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The Britpop
band Oasis rose from obscurity to become the most popular
U.K.-based rock band of the mid-1990s. Formed in Manchester
in 1991 as the Rain by Liam Gallagher (vocals), Paul
"Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul "Guigs"
McGuigan (bass) and Tony McCaroll (drums), the group soon
fell under the leadership of Liam's older brother Noel
Gallagher (vocals/songwriting), a former roadie for the
Inspiral Carpets, who renamed the band Oasis. After
extensive private rehearsals, Oasis recorded a demo, which
Noel Gallagher passed on to contacts at Creation Records,
who quickly signed the group. Oasis' first few U.K. singles,
released in spring/summer 1994, were increasingly
successful; by the time the group's debut album, Definitely
Maybe, came out in the fall of 1994, it debuted at No. 1
in Britain, selling millions of copies. In the U.S. Definitely
Maybe went gold over the next year, reaching the charts
on the strength of MTV singles such as "Live
Forever" and "Supersonic."
Though
Oasis was instantly popular after only one album, tensions
within the band threatened to prematurely end its career --
the Gallagher brothers fought openly, the group launched
press attacks against fellow Britpop stars Blur, and drummer
Tony McCaroll suddenly quit Oasis in early 1995 after
getting into a bar brawl with Liam Gallagher. (He was later
replaced by Alan White.) Despite the turmoil, Oasis pulled
through their difficulties successfully, returning in late
1995 with (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, which
debuted at No. 1 in the U.K. and became the second-best
selling album in British history. When Oasis performed at
Knebworth in the summer of 1996, it was reportedly the
biggest outdoor event ever held in Britain. Morning
Glory? also reached the U.S. Top 10 thanks to
alternative airplay of its single "Wonderwall."
Oasis'
third studio album, Be Here Now, came out in 1997,
followed by a worldwide tour.
In November
1998, the band released their fourth album on Epic, The
Masterplan, a 14-track collection of previously
unreleased (in the U.S.) B-sides.
In the Spring of 1994 an unknown band from Manchester
released their first single. By the end of the year they had
reached the top ten no less than five times, enjoyed
sell-out tours of Britain, Japan and Europe, created a storm
in the usually musically-indifferent USA and seen their
first album, Definitely Maybe, become the fastest selling
debut of all time. Volatile, compelling, celebratory,
hedonistic but totally honest, Oasis were truly the first
musical stars to emerge for two decades.
When the hits - and awards - kept on coming, the world began
to take Oasis seriously as a musical force, especially as
sales of their multi-platinum second album, (What's The
Story) Morning Glory, showed no signs of abating.
Further confirmation of their star status came with the
staging of their ambitious sell-out shows : Earl Court,
Maine Road, Loch Lomond and finally, Knebworth which made
history as the biggest gig ever. In 1996 it was declared :
Oasis were bigger than The Beatles. But as persistent media
attention turned into tabloid soap opera, doubts were raised
about their future. In Autumn 1996, when they cancelled
tours of America, Europe and Japan, the news was given press
precedence over world events. Rumors of their split were
relayed around the globe.
 
As usual, commentators had jumped the gun. Three years
constant, grueling world tours had taken their toll and
Oasis had simply recognised the need to chill out rather
than burn out. Ensconced in the studio recording their third
album, Oasis started getting on again with what they do best
- making music. If it did anything at all to the band, last
year's short lived panic attack revived their all-conquering
sense of purpose.
And the result - Be Here Now - due for release on 21 August
1997 and which will have the biggest pre-sales in this
country of any album for the last decade, easily overtaking
the likes of Michael Jackson, U2 and Pink Floyd, with
guestimates of eventual sales hovering around the the 20
million mark. Taken from the album, D'you Know What I mean -
the first Oasis single for more than a year - went straight
to Number One, selling a cool 160,000 on its day of release
on 7 July 1997 and becoming the year's biggest selling
single four days later. Not to mention 13 sell-out dates
including a '95 topping 3 nights at Earls Court.
 
Oasis are back and instantly other bands fade into the
shadows! The Nineties belong to them, just as the Sixties
belong to the Beatles and the Stones.
In 1990
oasis was just a dream of every young rock musician. Paul
Arthurs, Paul McGuigan and Chris Hutton formed a band called
"The Rain". Tony McCarroll soon replaced the drum
machine which was originally used. They sacked Hutton, and
brought in the Tazmanian Devil known as Liam Gallagher.
Guigsy said: "Me and Bonehead had this band. It wasn't
really a band, actually: it was just 3 geezers and a drum
machine, trying to fucking do something. The geezer we had
as a singer was a twat, basically - so we sacked him. He was
a twat. Swung his microphone round and all that. His
favorite ever bands were New Order and Joy Division but he
didn't have any of their records." At that stage they
were singing cover versions of songs like "Wild
Thing." Although Liam had never done any serious
singing before he said that he was able to shout. And if he
could shout, well then he could sing.
One of the first things they did was change their name to
"oasis". The true story about where the name came
from is: Noel had been working as a roadie for the "Inspiral
Carpets" and they had played a gig at a leisure centre
in Swindon called "The Swindon Oasis". Liam saw a
poster advertising this gig on Noels bedroom wall and
thought "oasis" was a good name for his group and
so the legend of oasis was born.
They played their first gig in the Boardwalk in Manchester
on 18 August 1991. Liams older brother Noel, heard his
brother was in a band, so he just had to go and see for
himself. The next Sunday, Noel went along to the bands
rehearsals. Guigsy said: "after about half an hour he
said 'I'll go and get my guitar.' Then he came down and said
'Your tunes are shit. I'll show you some tunes.' After
hearing Noels songs the rest of the band knew they could
make it big if they practiced enough. From then on they
reheared up to seven days a week. Their first gig together
with Noel, Liam, Bonehead, Guigs and Tony was at the
Boardwalk in Manchester on 15 January 1992.
Noel had also previously been working on a building site.
According to himself he injured himself on the building site
and went to work in the hut where they give out the nuts,
bolts and screws to the other builders. Luckily for him no
one ever came in to him and he just sat down with his
acoustic guitar and started writing songs. It was on this
building site that many of the songs on definitely maybe
were written. Tracks such as "See The Sun" and
"Strange Thing" were part of the bands original
material along with more familiar songs like
"Columbia" and "Bring It On Down."
THE RECORD DEAL
From early 1992 onwards they played gigs around Manchester
and Liverpool in venues such as the Boardwalk in Manchester
and the Krazy House in Liverpool. On Monday 31 May 1993 the
band whose practice room they shared (The Sister Lovers),
were playing a gig in Scotland and asked oasis to come up
with them. The band got a bus and charged their mates to
come along to pay for the trip and oasis would guarantee
them a good night out in return for their money. When they
got there the management in King Tuts Wah Wah Hut (272a St.
Vincent Street) in Glasgow wouldn't give them any time on
stage. Noel says that he pointed out that there were only
two men on the door and about twenty of his mates willing to
smash the place up if they didn't get on stage. For some
reason the management agreed to let them play.
Alan McGee the boss of Creation Records was in Glasgow that
night but according to Noel had missed his train home to
London. Journalist Paulo Hewitt says he was there to see
another of his bands, 18 Wheeler who were playing in King
Tuts. He was amused to hear that a band had threatened to
smash the place up if they didn't get on the stage. As soon
as he heard them play he was instantly impressed with the
singers voice and the "outrageous guitar solo"
played by the lead guitarist. By the time they finished
their set with "I Am The Walrus" Alan had made up
his mind to sign up the band. As soon as they came off stage
he went up to the band and asked them the name of their
band. They said it was Oasis. Alan then asked if they had a
record deal. They said no and then Alan McGee of Creation
Records gave Oasis their big break. He was drunk at the time
but he claims that he knew oasis were really good and when
he played back the demo the next day he knew he was totally
correct
DISCOVERING
OASIS
Oasis began when three Manchester lads formed a band. Tony,
the drummer, Paul, the bassist and Bonehead, the guitarist
recruited a new singer, Liam, who had a brother Noel who
came along for the odd jam. Not put off by having seen the
band play a ‘dodgy’ gig at the Boardwalk, Noel offered
his songs to the band during a rehearsal one day and they
never looked back!
THE NAME AND AIM
Depending on which brother you believe, they either named
themselves after a well-known high street clothes shop or
just something they saw on a poster. More importantly, their
common aim was to carry on their love for original bands,
like the Beatles. Post-1980 music was a subject with which
the band had a healthy disagreement, except that they all
appreciated the Roses and wanted to keep their early demos
very close to their chests.
FIRST GIG
After almost two years of touring around their home town of
Manchester, they still had no deal and no money. With
nothing else to do they made a last minute decision to go to
Glasgow and support a friend’s band. When the promoter
tried to send them on their way the boys threatened to burn
the club down. Not surprisingly they ended up playing. This
was where the whole story began. A key audience member, Alan
McGee of Creation Records, took them under his wing straight
away and they secured a record deal on the strength of one
performance.
THE DEAL
After the success of their ‘bottom of the bill’ gig in
Glasgow, Oasis were soon discussing everything from music to
cars with Creation officials. Before they know it, a
contract is being drawn up and other possible deals are
appearing too, including one from the U2-owned Mother
Records who are willing to double McGee’s offer, but
there’s no chance of them signing to anyone but "the
greatest record company in the world."
THE THREE STAGES
The beauty of their story is that it is simple - ‘three
steps to pop stardom.’ First stage - a demo is passed onto
Johnny Marr. Second stage - they went to Glasgow’s King
Tut’s one night with a fellow Manchester band and went on
stage as their support after a threatening to smash the
place up if they didn’t get their own way. The boss of
Creation Records, Alan McGee was in the audience and signed
them on the spot. The third stage - they decided to start
all over again with their first album - Definitely Maybe -
by producing it themselves.
IN NOEL’S WORDS
"He just came up to us and said, ‘I want to sign your
band.’ I thought that it was someone taking the piss. He
doesn’t know to this day why he signed the band. And
he’ll tell you that himself. It got him in the stomach and
he knew he had to have us."
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