"Cigarettes &Alcohol" is a song by the English rock band Oasis,written by Noel Gallagher. It was released on 10 October 1994 by Creation Records as the fourth and final single from their debut album,Definitely Maybe (1994),and their second to enter the UK top ten in the United Kingdom,peaking at number seven,and ultimately spending 82 weeks on the UK Top 100 between 1994 and 1998.[7] On 13 March 2020,nearly 26 years after its release,the song was certified Platinum,indicating 600,000 sales.[8]
Whereas the band's first two singles "Supersonic" and "Shakermaker" had used psychedelic imagery,and the third single "Live Forever" used softer chords and tender lyrics,"Cigarettes &Alcohol" demonstrated the rougher musical attitude that Oasis appeared to be promoting. The song proclaims the inherent appeal of cigarettes,alcohol,and other drugs as a remedy to the banality and seemingly futile nature of working-class life. The line "Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?" taps into a sentiment of disenchantment common in the 1990s. Alan McGee,who discovered the band,boisterously claimed upon first hearing the song that it was "one of the greatest social statements of the past 25 years".[9]
Commentators have long noted that the song’s central guitar figure closely resembles T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang a Gong)”,with the track drawing on glam-rock sonics;Music &Media flagged the band “go[ing] T-Rex”on release,and later critics have repeated the comparison.[10][11]
Critical reception
Upon the release,pan-European magazine Music &Media wrote,"Self-proclaimed best band in the world goes T-Rex to underline the big ego statement. The fags and booze archetype R&R lyrics make them as much an attitude band as Primal Scream."[12] Leesa Daniels from Smash Hits gave it a full score of five out of five and named it Best New Single,saying that "it's a monster of a track:with cock-sure vocals over heavy guitars and drums. Everyone in Britain should go out and buy a copy of it!"[13]
Musical style
In a 2014 book on the album entitled Oasis' Definitely Maybe,Alex Niven typified "Cigarettes &Alcohol" as a "twelve-barblues rock song" and "a classicist boiling-down of the Rolling Stones' rebel rock archetype".[4]
B-sides
The CD release of the "Cigarettes &Alcohol" single includes three B-sides:a cover version of "I Am the Walrus","Listen Up" and "Fade Away". These three songs were later included on The Masterplan,a compilation of B-sides. An acoustic version of "Fade Away" was released on The Help Album,a charity record,and subsequently on the band's later single "Don't Go Away".
Contrary to the track listing and clarified on subsequent releases (including The Masterplan),"I Am the Walrus" was actually not recorded at the Glasgow Cathouse,but at the Gleneagles Hotel during a conference for Sony music executives,who gathered to hear Creation Records' newly signed artists. The song was recorded during soundcheck,in an empty hall,with no audience,at 10 in the morning. Noel Gallagher stated that the band loved this particular live recording,but strongly disliked the event,which Noel described as "one of them shit things where all the twats in suits get together and they roll on the new signings". The band actually did perform the song at the Cathouse in June 1994 during their Definitely Maybe Tour and had a recording of it,"which sounded quite similar but it was fucking rubbish",according to Noel. They then decided to use the recording from the Gleneagles soundcheck,but credited it as stemming from the Cathouse,adding crowd noise taken from a Faces bootleg album to make it sound like an authentic tour recording. "Because it would look shit if you put 'Live at Sony Seminar in Gleneagles'!",Noel stated. "[W]e thought,'Fuck it,no-one'll fucking know'. But I always meant to set the record straight one day. Sorry to anyone who bought it on the premise of being at that gig."[14]
↑ Shanfeld, Ethan (26 August 2024). "The Top 10 Oasis Songs, Ranked". Variety. Retrieved 11 February 2025. A scorching blues-rock anthem about getting after it, "Cigarettes & Alcohol" is an ode to passing the time by ripping darts and drinking booze.
↑ Cigarettes & Alcohol (European maxi-CD single liner notes). Oasis. Helter Skelter Records. 1994. HES 660729 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Cigarettes & Alcohol (Australian CD single liner notes). Oasis. Epic Records. 1994. 661109 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Cigarettes & Alcohol (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Oasis. Creation Records. 1994. CRE 190.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Cigarettes & Alcohol (UK cassette single sleeve). Oasis. Creation Records. 1994. CRECS 190.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Cigarettes & Alcohol (European CD single liner notes). Oasis. Helter Skelter Records. 1994. HES 660729 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Cigarettes & Alcohol (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Oasis. Creation Records. 1994. CRE 190T.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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