CD - RKIDSCD 23
01: The Hindu Times
02: Just Getting Older
03: Idler's Dream
7" - RKID 23
01: The Hindu Times
02: Just Getting Older
12" - RKID 23T
01: The Hindu Times
02: Just Getting Older
03: Idler's Dream
DVD - RKIDSDVD 23
01: The Hindu Times
02: The Hindu Times (demo)
03: 10 Minutes Of Noise And Confusion
Release Date: April 15th 2002
Highest UK Singles Chart Position: 1
The Hindu Times" is a song by Oasis, and was the first single to be released from their fifth album Heathen Chemistry on April 15th 2002. It was written by Noel Gallagher. Noel got the name The Hindu Times from a t-shirt he saw in a charity shop. The song was the band's sixth UK number one single, staying on top for one week before being dislodged by the Sugababes Freak Like Me.
The title has little to do with the lyrics of the song, which are more in the vein of Definitely Maybe's Rock 'n' Roll Star. It has been speculated that the title refers to the main riffs' similarity to Indian music in sound, sounding as if they were played on a sitar. Gallagher himself says that it is because he had already named the song before any lyrics were written for it.
The song, which combines the powerful fast rock of their earlier work with the psychedelic feel of their later work, was one of the first Oasis singles since (What's The Story?) Morning Glory to receive almost unanimously positive reviews from the critics. However, some fans have criticised the song, stating that the main guitar riff was stolen from the Stereophonics song, Same Size Feet, which was released in 1997 on their Word Gets Around album and uses the exact same, or at least very similar, guitar riff.
The song was unveiled during Oasis' Autumn 2001 Noise and Confusion Tour. The song was due to be released commercially at the same time but Noel decided the track needed more work done on it to be suitable for release.
The B-side, Just Getting Older, was written at the time of the release of Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants.
The demo version of The Hindu Times is radically different from the finished album version. Most of the lyrics (sung by Noel) are different, and the slower sound of the song is much more "grungy", with a heavy drum loop running throughout the song. It is also a semitone higher in the demo.
The 10 Minutes... documentary is the first part of a unique feature covering forty eight hours on the road with Oasis during the Tour Of Brotherly Love which took place in the USA with the Black Crowes during May and June 2001.