Oasis - A story of glory

You can say that the story of Oasis begins in a poor family house in Burnage, Manchester.
With a father that can be titulated "one of the worse fathers" in the world.
The family contained of Thomas, the father, Peggy, the mother and their three sons;

Noel, Paul and William.

We jump into their lives one day when Noel, 13, and a friend tries to rob a grossery
store in the neighbourhood. But it wasn´t pretty clever to try that in a store where
everyone knows you...
So Noel gets grounded for six months. He locks himself up in his room and starts
practising on his cheap Gibson guitar he had bought earlier. Though he is left
handed he learns to play the guitar as if he was right handed. Because the guitar
was a right handed one. (Still he haven´t learned how to play left handed.)
The first song he wrote was after going to his first concert, the Damned, in 1980,
the song was called Badge.
When Noel is 16 he throws a bag of flour at a bully at school for revenge, but it
hits the headmaster instead. He gets expelled from school and starts working on a
building site but one day he drops a cap of a big pipe on his foot. After returning
from the hospital he has been transfered to a storeroom on the work. After a while
he starts to bring his guitar with him, due to the fact that he hardly sees any person
during work and to get rid of the boredom.
And here he starts writing songs. Which several is going to be on the debut album,
Definitely Maybe. Live Forever is one of them...

A teenage Noel

After a while Noel thinks for himself that he should start singing in a band. So he
decides to go to an audition. It´s Inspiral Carpets who´s looking for a new singer.
But they don´t think Noel is worth the place but offers him a job as their roadie.
So he takes it and starts to travel around the world with the band. But before that
he has to go back to the old headmaster, that expelled him, to get an application for
a visa signed. Must have felt great, also due to the fact that he "accidently"
mentions that he is now earning £600 a week.
So now when Noel are away we go and see what William is up to...

Liam with his mother

Liam, which he likes to be called, that has started in the same school as Noel was
expelled from, quits. Not that he also gets expelled or anything, he thinks it´s
boring so he just leaves. He starts working with painting fences.
Liam who doesn´t share the same interest in music as Noel, change his mind after
being draged along by Noel to a concert. After that he gets totally "madferit".
So now when Noel is away, he starts looking for a band that he can be a singer in.
Meanwhile, three guys, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony
McCaroll, had formed a band they called Rain. After playing some gigs around
Manchester with the setlist of just a bunch of covers, they sack the singer. Which
wasn´t pretty clever though none of them could sing.
So now they are looking for a replacement. One day they get a tip that they should
listen to Liam, Noels brother, apparently he can sing a bit. The guys knows Noel and
Liam because of the fact that they had hanged around in the park with them smoking
and taking drugs, as all "outsiders" did.
Anyway, they listen to Liam and thinks he´s really good so they ask him to join and
Liam says yes.
He also change the name to Oasis. No one else but them still knows where the name
came from, though it has been several different theories.
But Oasis it was, altough at first people kept telling them that it sounded like some
reagge band.
They started practising every week in the basement of a small venue called
the Boardwalk.
18 August 1991 they get to be the support band for a group called Sweet Jesus.
Around the same date Noel has gotten home and has heard from his mother that Liam
has joined a band.
So he sets off and goes to see their gig. This is one of those occations that has
become classic for Oasis fans.
Noel gets there and looks through the whole gig and afterwards he steps up to them
and they ask him if he would like to be their manager and he answers;
"I don´t want to be your manager, but how about I join the band? If I do, then we
do things my way, play my songs, rehearse every night. And I guarantee we´ll be the
biggest band in the world."
They said yes for two reasons; they couldn´t write any songs plus he played them
Live Forever...
So now they are the full Oasis;

Liam, vocals, Noel, lead guitar, Bonehead, rythm guitar, Guigsy, bass and Tony, drums.

Their first gig was yet again in Boardwalk on 19 October 1991. The setlist was;
Better Let You know, a song that hasn´t been released, Take Me, also never
released, Columbia, and last, Acoustic Song, (maybe Life In Vain), never released.
After that they recorded some demo tapes and started to look for a record deal.
The first one they talk to is a guy at a local label called Factory Records.
They aren´t interested at all...
Then they talked to a person who is enough impressed that he recommends them to a
radio station. But not a single record label shows their interest.
Noel keeps on pushing them to rehearse and they make a more proper demo tape.
One late night Noel is talking to a friend of his and give him the tape, because the
friend told him that maybe his broher is interested in them. The brother was
Johnny Marr. His manager was Marcus Russel which now got the eyes on Oasis.
But still no record deal.
Their gigs wasn´t much crowded and one night there wasn´t one single person
showing up. But they played through their whole setlist and even did an encore!
On May the 31 they decides to go to Glasgow in Scotland to play a gig becuase they
are plainly bored.
So they take a ride with a band called Sister Lovers. They are going to play on a
place called King Tut´s Wah Wah Hut. Oasis walks in and demands the promoter of
the club that they will also play. Or else they trash the place...So they get to play
four songs early in the evening.
Around the same time a guy walks in, Alan McGee, boss of Creation Records, he´s
there to see his sister and a band that are on his label. But he gets there a bit early.
When he walks in he see some guys sitting around a table just talking. After a while
they get up on stage and starts to play.
And if you haven´t guessed it yet it is Oasis playing...
McGee gets overwhelmed, and runs up to Noel after they finished and ask him if
they have a record deal or else if they want to sign one with him.
After a couple of days Oasis goes to the Creation office and and talks about a
contract. Noel also decides that Marcus Russel should be their manager.
Russel agrees. But still they hasn´t signed with Creation and soon almost every
record label in England wants to sign them but Oasis sticks with Creation. Though
they could get much more money elsewhere.
22 October 1993 they get their long awaited record deal. They signed it in the
Sony building. Sony had bought 49% of Creation earlier.
After a while when Oasis still were playing gigs and not had started recording,
Creation pressed up about 500 copies of a version of Columbia from a demo tape.
It managed, as the first song to be from a fresh signed band, to be on a national
radios playlist. Plus it was never released as a single...
Bring it on down was chosen to be the first single. But the producer, Batchelor,
made the band record each intstrument alone, Oasis wanted to play like a group,
live, and maybe lay the guitar and vocals on top, if it was necessary after.
So they chose another producer, Mark Coyle, a guy who had been the engineer
during Inspiral Carpets tour when Noel was their roadie. So Noel and Mark had
become friends. He was already Oasis sound man during their gigs but now he
became their producer.
Owen Morris was a engineer who stumbled on Oasis during one of several studio
changes. Coyle produced all the early stuff but later on Morris took over after
finding the right Oasis sound when he turned up all the volumes during a recording
of Slide Away.
One day in the studio when they was suppose to record some B- sides to the first
single, they wrote and recorded Supersonic. Which everyone agreed on to be the
A- side instead of Bring it on down.
After that they got a gig in Amsterdam and now comes yet again a classic happening
for Oasis fans.

During the way over with a ferry Guigsy and Liam got into a fight and later locked
up in a cell. Blaimed for starting the fight. Later some other guys goes into
Boneheads cabin and takes all his clothes.
Bonehead wakes up and knocks on every door in the corridor and gets thrown in the
same cells as the rest. Tony also gets involved...
In the morning Noel wakes up and starts looking for his band...later finding out
what has happend.
All of the band members except Noel goes back to England. Noel stays in
Amsterdam a couple of days calming down after being really mad at them for acting
like some "fookin´ football hooligans..."
On April 11 1994 was the single Supersonic released. It made it to 31 in the charts.
During an interview with a journalist from NME, the Gallagher brothers started to
have an argument that lasted for over an hour. The interview was later released as a
single, Wibbling Rivalry, and all Oasis fans have probably at least ones heard or
read it.
After that Oasis continued to play tons of gigs and one night Creation Records had
a concert arranged to celebrate 10 years in business. Oasis was of course there to
perform. But Liam, who was still mad after a fan took his tambourine the night
before, decided not to play. So Bonehead and Noel does an acoustic set of three
songs. Which is the start of Noels acoustic performences on their concerts.
On June the 13 Oasis released their second single, Shakermaker.
After copying a whole verse from an old Coca Cola commercial they got sued.
So they removed some lines.
Because the single reached 11th place in the charts they got an apperance on Top
Of The Pops. Which they have gotten every time since then when they have released
a single...
After that they played their first festival, Glastonbury. And then back on touring
again. But this time a bit longer than just around Britain...it was time for America.

Oasis playing on Top of the pops

The first gig on their american tour was at a venue called Wetlands. During the
whole gig a guy in the audience demanded the group to, "dance, you bastards, dance
you fucking bastards." Liam didn´t move an inch...
After some more gigs they shot the video for Live Forever in Central Park among
other places.
After the shoot Liam wandered off after an argument with Noel about however they
should do a gig right on the spot. He ends up in Harlem but lucky enough he gets
back to the hotel.
After some more gigs they flew back, with the experience of that americans are
slow getting bastards...
Back home they started touring again and during one gig in Newcastle a guy comes
up on stage and punch Noel in the face. Noel hits back with the guitar and the band
walks off stage. The gig was broadcasted on Radio 1...
After that they went over to Sweden, my home country, and to the Hultsfred
Festival. The concert was the first Oasis gig to be properly bootleged. After it
the band went to the hotel and trashed it completly with the Verve. Both bands were
arrested and charged for the damages. Liam thought it was worth it;
"Oh, it was beautiful, man. I mean, I looked out of the window the next morning and
the car park was, like, full of bedrooms! It took a lot of doing." Liam broke a bone
in his foot some days later after jumping off the tour bus.

The group in Central Park, New York

On the 8 of August Live Forever was released. The single made it to the 10th place
in the charts giving Oasis again a Top of the pops spot.
After some more gigs in London they decided to make the video for Cigarettes &
Alcohol. A video which contains of Oasis playing live. Alot of fans came to the set
and are in the video. Which is censored by most music televisons...because of some
alcohol, some cigarettes and some white stuff.
On the 30h August it was time...Definitely Maybe was released.
It became the fastest selling debut album and is one of the best debut albums of all
time. It recieved only great reviews and placed itself on the top spot on most charts
around Europe. Including Sweden, where the album was released one week earlier
than any other country.
After the release a big world tour started.
Back in America they played some gigs and then one night they was playing at
Whiskey A Go- Go. One of the most famous Oasis concerts but not saying it was a
good one...The problems started before the concert, all were drunk and in a really
bad mood. But they start playing and through some numerous problems including not
hearing the bass, Noel and Liams mics being to loud or to low, they manage to
complete the concert.
After the gig a furious Noel takes a flight out of L.A and heads off to Las Vegas
and then San Fransisco. He was determinded to go home but on a cab to the airport
he sees some advert about Oasis gigs in England being sold out so he decides to go
back. But during the trip he had written some of the best songs he had ever done;
Talk tonight, Half the world away and (It´s good) to be free.
So with Noel back they played a few more gigs and then returning home. But at
first after he had returned the gigs was still filled with some tension, but it
disappeared after a while. But was going to come back one more time...

The Gallagher brothers

During the world tour the single Cigarettes & Alcohol is released, climbing to
the 7th place in the charts. At the end of the year they released Whatever, which
hit the charts at number 3. Selling over 200.000 copies. The year was now near
it´s end and Oasis had become one of the biggest bands in the world.
But yet again it was off to America, it still wasn´t conquered. After many gigs over
there with not much happening they were back home, this time to recieve all the
awards for their hard work.
First off was the Brits awards; Best new band. Then the Brats award;
Best new band, best band, best single, for Live Forever.
Afterwards Noel and a couple of friends went to party in his house.
There Noel puts on a tape with a new song he had written. Which was called Some
might say. The song was released as a single on the 24th April 1995 and became
their first number 1.
Now it was back on doing concerts again but this time something was going to
happend. Monday the 17th Oasis are playing a concert in Southend Cliffs Pavillion
which later on is released as a video titled Live by the sea. During the gig it was
some tension in the air and afterwards when they were leaving Liam and Tony gets
into an argument with eachother.
Some concerts later they were playing in Sheffield Arena infront of the biggest
crowd they had ever played infront of, 10.000 people and afterwards everyone was
partying like never before. Except Tony.
The next day he was not apart of Oasis anymore...
For some months it had been cleared that Tony wouldn´t be capable to play the new
songs that Noel had written.  And the fight with Liam didn´t improve his chances.
So now when he was gone they had to find a new drummer and that quick, two days
later they were going to play on Top of the pops, as usual...
A couple of days before the sacking of Tony, Noel had heard from some people that
a guy called Alan White was a good drummer so now he arranged a meeting.
Noel just wanted to see that he wasn´t some "ugly thirty stone bastard."

Alan White with two admirers

Alan was born and living in London. He was the brother to Paul Wellers drummer.
He had played in some small bands but had never gotten anywhere. After talking to
Noel for five minutes he was in.
Now it was time to make Oasis unforgetable...
After a couple of months the album, (What´s the story) Morning glory? was finished.
They started touring again and first off was Glastonbury. After the gig Noel
commented that he hoped that the singer and bass player in Blur got AIDS and
died...he immediately regret it but it was too late.
It got blown up by the press but later it subsided as it usually does.
Roll with it, the next single, was released on 14 August and in the same week Blur
released their single. The single by Blur sold more than Oasis placing their on the
second place. It had been a lot of talk about Oasis vs. Blur. These days it has
calmed down but during the summer of ´95 it was a war.
Which Oasis won, due to their album selling much more than Blurs and was topping a
lot of charts.
Suddenly still touring Guigsy decides that he can´t handle the pressure anymore,
playing infront of thousands of people every night, so he takes a ticket back home
to England. The other members chocked, starts looking for an replacement, a
temporarely one, all convinced that Guigsy will come back.
They hire a guy called Scott McLeod. During the awayness of Guigsy they shoot the
video for their next single, Wonderwall. Scott appeares on that video instead of
Guigsy. After some concerts over the sea McLeod packs it in, saying to the tour
manager that he can´t handle it, but not a word to the rest of the band. After they
had to cancel the rest of the gigs in America, Noel gets a phone call;
"Scott rung me when I´d got back. And he said;" "Look, I think I made a mistake."
"I went; Yeah, you made a big mistake. Bye." "He let us down and he wasn´t going to
get a second chance."
Lucky enough Guigsy had found out that it was to damn boring not being in the band.
The first gig he did after he came back was Earls Court, which broke the record of
being the biggest indoor gig in Europe. Over 20.000 saw them that night.
Also filmed and released as a video titled ...There and Then. The video also included
shots from their concert at Maine Road in their home town Manchester. After some
more gigs it was time to release Wonderwall. Which made them the biggest band in
the world...at least during half a year.
The date was 30 October 1995.
In America it shot in at place 21 in the Billboard charts which made it the best
debut entry ever. Beating the Beatles which had hold the record with their song
I wanna hold your hand which made it to the 45 place. Oasis smashed the record
completely...
It was played by Mtv and the radio stations constantly which aproved the sales
obviously. But it just managed to get on the second place on the english charts.
It is still one of the greatest songs ever made and it also woke up America which
realised; "Hey, Oasis are damn good!"
Plus millions of people around the world fell in love with Oasis...

Oasis at the Brats

Now it was yet again a new year and it was also yet again time to get some awards.
First off was Mtv, then time for the Brats; Best band, best single, best album and
best live act. After that the Brits, which was going to be remebered for a long
time...They recieced the awards for; Best band, best album and best video, for
Wonderwall. But it was remembered for there acceptance speaches which I will not
put up here due to the fact that I have never seen or heard them...But it was
cencsored and shown late at night, says it all, right?
Now it was time for their second number one single; Don´t look back in anger.
Released 19 February 1996. Which made them to get to perform two songs,
the other one was Cum on feel the noize, on Top of the pops. It has only been three
others that has been invited to do that, Beatles were one of them.
After touring around the world and playing many, many concerts it was time to take
a minute of break. A deserved one you can say...
After six months or so it was time to record their third album which was going to be
called Be Here Now. During the holiday, Noel and his wife Meg and Johnny Depp
and Kate Moss, were on vacation on an island called Mustique. Though it was plainly
a holiday Noel wrote a lot of the songs appearing on the new album.

To be continued

                                                                     By the webmaster Mikael Kustmark