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When many of their contemporaries have either slid into oblivion (e.g. Pulp), or taken a dramatic turn (e.g. Blur, Radiohead) or come not to exist (e.g. Suede, The Verve), Oasis has been going from strength to strength. It is the steadfastness that has been their trademark. While fans extol their consistency, detractors say that it shows their lack of creativity or diminishing significance. Oasis is a British rock band that took shape in Manchestor and rose to international stardom in mid 1990s. The bands such as The Beatles, The Kinks and T.Rex have been their source of inspiration. Oasis is well ahead of the musical genre Britpop, which has outshone Grunge and House in Britain in the mid-1990's.
Oasis is headed by lead guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher and his younger brother vocalist Liam Gallagher. Even when the team members have changed over the years, only Gallagher brothers have remained from the original lineup. Oasis' music is a mix of touching melodies, mod-style fashion, wall-of-sound guitar, and a narcissistic swagger. During 1994, besides their musical success, the band's on and off stage behaviours that churned out newspaper stories (with oft-seen reports of their heavy drinking, skirmishes, and drug taking), earned them good publicity.
The birth of Oasis can be traced back to a band called Rain, a guitar group. The band originally had Paul Guigsy McGuigan on bass, Tony McCaroll on drums, Paul Bonehead Arthurs on guitars, and Chris Hutton on vocals. Liam Gallagher joined the group after his schoolmate Guigsy invited him to the band. Soon Gallagher suggested that the band's name be changed to 'Oasis'. Their first gig under the new name was at the Boardwalk club in Manchester in August of 1991. Noel Gallaher, the brother of Liam Gallagher, also joined the group on condition that he would be the band's only songwriter and leader. Oasis entered into contract with Creation Records in late 1993. After a limited white label release of their song Columbia, the band brought out its first commercial singles, Supersonic and Shakermaker, during the spring of 1994. Their true breakthrough happened in August 1994 with Live Forever, their melodic crossover single. Also around this time they got involved in a high-profile incident of fighting and alleged shoplifting on a ferry just outside the Netherlands, leading to their arrest and refusal of entry into Netherlands. However, the media coverage they got for this incident helped their Definitely Maybe to reach at#1 in charts in September 1994. It became the fastest selling debut album in history of UK. More hit singles came out soon after this. The EP Whatever, released in December 1994, peaked at #3 in the UK charts. It showed signs of band moving towards a mellower sound.
During the sessions of their second album, Oasis received a minor setback, when original drummer Tony McCaroll was sacked at the behest of Noel. Londoner Alan Whitey White, came to fill in that void. Oasis soon had their first single from their second album, Some Might Say in late April 1995, becoming a hit. During this period, Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur had entered into a cold war, the seed of which was sown by British media.
On August 14th, 1995, Blur and Oasis created a battle of bands like state by releasing new singles on the same day. The cheaply priced Blur's Country House outsold Oasis' Roll With It. However, by turning out to be the second largest selling album, Oasis' second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, pushed back Blur far behind in popularity.
In September of 1995, Guigsy was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of The Ya-Yas, after the former briefly left the band on tour in the US. The record selling third album in UK, Be Here Now, was released in August 1997. The group went into a hiatus throughout 1998. A compilation album, The Masterplan, was released in autumn 1998. The recording of the fourth album also saw founding member Arthurs leave the band and his close friend, bass player Guigsy follow suit. Colin Gem Archer, formerly of Heavy Stereo, now came in as guitarist while Andy Bell, formerly with Ride later joined as bass guitar. Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, named after Noel Gallagher after the winding up of Creation Records.
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, Oasis's fourth album released in February 2000 was a departure from their conventional style. Following their British leg of the tour, which culminated in a Wembley show, a live album of the show, called Familiar to Millions, was brought out in late 2000. Noel, White and Liam all split up with their life-partners during this period. Oasis' fifth album, the commercially successful Heathen Chemistry, was released in July 2002.
In late summer of 2002, Oasis touring in the United States met with a car accident and some shows had to be cancelled. By now, Oasis had developed a reputation for canceling the concerts or leaving them incomplete. A long time drummer of the band, Alan White's departure from the team in early 2004 affected the recording of the Oasis' sixth studio album, resulting in the abandoning of the first sessions. In June 2004, at the Glastonbury Festival Oasis introduced their new drummer Zak Starkey (son of The Beatles legend Ringo Starr, Richard Starkey). In May 2005 the band emerged with their sixth album Don't Believe the Truth with its singles, Lyla and The Importance Of Being Idle topping the charts. |
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