Rock 'n' Roll Star

"Rock 'n' Roll Star" is a song by English rock band Oasis. It is the opening track from their debut album, Definitely Maybe (1994). Like the majority of the band's songs from this era, it was written by lead guitarist Noel Gallagher, who said that "Rock 'n' Roll Star" was one of only three songs in which he wanted to say something: "I've pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say in "Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Live Forever" and "Cigarettes & Alcohol", after that I'm repeating myself, but in a different way".^[4]

Noel Gallagher later said that the earliest Oasis songs had a clearer sense of intent than much of his later work, and specifically cited "Rock 'n' Roll Star" as an example of the period when he had "a direction and purpose".^[5] In a 1995 interview with Addicted To Noise, Gallagher said that "Rock 'n' Roll Star" "took fucking hours to write", contrasting it with songs such as "Live Forever" and "Slide Away", which he said came together in around 20 minutes, and adding that writing about "trying to be a rock-and-roll star" was harder than songs drawn directly from lived experience.^[6]

Gallagher later said that Definitely Maybe "was all about trying to get out of Manchester" and "about escapism", adding that with songs such as "Rock 'n' Roll Star" he "meant every word" because he genuinely "did want to be a rock 'n' roll star".^[7] In a 1996 interview with Q, Gallagher recalled that, before Oasis became successful, early audiences had reacted with scepticism to the song's title line: "Listen, that gig, there was 40 people maximum there and we had a song called Rock 'n' Roll Star. 'Tonight I'm a rock 'n' roll star.' People were going (sniggering behind hands), 'Yeah, course you are, mate, bottom of the bill at the Boardwalk on a fuckin' Tuesday night.'"^[8] Reviewing the 20th-anniversary reissue of Definitely Maybe, Time contrasted the album version of "Rock 'n' Roll Star" with its earlier demo, arguing that the finished take had more attack and braggadocio than the earlier recording.^[9]

It was released as a radio single in the States,^[10] but did not chart in their native Manchester. In 1995, it reached number 36 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.^[11] The song was later featured on the band's 2000 live album and DVD, Familiar to Millions, and another live version from 2 July 2005 at the City of Manchester Stadium was issued on the band's single "Let There Be Love" in late 2005.^[12][13]

In 2024 and 2025, amid renewed attention to Oasis's catalogue following the reunion announcement and tour, "Rock 'n' Roll Star" also entered the UK singles sales and downloads charts, reaching number 61 on the Official Singles Sales Chart and number 57 on the Official Singles Downloads Chart.^[14]

The song's video, directed by Nigel Dick, consists of clips of the band performing the song from their Live by the Sea gig at Southend-on-Sea, interspersed with clips of them, filming each other, on Southend Pier, in and around the amusement park, 'Adventure Island' then named 'Peter Pan's Playground' and in the bowling alley, which subsequently burnt down.^[15]

"Rock 'n' Roll Star" remained a regular part of Oasis's live repertoire through much of the band's original run, appearing on official live releases from 1995, 2000 and 2005, namely Live by the Sea, Familiar to Millions and the live B-side to "Let There Be Love".^[16][12][13] Although it was omitted from the Knebworth 1996 setlist, Noel Gallagher said in 2021 that he "wouldn't do an Oasis gig now without Rock 'n' Roll Star" and that "it would be the first thing you do".^[17] Reviewing Liam Gallagher's solo show in Leeds in 2017, The Guardian wrote that he walked onstage and "starts singing: 'Tonight, I'm a rock'n'roll star'", while a 2024 Guardian review of the Definitely Maybe anniversary tour noted that the song had been the opener to his solo set "for years".^[18][19] Liam Gallagher also performed the song as part of the One Love Manchester charity concert on 4 June 2017 in aid of those affected by the Manchester Arena bombing.^[20] He again played the song on the Definitely Maybe 30th Anniversary Tour in 2024 as the opening number, mirroring its place at the start of the album.^[19]

Steve Baltin from Cash Box picked the song as Pick of the Week, writing, "If any one song from their debut CD, Definitely Maybe, shows why Oasis have received the warm response they have from American audiences, this is the track. Against a wild but infectious backbeat, singer Liam Gallagher captures the fantasy of adolescents everywhere. Yet, this is more than a dream, it's a statement we will make the fantasy come true. With their dazzling updating of the great pop hooks of the '60s, Oasis are well on their way to reaching the stardom they sing about. Look for this one to be a tremendously effective follow-up to “Live Forever” on Modern Rock outlets everywhere, with selected AOR stations realizing the joy of this track as well. This is what pop music should be."^[21]

In 2024, Paste and Rolling Stone ranked "Rock 'n' Roll Star" number twelve and number nine, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Oasis songs.^[22][23] Writing for Rolling Stone Australia in the same year, Simon Vozick-Levinson described the track as the song that laid down the band's entire method at the start of Definitely Maybe, arguing that it established "the ground rules" for Oasis from the moment the album began.^[24]

The song was also covered by Lancashire rock band Milltown Brothers (with only keyboardist Barney Williams playing).

Personnel adapted from the liner notes of Definitely Maybe.^[25]

Oasis

• Liam Gallagher – lead vocals, tambourine
• Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Paul Arthurs – rhythm guitar
• Paul McGuigan – bass
• Tony McCarroll – drums

Additional personnel

• Mark Coyle – production, engineering
• Oasis – production
• Owen Morris – additional production, mixing
• Barry Grint – mastering at Abbey Road Studios, London
• Anjali Dutt – engineering
• Dave Scott – engineering, mixing
• Roy Spong – engineering