CD - CRESCD 212
01: Roll With It
02: It's Better People
03: Rockin' Chair
04: Live Forever (Live At Glastonbury '95)
7" - CRE 212
01: Roll With It
02: It's Better People
12" - CRE 212T
01: Roll With It
02: It's Better People
03: Rockin' Chair
Cassette - CRECS 212
01: Roll With It
02: It's Better People
Release Date: August 14th 1995
Highest UK Singles Chart Position: 2
Roll With It is a song by Oasis written by Noel Gallagher. It was released on August 14th 1995 as the second single from their second album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? Reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart.
Roll With It received a great deal of attention when Food Records, the label of rivals Blur, moved the original release date of single Country House to clash with it, sparking what came to be known as The Battle Of Britpop. The British media had already reported an intense rivalry between the two bands and this clash of releases was seen as a battle for the number one spot. The media sensation was spurred on by verbal attacks from the respective camps (in particular Noel and Liam Gallagher, Damon Albarn and Alex James), that extended beyond the music industry to the point where the two bands were regularly mentioned on the evening news. In particular, public imagination was sparked by the contrast between the gritty, working class Oasis and the artsy, middle class Blur. In the end, Blur's Country House single sold 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 copies of Roll With It. The singles charted at number one and number two respectively.
In the week of its release, Damon Albarn was asked what he thought of the song. He dubbed the band as "Quoasis" and sang "Down, down, deeper and down" in reference of the song's likeness to Status Quo's 1975 hit Down Down.
The song is like several other songs, such as Supersonic, in that it preaches the importance of being yourself. Noel Gallagher does not like the song at all. In a 2005 interview he described it as "appalling".
Top Of The Pops performance
When Oasis played Roll With It on Top Of The Pops, the Gallagher brothers switched roles with Liam pretending to play guitar and Noel pretending to sing (equipped with Liam's tambourine). It mocked the institution of miming on programmes such as Top Of The Pops (it is widely believed that the brothers' dislike of miming led them to do it). The set ended with the band erupting in laughter at the Gallagher's impressions of each other. A video of the performance can be seen on YouTube.
Artwork
The photograph used on this release was taken on the beach at Weston Super Mare. In the background is the Grand Pier which burnt down in July 2008.
Oasis had been following in the footsteps of The Beatles, who were photographed on the beach wearing Victorian bathing costumes in 1963.