Countdown To The Brits - Part Two

(1994–1998) Britpop Era And Height Of Fame

Following a limited white label release of the demo of their song "Columbia", their first single, "Supersonic", was released in April 1994, reaching #31 in the charts. Their third single, "Live Forever," was their first to enter the Top 10 of the UK charts. After troubled recording and mixing sessions, their debut album, Definitely Maybe, was finally finished and was released in September 1994, entering the charts at #1, and at the time becoming the fastest selling debut album ever in the UK.


The band also garnered attention due to Noel Gallagher's penchant for taking the odd riff or lyrics from other artists. The track "Cigarettes & Alcohol" had a main riff which Noel Gallagher admitted he'd taken directly from T. Rex's 1972 release "Get it On". "Supersonic" had a guitar solo reminscent of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and "Shakermaker" was reportedly the subject of legal action by the New Seekers due to the similarity to their song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".

The best part of a year of constant live performances and recordings, along with a typically hedonistic lifestyle commonplace in young rock bands, were starting to tire the band out and a breaking point was finally hit during a gig in Los Angeles in September 1994 where Liam was under the influence of crystal meth, leading to a shambolic performance during which Liam made offensive remarks about American audiences and assaulted Noel with a tambourine. This upset Noel to such an extent that he temporarily quit the band immediately after and flew to San Francisco. He recovered enough to finally rejoin the band in a Texas recording studio in October 1994 to record new songs, most notably "Talk Tonight" which directly related to his recent experiences. Two of these songs were released as b-sides on Oasis' Christmas single EP "Whatever" which peaked at #3 in the UK charts and foreshadowed the band's move toward a mellower sound on the following album.


Oasis had their first UK #1 in April 1995 with "Some Might Say", the first single from their second album. At the same time, drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band, replaced by Londoner Alan White, formerly of Starclub and younger brother of renowned studio percussionist Steve White, whom Paul Weller himself recommended to Noel. White made his debut for the band at a Top of the Pops performance of "Some Might Say".

During this period, the English press seized upon a supposed rivalry between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur. Noel Gallagher played along, telling The Observer that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die". He subsequently apologised for this in a formal letter to Melody Maker magazine.

On Monday August 14, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up "The Battle of Britpop" that dominated the week's music news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll with It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week. Oasis' management came up with several excuses, claiming "Country House" sold more because it was more competitively priced (£1.99 vs £3.99) and because there were two different versions of "Country House" with different B-Sides forcing serious fans to buy two copies. An alternative explanation given at the time by Creation was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll With It" single case, which did not record all sales.

Oasis had begun recording material for their second album in May of that year in Rockfield Studios near Monmouth. Although a softer sound led to mixed reviews, Oasis' second album, with their first new member, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became the second largest selling album of all-time in the UK. The album also went on to sell over 19 million copies worldwide and spawned two further hit singles, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger", which reached numbers 2 and 1 respectively. The album's opening track, "Hello", with its sing-along chant, was a common feature of Oasis' live performances. It also contained their hit "Champagne Supernova" — featuring guitar playing and backing vocals by Paul Weller — that received widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #20 on the US charts. Despite not being released in the UK, it received significant airplay and remains one of the band's most popular songs.


In September 1995, bassist Paul McGuigan briefly left the band, citing nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of The Ya-Yas, who featured on some of the tour dates as well as in the "Wonderwall" video before leaving abruptly whilst on tour in the USA. McLeod later contacted Noel Gallagher claiming he felt he had made the wrong decision. Gallagher curtly replied "I think you have too. Good luck signing on". In order to complete the tour, McGuigan was successfully convinced to return to the band.

In February 1996, Oasis became only the third band after The Beatles and The Jam to perform two songs on the same edition of British music television programme Top of the Pops: "Don't Look Back In Anger" and a cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize". On April 27 and 28 the group played their first headline outdoor concerts at Maine Road Football Ground, Manchester. Highlights from the second night featured on the video There And Then, released later the same year. As their career reached its zenith, Oasis performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth on August 10 and 11, 1996. The band sold out both shows within minutes; 250,000 people over two nights (13.5 million people applied for tickets), at the time a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert held in the UK.


The next month proved to be difficult for the group. On August 23 Oasis were due to play the prestigious MTV Unplugged at the Royal Festival Hall but Liam pulled out, citing a sore throat. He watched the performance from a balcony with cold beer and cigarettes, allegedly heckling Noel's singing between songs. The group left for a tour of American arenas early the next month but within days Noel flew home without the band, who followed on another flight. It received massive media attention and the group promptly issued a statement assuring fans that Oasis were not splitting up. Oasis' success at the 1996 Brit Awards was overshadowed by Liam's statement that "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards to gonna-bes." after being presented an award by INXS singer Michael Hutchence.



Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 at historic Abbey Road Studios recording their third album. Be Here Now was released in August 1997, the band choosing to launch it on a Thursday rather than the traditional Monday. Preceded by the UK #1 single "D'You Know What I Mean?", the album was perhaps their most anticipated effort, and as such became the subject of considerable media attention. Anticipation culminated with the screening of the documentary "Right Here, Right Now" on BBC1 on the eve of the album's release. The attendant press attention and hype helped the album become the fastest-selling album in UK history (a record which still stands), selling 423,000 units on its day of release, and reached number 2 in the US album chart.

Be Here Now ultimately outsold Definitely Maybe worldwide but could not match the sales of (What's the Story) Morning Glory. Although early media reviews were positive, once the hype had died down, the album was criticised for being bloated and derivative with most of the critics focused on the extensive length of several songs, the heavier sound, and overproduction. Noel defined the album as "the sound of a buncha guys... on coke... in the studio... not giving a fuck."



The Britpop movement was over and the band failed to meet expectations with Be Here Now. After the conclusion of the disastrous Be Here Now tour, amidst huge media criticism the group decided to stay clear of each other and kept a low profile throughout 1998. Noel Gallagher also was criticised for firing most of his stacks of songs into B-sides. Some of these finally found a more high-profile home on The Masterplan, a compilation album of 14 B-sides, released in November. "There was a two- or three-year period where everything I wrote was just fantastic.", related Noel in a recent interview. "And, of course, if all the B-sides for the singles off Morning Glory would’ve been what became the Be Here Now album, I think we would’ve gone on to be possibly one of the biggest bands of all time. Not that we’re not anyway. But I think we would’ve been as big as U2, because I had an idea in my head for Be Here Now – it was to be the most bombastic, fucking hugest-sounding record of all time. And I didn’t worry too much about the words or the arrangements. But the really interesting stuff from around that period is the B-sides — there’s a lot more inspired music on the B-sides than there is on Be Here Now itself, I think." .

Source: Wikipedia