(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
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(What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the highly acclaimed second album by British rock band Oasis, first released in October 1995. The album was a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in the United Kingdom on 8 October where it only stayed for 1 week then again on 7 January where this time it stayed for 6 week and a finally 3 week stint starting on Febuary 25th meaning it spent a total of 10 weeks on the top of the UK charts, and #4 in the United States, and selling more than 19 million copies worldwide. The album was produced by Owen Morris and remains the second biggest selling album of all time in the UK and worldwide by a British artist. The title is said to have been inspired by a friend of Noel's who used the phrase during a telephone conversation. The phrase Morning Glory is British slang, referring to an erection experienced after waking up [1], but the album title is most likely a reference to the song "The Telephone Hour" from the musical Bye Bye Birdie
The Battle of Britpop
For many people (What's the Story) Morning Glory? represents the epitome of the Britpop movement. The year before its release, Britain's two biggest bands, Blur and Oasis, had released massively successful albums and had begun making inroads in the United States. However, the two bands constantly attacked each other in the media.
Things came to a head when Oasis and Blur decided to release a single from their highly anticipated albums on the same day, August 14 1995. This event caused a media sensation that extended beyond the music industry to the point where the bands were regularly mentioned on the evening news.
The challenge was dubbed The Battle Of Britpop and was considered a fight between the gritty, working class Oasis and the artsy, middle class Blur. Blur's "Country House" single sold 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 copies of "Roll With It".
However, in the end, Oasis' album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was far more successful than Blur's The Great Escape. In Britain and Ireland it became habit when asked "What's the story?" (lit. "How are you?"), to answer with "Morning glory". In the UK, it spent over three times as long on the charts (a total of three years) and outsold Blur's album 14x platinum vs. 3x platinum. Oasis' album is hailed as the essence of Britpop for its impact on mainstream society, debt to 1960s music, and anthemic nature.
Despite often being cited as inferior to Oasis' debut album, in 1997 Morning Glory was named the 5th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 8. At the end of the 1990's, it was named Q Magazine's "Album of the Decade" in their "90 of the 90's" article. Template:RS500
The album has remained highly popular for almost a decade, returning to the UK album charts in May 2005 at number 50. By mid-June, it reached #44.
On the cover of the album, (designed and directed by Microdot's Brian Cannon) a man is seen brandishing what looks to be a vinyl record in its sleeve, it is in actual fact the master tape. The man in question is Owen Morris, the producer. The photo was taken on Berwick Street in Soho, a London street well known for its independent record shops.
Also, perhaps as a joke, the first track on the album starts off with Wonderwall playing very quietly, but is stopped when the actual song begins. Perhaps, the joke would be that the listener would turn up the stereo loudly, thinking that he would have to do so in order to hear the album, and then have to quickly turn it down to avoid going deaf, an Owen Morris trademark. Morris used a similar tactic on The Verve's 1995 album A Northern Soul.
Track listing
- All tracks written by Noel Gallagher except where stated.
- "Hello" - 3:22 (Gallagher/Glitter/Leander)
- "Roll With It" - 4:00
- "Wonderwall" - 4:18
- "Don't Look Back in Anger" - 4:48
- "Hey Now!" - 5:42
- (Untitled6) - 0:44
- "Some Might Say" - 5:29
- "Cast No Shadow" - 4:52
- "She's Electric" - 3:40
- "Morning Glory" - 5:03
- (Untitled11) - 0:39
- "Champagne Supernova" - 7:27
- "Bonehead's Bank Holiday" appears as the eighth track on the vinyl version of the album.
- Hello, contains elements of Gary Glitter's Hello Hello I'm Back Again as Noel jokingly sings part of the song's chorus as the song begins to fade out.
- The untitled tracks are short excerpts of an instumental track called "The Swamp Song", which was later released as a b-side on the Wonderwall single. At the end of the first excerpt, just before Some Might Say starts, there is a short piece of hidden talk. If you reverse and speed this up by 200%, you'll hear Noel saying "Fuckin' 'ell". This is an interesting reference to the demo for Some Might Say where Noel says "Fuckin' 'ell" just before the intro starts.
Chart positions
Album - Billboard (USA)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Billboard 200 | 4 |
Singles - Billboard (USA)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Morning Glory" | Modern Rock Tracks | 24 |
| 1995 | "Wonderwall" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 9 |
| 1995 | "Wonderwall" | Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Adult Top 40 | 33 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 8 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Top 40 Mainstream | 10 |
| 1996 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | Modern Rock Tracks | 10 |
| 1996 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 55 |
| 1996 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | Top 40 Mainstream | 33 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | Adult Top 40 | 30 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 17 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | Top 40 Mainstream | 10 |
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