Oasis (band): Difference between revisions

Oasis are a Rock and Roll band from Manchester, England. The group shot to stardom in the early 1990s with a brand of traditional British rock and roll that had, for a number of years, been replaced with hazy Shoegaze and American Grunge. Oasis established themselves as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990's, not only with their epic albums, but also by the band's infamous behavior on and off the stage (particularly that of brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher).

Originally named The Rain, the group was formed by school friends Chris Hutton (vocals), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass), and Tony McCaroll (drums). When Hutton left the band, he was replaced by Guigsy's friend Liam Gallagher, who changed the band's name to Oasis, having seen it on an Inspiral Carpets poster. The band played their first gig on Saturday 18 August, 1991, at the Boardwalk club in Manchester. Noel Gallagher, who had recently returned from touring America as a guitar technician for the Inspiral Carpets, came to watch his younger brother play. Soon after witnessing the gig, Noel (who wasn't impressed with the group but realized the potential Liam had) joined the band under the condition that he would be the band's sole songwriter and leader.

After gaining a loyal following in the local Manchester gig circuit, Oasis was signed to Creation Records by label owner Alan McGee in 1993. Following a limited white label release of the song "Columbia", the band released its first proper singles, "Supersonic" and "Shakermaker," in the spring of 1994. Both were Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and attracted much attention. Later that year the breakthrough came with the single "Live Forever," which was a major hit in Britain. It reached the Top 10 and spent a year on the charts. Soon after, Oasis released their debut album, Definitely Maybe, entering the charts at number one and becoming the fastest selling debut album in UK history. The highly-acclaimed album was hailed by critics and many agree that Definitely Maybe was the main catalyst for putting the Shoegaze and Grunge movements of the early 1990s to the side and returning traditional British rock to the maintream. The album is also considered the main source of the "Cool Britannia" and Britpop movements that fascinated the UK in the mid 1990s. The EP "Whatever" was released in the same year and saw the band in a transitional stage between the heavy sound of Definitely Maybe and more ballad and relaxed sound of their second album.

Early 1995 at the begining of the recording sessions for their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory, drummer Tony McCarol was kicked out of a band, following a punch-up with Liam and a row with Noel in a bar. He was replaced with the southener Alan White. They continued successfully recording and in 1995 Oasis released their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory, to vast critical acclaim and commercial success. Whlie its predecssor, Definitely Maybe, was hailed as the return of guitar pop to the scene, (What's the Story) Morning Glory served as the breakthrough album that made Oasis international superstars. The heavy rockers of Definitely Maybe were replaced with soaring ballads in vein of the 1960s British Invasion groups Oasis so dearly looked up to. That's not to say the album lacked the initial force fans experienced when listening to the debut. Rather, (What's the Story) Morning Glory expanded on the sound of the debut and made an even more introspective and epic record. The result was an album that caught the rock world by storm and established Oasis as the "must see" act of the mid 1990s.

The media also steadily built up a rivalry between Oasis and fellow "Britpop" luminaries Blur. Though the rivalry was mostly fictional (although Noel took exception), it did no harm in raising the profile of both bands. In August 1995, Blur and Oasis released the first single from each of their new albums on the same day. Perhaps because it was more aggressively priced (99p vs £1.99), Blur's "Country House" won the day over ""Roll with It"" 274,000 copies to 216,000. In the long run, however, (What's the Story) Morning Glory outsold Blur's album (The Great Escape) and is considered as the definitive album of the Britpop era. (What's the Story) Morning Glory spawned three other hit singles; "Some Might Say", "Wonderwall", and "Don't Look Back in Anger", all of which reached either #1 or #2 in the British charts.

As their rise to fame reached its zenith, Oasis performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth Park on the 10th and 11th August 1996. The band sold out both shows within minutes, with tickets sold to 250,000 people for both nights. At the time, the ticket sales held the record for the largest outdoor concert ever held in the UK (Robbie Williams sold out three consecutive nights at the same venue in 2003 to break the record). The concert, supported by the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers and the Manic Street Preachers amongst others, was voted the third "greatest gig" of all time by readers of Q magazine in 2004, behind Radiohead's appearance at Glastonbury in 1997 and Nirvana's visit to the Reading Festival in 1992.

Oasis released its third album Be Here Now in 1997, launched by the hit single "D'You Know What I Mean". It shattered sales records in U.K. and nearly topped in U.S. charts, making the band one of the biggest of their time. The druggy feel is well-grounded as the band used a lot of cocaine and alcohol while recording it. Some critics and record buyers however labeled the album as a backlash set in with the music "bloated" and "derivative". The record outsold their debut Definitely Maybe, but failed to reach the heights of their bombastic stroke (What's the Story) Morning Glory. The press, of course, exagerrated this backlash and, began to crab the album relentlessly. Mainly because music journalists gave average reviews of (What's the Story) Morning Glory, first they nailed Be Here Now as a great record. And after its release, in a couple of months it was realised that it's not of the same quality as their previous record. Thus they turned their backs and started crabbing and even blaming it for the Death of the Britpop movement.

Naturally, Oasis' popularity had climbed so high it was bound to come down. So some of the supposed "backlash" was really more due to the natural levelling of interest in the band. Even brothers Liam and Noel has different opinions: Liam still defends Be Here Now, compared to Noel's readiness to wash his hands of it, blaming it on overproduction due to an overly high intake of cokaine and a lack of time spent on writing the songs. Generally, most fans would simply say, that it's not of the same quality as their first two albums.

Not long after Be Here Now was released, typical row dissolved the band's tour. The group kept a low profile for a couple of years, though a compilation of B-sides, The Masterplan, was released in autumn 1998. Tracks were voted by fans on the internet, choosing from an extencive range of b-sides. In 1999, ex-drummer Tony McCaroll returned briefly to spotlight. He sued the band, claiming rights on some of the b-sides he drummed during Definitely Maybe-years. McCaroll received half a million pounds of the sales from The Masterplan. Although the band didn't fired new record for couple of years, the antics of the band regularly appeared in the gossip columns of British tabloid newspapers reporting the on-going rows, fistfights, cocaine abuse.

While Oasis was recording its fourth album in 1999, guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, and bass player Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan left the band. They were replaced by two new members, respectively Andy Bell (formerly of Ride) and Gem Archer (formerly of Heavy Stereo). Whitey, Liam and Noel had to rerecord the album, because at the time of its release, Guigsy and Bonehead were already out of the band. With the demise of Creation as an independent entity, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, within the Sony group, to release their records in the UK. Oasis's fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released in 2000 to not so good reviews.

After that the band embarked on a tour. In Barcelona they were forced to cancel a gig, because the hand of Whitey seized up. Instead, the band spent the whole night drinking. While being heavily drunk, Liam made a comment about Noel's then-wife Meg Mathews. This caused a row, which resulted in Noel announcing he was quitting overseas touring. For two months the band was forced to count on the solo-guitarist Matt Deighton to complete the tour. After two months "routine" on-going rumours about band's future, Noel returned for the British leg of the tour, which culminated in a massive Wembley show. They released live record of songs, performed throughout these gigs, called Familiar to Millions. Meanwhile a series of three broken marriages followed for Noel, Whitey and Liam.

Their fifth album, Heathen Chemistry, was released in 2002. The record departed from the experimental sounds of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and instead borrowed heavily from traditional British rock. Heathen Chemistry also proved to be a much more democratic recording process for the band. Unlike albums of the past, Noel was not the sole songwriter. Liam, Andy, and Gem also contributed their songs to the recording process. Diverse songwriting wasn't the only difference with Heathen Chemistry. There was also a lack of break-ups, fights, or drug abuse in the studio during the recording of the album, which ultimately gave the record a more relaxed feel compared to past efforts. While critics gave Heathen Chemistry lukewarm reviews, most fans received the album well. Soon after the release, the band embarked on a fairly successful supporting tour for the new album. While Oasis primarily focused on European shows, their tour was successful enough for Q magazine to name them as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die".

Despite the band's efforts to abstain from the drug and alcohol abuse, in December 2002 Liam Gallagher, Alan White, and three members of the band's entourage were arrested in Munich after being involved in a drunken fight at a local club. Liam and a police officer were engaged in a scuffle, causing Liam to lose his front teeth. Consequently, several shows were cancelled thereafter. In 2003, while the band was on tour in the United States, Noel, Andy and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident. While none of the band memebers sustained any major injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. After the end of the tour, the band spent the rest of the year in a relative quiet.

In early 2004, longtime drummer Alan White left the group at the request of the band for reasons still unknown. In June 2004, Oasis headlined the widely popular Glastonbury Festival for the second time in their career. At Glastonbury, Oasis featured new drummer Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr - Zak isn't announced as a permanent replacement of Whitey. In September 2004, the band released Definitely Maybe: The DVD in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the release of their debut album. The DVD contains an enhanced audio version of the debut album, 4 hours of live footage, and interviews with band members and the production team.

The recording process for their sixth album was much endured. It was supposed to be released September 2004. The band started recording on December last year, but with the departure of Alan White, these sessions were scrapped. Then they worked with the famous duo Death in Vegas, but because of Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes other commitements, that was also abandoned. After their unsatisfactory performing at Glastonbury, the band had scrapped everything and stated that they are begining from "the scratch". Currently, they are at Los Angeles and Noel stated that the deadline for Oasis' new album is May 2005 and added also that that there are about 60 tunes, most of which are written by Liam, a few of Andy and Gem, and only 13 by himself. The band also enlisted several big tours in June and July. Within three weeks of going on sale fans had bought up over 300,000 tickets selling out at the City of Manchester Stadium, Milton Keynes National Bowl and Hampden Park, Glasgow, which caused the band to add extra dates to their 2005 summer tour. Initially before the sessions with Fearless and Holmes, it was planned that the band would release two separate records for 2004 and 2005.

• Definitely Maybe - (August 30 1994, #1 UK, #58 US)
• (What's the Story) Morning Glory - (October 2 1995, #1 UK, #4 US)
• Be Here Now - (August 21 1997 [UK], August 28 1997 [Worldwide], #1 UK, #2 US)
• Standing on the Shoulder of Giants - (February 28 2000, #1 UK, #24 US)
• Heathen Chemistry - (July 1 2002, #1 UK, #23 US)

• The Masterplan - (b-sides collection)(November 2 1998, #2 UK, #51 US)

• "Supersonic" - (April 11 1994, #31 UK)
• "Shakermaker" - (June 13 1994, #11 UK)
• "Live Forever" - (August 8 1994, #10 UK)
• "Cigarettes & Alcohol" - (October 10 1994, #7 UK)
• "Whatever" - (December 8 1994, #3 UK)
• "Some Might Say" - (April 24 1995, #1 UK)
• "Roll With It" - (August 14 1995, #2 UK)
• "Wonderwall" (October 30 1995, #2 UK, #8 US)
• "Don't Look Back in Anger" - (February 19 1996, #1 UK, #55 US)
• "D'You Know What I Mean" - (July 7 1997, #1 UK)
• "Stand By Me" - (September 22 1997, #2 UK)
• "All Around the World" - (January 12 1998, #1 UK)
• Don't Go Away (Japan only) - (February 19 1998)
• "Go Let it Out" - (February 7 2000, #1 UK)
• "Who Feels Love?" - (April 17 2000, #4 UK)
• "Sunday Morning Call" - (July 3 2000, #4 UK)
• "The Hindu Times" - (April 15 2002, #1 UK)
• "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" - (June 17 2002, #2 UK)
• "Little by Little" / "She is Love" - (September 23 2002, #2 UK)
• "Songbird" - (February 3 2003, #3 UK)

• Live By The Sea - (August 31 1995)
• ...There And Then - (October 14 1996)
• Familiar to Millions - (November 13 2000)
• Definitely Maybe - The DVD - (September 7 2004)

• Liam Gallagher - Vocals
• Noel Gallagher - Lead Guitar
• Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs - Rhythm Guitar
• Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan - Bass
• Tony McCaroll - Drums

• Liam Gallagher - Vocals
• Noel Gallagher - Lead Guitar
• Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs - Rhythm Guitar
• Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan - Bass (replaced briefly by Scott McLeod during 1995)
• Alan White - replaced Tony McCaroll, 1994

• Liam Gallagher - Vocals
• Noel Gallagher - Lead Guitar
• Gem Archer - replaced Arthurs on Rhythm Guitar, 1999
• Andy Bell - replaced McGuigan on Bass, 1999
• Alan White - Drums

• Liam Gallagher - Vocals
• Noel Gallagher - Lead Guitar
• Gem Archer - Rhythm Guitar
• Andy Bell - Bass
• Zak Starkey - replaced White, 2004 (Starkey has not been confirmed as a permanent drummer)

• Oasis - official website.
• Oasis - oasis fansite.
• Oasis - oasis fansite.
• Live4ever- fansite
• Madferit - oasis fansite
• The Soapbox - fan forum.