time has come to make things right."
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreB-Side, October 1995
The greatest song to ever be thrown away on a B-side? Without question.
It played second fiddle to Wonderwall, probably the only track in the Oasis catalogue that could (only slightly) put this classic in the shade.
Photo: Alan Glazier/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, June 1980
From the album The Wall (November 1979)
“Hello? Hello? Hello? / Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me / Is there anyone at home?”
Mostly written by David Gilmour on the Roger Waters-dominated The Wall, Comfortably Numb still stands as one of The Floyd's finest moments.
The glacial place echoes the protagonist’s discussions with a doctor, which forms part of the concept album.
Its reputation survived a disco remake by the Scissor Sisters in the noughties.
Photo: Evening Standard/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1983
The Smiths’ second single opens with one of Marr’s most distinctive riffs, heralding one of the band’s greatest tracks.
The cycling guitar part - played on a 1954 Telecaster - is both strident and delicate at the same time.
The Mancunian band offered this classic song as their second single in October 1983, boasting one of the best opening lyrics in pop history:
“Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate."
Photo: Eugene Adebari/ REX/ Shutterstock
From the album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
(January 2006)
“Now then Mardy Bum/ I see your frown / And it's like looking down the barrel of a gun…”
Using some great Yorkshire colloquialisms ("mardy" is local slang for moody or miserable), this track was included on the band’s 2006 debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, but not released as a single. It took on a life of its own by remaining a favourite at the Monkeys' raucous live shows.
Photo: Moreau Lionel/ ABACA/ PA Images
Find Out MoreSingle, April 1994
From the album Definitely Maybe
(August 1994)
“I need to be myself / I can't be no one else / I’m feeling supersonic / Give me gin and tonic.”
Liam 'n' Noel's first official single, released in April 1994 and included on their debut album Definitely Maybe. The mysterious Elsa (who’s into Alka-Seltzer) was later revealed to be a flatulent rottweiler dog, belonging to the band’s sound man Dave Scott.
Incredibly, it only reached Number 31 on the UK charts and remains the band’s lowest-ranked single issued during their lifetime.
The significance of the song in the Oasis story meant the title was used as the official documentary about the group’s early years, directed by Matt Whitecross in 2016.
Photo: Stills/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, January 1985
“I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar…”
Morrissey has a bad night out on this epic Smiths song, which saw Johnny Marr take inspiration from 50s rocker Bo Diddley for the hypnotic tremolo guitar riff that powers the track.
Despite all this, record label Rough Trade would only initially release this awesome recording as a b-side. It later had a full release as a single, making Number 24 in the UK charts.
Photo: Andre Csillag/ REX/ Shutterstock
Single, February 2005
From the album Language. Sex. Violence. Other?
(March 2005)
"You made me feel like the one."
Following the departure of original drummer Stuart Cable, Stereophonics bounced back with this triumphant single, which became their first UK Number 1.
The track is taken from their fifth album Language. Violence. Sex. Other? and also gave the band some much-needed airplay in the US.
Photo: Anthony Harvey/ PA Archive
Single, November 1989
"I'm no clown I won't back down / I don't need you to tell me what's going down."
A one-off single from November 1989 (backed with the excellent What The World Is Waiting For), the full 9.53 version is one of the key "Madchester" tracks, following the band’s hugely-influential debut album.
Based on James Brown’s Funky Drummer shuffle-beat, it features an incredible performance from Reni on drums and John Squire’s free-form wah-wah guitar solo.
Mani’s nimble bassline holds the whole thing together perfectly - never have ten minutes passed so effortlessly.
Photo: Matt Crossick/ Empics Entertainment/ PA
From the album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
(June 1967)
“I read the news today, oh boy / About a lucky man who made the grade…”
The Beatles’ masterpiece.
The awesome finale to the classic Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album from 1967, this was a mash up of Lennon’s world-weary verses based on newspaper reports, coupled with McCartney’s upbeat middle section.
The two separate parts were linked by a “musical orgasm”, supervised by producer George Martin, who employed a 40-piece orchestra and told each and every member to work their way from their instrument’s lowest note to its highest over the course of 24 bars.
Radio X presenter Gordon Smart says of the song: “My favourite British song changes every single day, but it has to be The Beatles. No one's beaten them."
Photo: John Pratt/ Keystone/ Getty Images
Find Out MoreSingle, May 1987
"Sent to me from heaven / Sally Cinnamon, you’re my world.”
Once the Stone Roses had made it big in 1989, their back catalogue was plunder for more gems.
Originally released in May 1987, Sally Cinnamon was recorded before Mani had joined the band and pre-dated their signing to the Silvertone label.
More of a straightforward indie guitar song than the debut album would offer, it quickly became a favourite among fans.
Photo: A Philips/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, March 2008
From the album St Jude
(April 2008)
"You're not nineteen forever, pull yourself together."
Liam Fray’s call for listeners to grow up and seize the day was taken from the Courteeners’ acclaimed debut album St Jude and made number 19 in the singles charts.
Photo: Press
Find Out MoreSingle, June 1989
From the album The Stone Roses
(May 1989)
“The past was yours, but the future’s mine.”
The second single from the band's self-titled debut and first top 40 entry, making Number 34 during the Second Summer Of Love in 1989.
A gleaming pop song, this was released just as the album had started garnering the acclaim that would make The Stone Roses one of Britain’s biggest bands.
Radio X presenter Elis James says of the song: “This is the sound of 1989 at their timeless best. It has a hook that makes Motown or ABBA records sound like Napalm Death, and it will be a guaranteed floor filler at indie nights for the next fifty years.”
Photo: I.B.L./ REX/ Shutterstock
Find Out MoreFrom the album Let It Bleed
(December 1969)
"Oh, a storm is threat'ning / My very life today / If I don't get some shelter /Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away."
This brooding, apocalyptic salvo was unheard of in 1960s songwriting. Keith Richards had been toying with the riff while Mick Jagger was acting in the film Performance.
The track was never released as a single at the time, but opened the Stones' legendary Let It Bleed album from 1969.
Photo: PA Archive
Find Out MoreFrom the album Wish You Were Here
(September 1975)
"We're just two lost souls / Swimming in a fish bowl / Year after year..."
The title track of Pink Floyd's ninth album relates to Roger Waters' grandmother and how, in her later years, she would think that the musician was her long-dead husband.
The sighing introspection sums up the mundane tragedy perfectly, as a sound of a radio tuning away from the previous track on the album (Have A Cigar), sweeps through a brief snatch of Tchaikovsky and on to Dave Gilmour's delicate acoustic guitar intro.
Photo: PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, May 1995
From the album Different Class
(October 1995)
“She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge / She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College…”
Taken from Pulp’s second major label album Different Class, Common People became one of the key Britpop singles of 1995.
An attack on “class tourism”, the song made number 2 in the UK charts and established the Sheffield band as one of Britain’s best-loved groups.
Photo: Oeluze/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreFrom the album Led Zeppelin, IV
(November 1971)
“And if you listen very hard / The tune will come to you at last / When all are one and one is all / To be a rock and not to roll.”
Mystical stuff from the British rock gods, taken from their untitled fourth album from 1971. also known as “ZOSO” or “Four Symbols”.
The stuff of rock ’n’ roll legend in so many ways, and over the years there have been many, many theories about what the lyrics mean, plus what happens if you play the song backwards (it’s something Satanic, presumably).
Photo: Jay Thompson/ Zuma Press/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, June 1973
From the album Hunky Dory
(December 1971)
“It's a god-awful small affair / To the girl with the mousy hair.”
One of Bowie’s most poetic lyrics, given a huge boost by Mick Ronson’s epic string arrangement and a delicate piano part from Rick Wakeman.
When it was released as a single from the Hunky Dory album in 1971, it was one of the key steps along the path to Bowie’s superstardom.
Following Bowie’s death in January 2016, the song became a testament to the star’s versatility.
Photo: PA Archive
Find Out MoreFrom the album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
(January 2006)
"Over there there's broken bones / There's only music, so that there's new ringtones."
The final track on the Sheffield band's impressive 2006 debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, A Certain Romance is perhaps the best example of the way in which Arctic Monkeys fused rock, punk, and ska alongside Alex Turner's witty lyrics to create their unique sound.
Photo: Niall Carson/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, September 1977
From the album "Heroes"
(October 1977)
"...Though nothing, nothing will keep us together / We can beat them, forever and ever / Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day."
The title track from the ultimate Bowie “Berlin” album was recorded in the West German city in the shadow of the infamous Wall.
It depicts the crumbling relationship of two lovers, trying for one last stab at reconciliation. The image was inspired by seeing producer Tony Visconti and his girlfriend kissing by the Wall, which Bowie glimpsed from the studio window during recording.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t a huge hit at the time, but the song’s reputation is assured in the wake of Bowie’s death in 2016.
Photo: Hans H. Kirmer/ DPA/ PA Images
Find Out MoreSingle, September 1991
From the album The Stone Roses
(May 1989)
“I don’t have to sell my soul / He’s already in me.”
The slow, momentous opening track to the Mancunians' debut album, the song was so popular it was later issued as a single in 1991.
It was a key song in the development of the psychedelic, slightly retro blend of guitar rock that would become a Manchester trademark.
Photo: Yui Mok/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, October 2005
From the album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
(January 2006)
"Stop making the eyes at me, I'll stop making the eyes at you…"
The debut single from the Sheffield band, this was the world’s first taste of Alex Turner’s down to earth lyrical style.
It tells the tale of young men in Northern towns and their, er, mating habits. It went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart and was included on their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
Photo: Suzan Moore/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, May 1996
From the album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
(October 1995)
The closing track from the massive (What's The Story) Morning Glory) album from 1995, this sees Noel Gallagher in a reflective mood.
"Some day you will find me / Caught beneath the landslide / In a champagne supernova in the sky."
Noel later said that the lyrics were "As psychedelic as I'll ever get." The song was never released as a single in the UK (only in North America, France, New Zealand and Australia), but it remained a live favourite throughout the band's career... and beyond.
Photo: All Action/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1992
From the album The Queen Is Dead
(June 1986)
“And if a double-decker bus / Crashes in to us To die by your side / Is such a heavenly way to die".
By 1985, the Marr-Morrissey songwriting partnership was at its peak and, as an example of the form they were in, this was written during the same sessions as Bigmouth Strikes Again.
A leaked studio demo of the song reveals that Morrissey originally sang the line: “There’s a light in your eye and it never goes out…”
Taken from the classic 1986 album The Queen Is Dead, Morrissey’s romantic ode to obsessive love was never released as a single during the band’s lifetime.
However, its increasing popularity over the years since their demise in 1987 meant that a single released was issued to coincide with a pair of Best Of compilations in the early 90s.
Photo: Andre Csillag/ REX/ Shutterstock
Find Out MoreFrom the album Definitely Maybe
(August 1994)
"Let me be the one that shines with you / In the morning we don't know what to do."
A frequently overlooked classic from the Oasis catalogue, Definitely Maybe's penultimate track is a wistful slow-burner with a sky-scraping chorus.
Photo: Sue Moore/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1995
From the album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
(October 1995)
"Because maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me / And after all, you're my wonderwall..."
The best known Oasis song of all, despite Liam Gallagher claiming it initially sounded like a reggae song.
While rumoured to be about Noel’s girlfriend Meg Matthews, the real meaning of the lyric remains obscure. although the titled was inspired by the 1968 movie with a George Harrison soundtrack.
Famously, this classic was kept off the Number 1 spot in 1995 by TV heart-throbs Robson And Jerome.
Photo: Jill Furmanovsky/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSIngle, June 1997
From the album Urban Hymns
(September 1997)
"'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life / Trying to make ends meet / You're a slave to money then you die."
The lead track from The Verve's iconic Urban Hymns album ran into trouble by sampling Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham's orchestral cover of the Jagger/Richards track The Last Time.
It was claimed that the track used a significant proportion of the original arrangement and awarded a partial songwriting credit to the two Stones.
The song was accompanied by a memorable video featuring frontman Richard Ashcroft walking down a busy street in Hoxton, East London. propelling the track to Number 2, where it was kept off the top by I'll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans.
Photo: Rip/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out MoreSingle, March 1992
From the album The Stone Roses
(May 1989)
"Don't waste your words I don't need anything from you / I don't care where you've been or what you plan to do.”
This near-ten minute epic formed the climax to the debut album by The Stone Roses, which was the result of two days of jamming and recording by the band.
In many ways, it kick-started the baggy shuffle of Madchester and the song became so famous it was released as a single in 1992, while the world was waiting for the follow up to the Roses' debut.
Photo: Pennie Smith/ Press
Find Out MoreSingle, February 1996
From the album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
(October 1995)
Taken from the monster album What’s The Story Morning Glory, Don’t Look Back In Anger was one of the tracks that awarded them the mantle of Britain’s favourite band and winners in the Britpop wars.
”Please don't put your life in the hands / of a rock and roll band / who'll throw it all away".
The song made Number 1 in the UK charts and became the third best selling Oasis single in their home country.
After the horrific Manchester Arena terrorist attack - which saw 22 killed at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 - the Noel Gallagher-penned and sung track became synonymous with the band and their native city more than ever before.
The song has since been known as a song of "defiance," with Noel Gallagher even referring to it as a "hymn". Shortly after the attack, he told Radio X's John Kennedy: "That song is more important than I'll ever be."
Photo: Stefan Rousseau/ PA Archive
Find Out MoreSingle, October 1975
From the album A Night At The Opera
(November 1975)
“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”
Freddie Mercury brings opera to the masses in one of the most remarkable Number 1 singles ever. Hours of recording time, dozens of overdubs and the impressive vocal range of Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor made this epic six-minute single legendary, spending nine weeks at the top, thanks to one of the first “high-concept” music videos ever made.
The meaning of Mercury's lyrics remains unknown, but Brian May later said: "Freddie was a very complex person: flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed insecurities and problems in squaring up his life with his childhood. I think he put a lot of himself into that song."
Radio X presenter and Queen fanatic John Robins naturally picks this as his Best British Song. "Complex, audacious, unique, catchy and mercurial. Bohemian Rhapsody is the Ronnie O'Sullivan of rock songs. It has a hold on the national consciousness like no other piece of music. Regardless of the result it stands alone as The Best Of British."
Photo: Topham Picturepoint/ Press Association
Find Out MoreSingle, August 1994
From the album Definitely Maybe
(August 1994)
"Maybe I don't really want to know how your garden grows… I just want to fly."
Conceived as a response to the angst of grunge, this celebration of life was the song Noel Gallagher played to brother Liam as an audition piece.
It was the third single to be taken from the landmark 1994 album Definitely Maybe and made Number 10 in the UK charts.
Liam Gallagher performed the song with Coldplay's Chris Martin at the One Love Manchester tribute show following the terror attack in the city in May 2017, and again at the 2018 BRIT awards when Ariana Grande could not attend due to illness.
The track has now become a defiant anthem in the light of the terrible events in Manchester.
Photo: Stills/ EMPICS Entertainment/ PA
Find Out More