Oasis' 1995 Smash Hit Wonderwall Was Named After This Classic Rock Icon's Album

Already touted as the '90s answer to The Beatles, the massively popular English band Oasis broke out in the U.S. in 1996 with "Wonderwall" (which the group hated playing for a while). The song's title is an obscure Beatles reference, and it was the first and only time that Oasis landed in the pop top 10 in America. Written by Noel Gallagher and sung by bandmate and brother Liam, the plaintive love ballad is from the 1995 album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" The track is first powered by acoustic guitar until all the other instruments and a string section come in, turning the whole thing into a moving anthem of love that maintains its Britpop edge.

With "Wonderwall" a massive hit from what looked to be the hottest new band of the decade, fans had to wonder: What's a "wonderwall" anyway? It's not really explained in the lyrics, beyond the Gallaghers declaring a lover to be their personal, salvation-providing "wonderwall." Interestingly, Oasis got the name from a little-known album recorded by George Harrison of The Beatles in the waning days of that band in the late 1960s.

George Harrison's time with The Beatles left him frustrated, and in 1968, he became the first of the group to make a solo record. Harrison had become interested in traditional Indian music, which he introduced to The Beatles via a sitar on songs like "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Within You Without You." He was allowed to explore such themes more deeply on his solo endeavor, the highly experimental score for the 1968 art film "Wonderwall," released under the name "Wonderwall Music." The flick also happens to include a character named Penny Lane — sharing that designation with a song on The Beatles' 1967 album "Magical Mystery Tour."

Flash forward to 1995, when Oasis was recording its second album, and Noel Gallagher allegedly wrote a love song for his girlfriend at the time, Meg Matthews, who was feeling despondent. "The sentiment is that there was no point in her feeling down, she has to sort my life out for me because I'm in bits half the time," he told NME (via "Oasis: Supersonic Supernova"). (He later said the song was actually about an "imaginary friend," per the Daily Mirror.) Initially titled "Wishing Stone," Gallagher changed the name to "Wonderwall," taken from the Harrison album, but he's not sure exactly why. "I get lazy," he told Rolling Stone in 1996. "I'm not John Lennon. I'm not trying to say anything. Sometimes you don't care about trying to make the lyrics make sense."