Oasis (band)
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Oasis are a British rock band originally formed in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Musically, they cite bands such as The Beatles, Slade, The Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Kinks and T.Rex as influences.
The band is currently led by lead guitarist/principal songwriter/vocalist Noel Gallagher and his younger brother vocalist/songwriter Liam Gallagher, who are the only remaining original band members.
Thanks to the success of their critically acclaimed debut album Definitely Maybe and its 18 million selling follow-up (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, the Gallagher brothers featured regularly in tabloid newspaper stories, and cultivated a reputation as both bad boys and the band of the people. They were also famed for their supposed rivalry with contemporary band Blur.
At the height of their fame, their 1997 third album Be Here Now reached #1 in the UK charts and also became the fastest-selling album in chart history, with almost half a million copies sold on the first day alone. However, the record almost caused the destruction of the band as they experienced an immediate fall in popularity.
Having survived the loss of founding members and gained continung support from their loyal fan base, Oasis have managed to outlast many of their Britpop contemporaries. Suede, Pulp and some other peer groups have split up, or record only infrequently, while Oasis maintain a regular schedule of releases and touring.
Contents |
History
(1991-1993) Early years and breakthrough
Oasis, named after a leisure centre in Swindon, evolved from an earlier band called The Rain, who took their name from a 1966 Beatles B-side. The Rain comprised Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll (drums) and Chris Hutton (vocals). When McGuigan invited school friend Liam Gallagher to join the group, Gallagher accepted, and quickly pushed for the band's name to be changed to Oasis.
Oasis first played live in August of 1991, at the Boardwalk club in Manchester. Noel Gallagher, who had recently returned from touring America as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, came to watch his younger brother play. A few months later he was invited to join the band. Although he had been critical of them, he agreed, with the provision that he would become the band's sole songwriter and leader, and that they would commit to an earnest pursuit of commercial success. Image:Oasis early.jpg Oasis gained a loyal and vocal following on the local Manchester gig circuit and in 1992, Noel contacted Tony Griffiths of The Real People (who he had met when the latter performed as the opening act for the Inspiral Carpets), asking him if Oasis could use their studio in Liverpool to produce a professional sounding demo which they could then send to record companies. The resulting tape, known as the Live Demonstration tape, would form the basis for Oasis' first album. Ten cassette copies of Live Demonstration were sent out with a J-card insert depicting a swirling Union Jack and the now famous Oasis logo designed by Tony French but no response was received.
In May 1993, the band were invited to play a gig at a club in Glasgow called King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, by a band who shared their rehearsal rooms. Oasis, along with a group of friends, found the money to hire a van and make the six-hour journey to Glasgow. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club as they were not on that night's set list, forcing the band to bully their way in <ref NAME="bul">Interview with Noel Gallagher, Behind the Music, pt.2, VH1, 2000 </ref>. They were given the opening slot and impressed the owner of Creation Records (Alan McGee), who happened to be there by chance, and who reportedly offered them a recording contract on the spot.
Following a limited white label release of their song "Columbia", the commercial singles "Supersonic" and "Shakermaker" were released in the spring of 1994. Both gained national radio airplay and were Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom.
(1994-1998) Britpop era & height of fame
In August 1994, their polished and melodic single "Live Forever," made the UK Top 10 and brought the band a measure of fame. Also around this time the band was involved in a high-profile incident on a ferry off the coast of the Netherlands. Liam Gallagher and McGuigan were arrested for fighting, whilst Arthurs and McCarroll were detained for alleged shoplifting. All four were subsequently refused entry to the Netherlands, and this incident became the first of many tabloid stories on the band. The publicity helped their debut album, Definitely Maybe (named after a poster Noel saw at a bar), enter the charts at #1 in September 1994.
More hit singles quickly followed. The October 1994 single "Cigarettes & Alcohol" reached #7 in the UK charts amidst controversy that its central riff directly plagiarised T.Rex's 1972 release "Get it On". The EP "Whatever" was released in December 1994, peaking at #3 in the UK charts and foreshadowing the band's move toward a mellower sound on the following album. That song, too, was the subject of accusations of plagiarism, and Neil Innes, formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, successfully sued on the basis that a substantial part of the melody was taken from his song "How Sweet to be an Idiot".
Tensions between the Gallagher brothers on their first US tour, coupled with a disdain for Americans, caused Noel to temporarily quit the band after a disastrous gig in L.A. and fly to San Francisco without telling anyone. When Oasis' manager tracked him down, they decided to take a trip to Las Vegas to calm Noel down. Legend has it that he met a couple on their honeymoon there (the woman thought he resembled George Harrison), and that after a long conversation, they persuaded him to rejoin Oasis. The song "Talk Tonight" (one of the B-sides to "Some Might Say") is thought to be written for this woman.<ref NAME="CD">Interview published in the 31st October 1998 edition of the NME and in an interview released on a limited edition US-only CD edition of The Masterplan, 1998</ref>
A slight setback occurred during early sessions for their second album, when original drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band. Noel Gallagher has since claimed that his departure was a result of him not being technically good enough to play on more complex songs. There were also reports of a couple of scuffles with the Gallaghers and Bonehead. McCarroll was replaced with quiet Londoner Alan White, whose brother Steve had drummed for Paul Weller and his band Style Council and many others. Whitey made his debut for the band at the Top of the Pops.
Image:Oasis lineup 1995-1999.jpg
Oasis soon had their first UK #1 with "Some Might Say", the first single from their second album (and the only track on the second album to feature McCarroll), in late April 1995. During this period, the British media 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".<ref NAME="aids">Template:Cite web</ref> He subsequently apologised<ref NAME="apol">Template:Cite web (scroll down to section 3.5) </ref> for this in a formal letter to Melody Maker magazine.
On June 23 the group headlined the first night of the annual Glastonbury Festival, the UK's most foremost music festival. Here they premiered new songs including "Roll With It" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" but their performance was given a lukewarm reception by the critics. The song Wonderwall was here given its world premiere when Noel performed a solo acoustic version for UK TV's Channel 4.
On Monday, August 14, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up a "Battle of the Bands" that dominated the week's music news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis's "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) or 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 was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll With It" single case, which did not record all sales. Nonetheless, Oasis's second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became the second largest selling album of all-time in the UK.
Although a softer sound led to mixed reviews, the album went on to sell over 18 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's live performances. It features a sample from Gary Glitter's 1973 Top 10 hit "Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again".
It also contained their hit, "Champagne Supernova," which 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 to this day.
In September 1995, McGuigan briefly left the band on tour in the US, citing nervous exhaustion, having thrown "a crispy" as Bonehead put it[1]. 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. In order to complete the tour, McGuigan was successfully convinced to return to the band. "Like our new bassist? He looks a bit like the old one doesn't he?" Noel Gallagher joked when he reintroduced him to the press.<ref NAME="dvd">Template:Cite video</ref> Weeks later, McLeod contacted Noel Gallagher claiming he felt he had made the wrong decision. Gallagher curtly replied "I think you have too. Good luck signing on."[2]
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, miming to "Don't Look Back In Anger" and their cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize". On April 27 and 28 the group played their first headline outdoor concerts, a taste of things to come, at Maine Road Football Ground, Manchester, the then home of their beloved Manchester City. 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, 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. 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. The next month they met at Abbey Road to begin recording their third album.
Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 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." Melody Maker later gloated that Be Here Now had become the album most frequently sold to second-hand record shops, ending the era of Oasis as media darlings.Template:Fact
Critics have made note of the fact that the growing disillusionment with the album co-coincided with the fading of the Britpop era. The toppling of one of the movement's front-runners, along with Blur's changing style, Pulp's growing inactivity and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales changed the "feel-good" mood in Britain at the time and certainly spelt the beginning of the end. It should be noted, though, that bands like The Verve, Radiohead and Supergrass kept the movement running up to the turn of the century. This did little to help Oasis, however, and when an argument between band members interrupted the band's American tour for the album, they nearly self-destructed.
After a Yellow Submarine-inspired video for their fourth UK #1, "All Around The World", the group decided to stay clear of each other and kept a low profile throughout 1998, although a compilation of popular B-sides, The Masterplan, was released in autumn of that year. However, the band were still subject to much attention from the tabloid newspapers. Liam was frequently present in newspaper articles about his severe cocaine abuse, erratic behaviour and boastful statements.
(1999-2003) Changing styles
In early 1999 the band returned to action to begin work on their fourth album. First details were announced in February with Mark "Spike" Stent revealed to be taking a co-producing role. The majority of the album had been written by a now "clean" Noel Gallagher, who had quit taking cocaine in the summer of 1998. This was to have a major influence on the lyrical content of the album. Also, he demanded Liam to overcome his severe alcoholic addiction, which hindered his singing. Recording sessions began in the south of France in April, with everything believed to be have been going to plan. Behind the scenes, however, things were not going well and the shock departure of founding member Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs was announced in August. This departure was reported at the time as amicable, with Noel stating that Arthurs wanted to spend more time with his family. Arthurs' statement clarified his leaving as "to concentrate on other things".<ref NAME="arth">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Noel has since offered a contradicting version: that a series of violations of Noel's "no drink or drugs" policy (imposed by Noel so that Liam could sing properly) for the album's sessions resulted in a confrontation between the two.<ref NAME="book">Template:Cite book </ref> Oasis fans were given a further shock days later, as the departure of bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan was announced. It was speculated that Arthurs departure was the main reason as to McGuigan making the same decision to quit the band.
The now three-piece Oasis chose to continue recording the album, with Noel Gallagher re-recording most of Arthurs' and McGuigan's guitar parts. The hunt was also on for replacements for Arthurs and McGuigan, with such names as Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr, John Squire, David Potts and Steve Cradock all rumoured to be contenders to fill the positions. The first new member to be announced was new lead/rhythm guitarist Colin "Gem" Archer formerly of Heavy Stereo, who later claimed to have been approached by Noel Gallagher only a couple of days after Arthurs' departure was publicly announced. One of Archer's first roles was on November 5, 1999, where he took part in filming of the promo video for Oasis' new single, "Go Let It Out", which was the first single to be taken from their new album A week later, Oasis new bassist was announced as Andy Bell, formerly guitarist/songwriter of Ride and Hurricane#1. Bell had never played bass before and he was obliged to learn to play it, along with a handful of Oasis' back catalogue of songs, in preparation for a scheduled tour of America in December 1999.
With the death of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, named after Noel, as a subsidiary label of the Sony Music Entertainment group, except in the UK and Ireland, where is it is semi-independent.
Oasis's fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released in February 2000 to good first-week sales. However, the album was met with lukewarm reviews and seen as a significant departure from their traditional sound, with a more experimental, psychedelic sound, as Noel was influenced by George Harrison's forays into Indian and folk music. In the lead up to its release Heat Magazine ran a cover story discussing 'Oasis's bizarre new album'. Originally titled Where Did It All Go Wrong, the album is certainly an adventurous departure from the heavier sound of their previous work. It could also be argued that the original demo of the album was greatly superior to the released version. The departure of Guigsy mid-way through the album's recording led to many of the tracks needing to be re-recorded. The adventurous flute part was lost from "Where Did It All Go Wrong", "Sunday Morning Call" lost much of it's original delicate feel and other tracks were made to sound a fair bit heavier than their original versions. As a result, the completed work, whilst interesting, sounds more like a loose-fitting mish-mash of styles rather than the coherently experimental original.
The album featured a new "Oasis"-logo designed by Gem Archer and was the first where Liam Gallagher debuted with a song - "Little James". As of now, Standing is among the band's lowest-selling albums worldwide, although it did spawn another UK #1 with "Go Let It Out" and "Fuckin' in the Bushes" - often used as an opener for Oasis gigs.
The spring of 2000 saw the new line-up embark on a world tour. Although the album had received largely substandard reviews. the tour proved to be initially successful, but again eventful. In May, they were forced to cancel a gig in Barcelona a few hours before the scheduled start because of tendonitis in one of Alan White's hands. As a result, the band spent the whole evening drinking instead, and a drunken fight broke out between the Gallagher brothers after, according to Noel, some derogatory comments from Liam, who questioned the legitimacy of Noel's young daughter, Anais. Feeling he could no longer be around Liam, Noel flew to his holiday home in Ibiza and a press release [3] was issued on his behalf, announcing that he had quit overseas touring, and would therefore not be present at the rest of that years European shows. Despite the absense of Noel, the rest of the band decided to continue with the rest of their tour, with Gem Archer moving across to the other side of the stage to perform Noel's lead guitar parts and ex-Paul Weller and Mother Earth guitarist Matt Deighton being drafted in to take over rhythm guitar duties.
After two months of ongoing rumours about the band's long-term future after every such sibling brawl, Noel returned for the Irish and British legs of the tour, which included two major shows at Wembley Stadium. Since then Gem and Noel have switched rhythm and lead guitar. A live album of the first show, called Familiar to Millions, was released in late 2000 to positive reviews. The second Wembley show, which was being broadcast live in over a dozen countries across the world, including the UK's Sky One, was a chaotic affair. Liam was very clearly drunk, making several rambling statements, which included derogatory remarks aimed at his wife, Patsy Kensit, who had very recently split up with Liam, and also at brother Noel. He also had trouble singing in tune and at times changed the words to certain lines and at other times not bothering to sing at all.
Along with Liam, Noel and Alan White all ended their marriages during this period. Liam soon started a relationship with former All Saints member Nicole Appleton, who soon became pregnant with their son Gene.
In 2001 the band were kept busy with work on their new album and live shows around the world. They began in January with a short South American festival tour before returning back to England to start work on their 5th studio album. In May, the band went off to North America to take part in a month-long co-headlining tour, entiled the 'Tour Of Brotherly Love', with The Black Crowes. Alan White missed the tour as he was suffering from a condition called Hypermobile Thumb, which causes the thumb to seize up from time to time. His replacement was his older brother Steve, more famously known as the drummer for Paul Weller. This tour was followed by a handful of shows in Paris (supporting Neil Young), the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and a show in Bangkok, Thailand, before returning back to Britain to do more work on the album. Whilst in Japan, Noel revealed that a new single would be released in October [4] to coincide with a short UK tour, entiled 'Ten Years Of Noise And Confusion', to celebrate 10 years since the band was formed. Whilst the tour was extrememely succesful, the planned single was postponed, Noel later revealing that he personally vetoed the release at the last minute due to him not being totally happy with the song. With Oasis' touring commitments in 2001 now completed, the band were now free to concentrate with finishing off their new album.
Heathen Chemistry, their first album with new members Andy Bell and Gem Archer, was released in July 2002. The record retained an experimental flavour from the previous one, but also borrowed heavily from British rock music of the 60s and 70s with heavy Lennonesque influence by Liam, who was rapidly growing as a capable songwriter creating the gentle acoustic ballad and subsequent top single "Songbird". Heathen Chemistry was also a much more balanced recording process for the band, with all of the members, apart from White, penning songs. This new working method, along with less fighting and drug and alcohol abuse in the studio, ultimately gave the record a more relaxed feel compared to past efforts. Johnny Marr provided additional guitar as well as backup vocals on a couple of songs, and while critics gave Heathen Chemistry lukewarm reviews, it was commercially successful. Around this time, Liam also provided vocals for the title track of the 2003 album Scorpio Rising of Death in Vegas duo.
After the album's release, the band embarked on a world tour that was successful but once again flavoured with incidents. In late summer of 2002, whilst the band was on tour in the US, Noel, Bell and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident. While none of the band members sustained any major injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. Liam also suddenly bolted offstage for no apparent reason during a show in Fukuoka, Japan, leaving Noel to take over vocal duties. It was the second Fukuoka show in three years that Liam failed to complete; over the years Oasis have developed a reputation for cancelling concerts or ending them prematurely on a whim.
In December 2002, whilst on the European leg of the tour, Liam and White, as well as three members of the band's entourage, were involved in a drunken brawl at a Munich local club. Liam was highly intoxicated and became involved in a scuffle with other drinkers. The scuffle saw Liam lose his two front teeth from the fists of a German American football player, nicknamed "the Powderkeg". He also jumped on the club's stage and kicked a police officer in the groin. As a result of the brawl, extremely drunk White had a brain scan at a hospital afterwards, and two of the band's security guards required serious medical attention. The altercations led to 12 shows being cancelled, the band incurring £170,000 in losses, and two years later Liam was fined £45,000, with part of the money going to the injured police officer. After the end of the tour in spring 2003, the band spent the rest of the year out of the spotlight.
(2004-present) Resurgence
In January 2004, longtime drummer and member Alan White left the band. At the time, his brother Steve White stated on his own website that "the spirit of being in a band was kicked out of him" and he wanted to be with his current girlfriend. Noel Gallagher seemed to agree with this when asked about Alan's exit a couple of years later, telling the NME in April 2005 that, "it seemed to me and Liam that his interests were lying elsewhere. He never came to the studio to do demos and we called this very important band meeting which we had to put back three or four times because Alan never turned up, nor did he even bother to phone us to tell us where he was. Turns out he's hanging out with his bird in Spain. Once the words 'bird' and 'Spain' are mentioned together it's like, 'OK, Oasis vs. Girlfriend'." In an official statement released via FreddieGee Promotions, Alan didn't comment on the reasons behind his leaving, only to deny that it was because of any medical ailment.
Around the time of the official announcement of White's departure, recording sessions began for the follow-up to Heathen Chemistry with producers Death In Vegas. Proud Mary drummer Terry Kirkbride was brought in to temporarily take over drums, before the band asked Zak Starkey - drummer of The Who and Johnny Marr and son of Beatles Richard Starkey - to take the role. Starkey performed on all Oasis' touring dates on the Don't Believe The Truth world tour, as well as all of the music videos. However, as he isn't yet introduced as an official member of the band, Starkey rarely appeared with the rest of them in promotional activities such as interviews and photo-shoots. Noel recently revealed that, Zak is likely to be a semi-permanent member of Oasis in future and after his engagements with the Who are completed he will be introduced as an official member of the band, while alternating his career between Oasis and The Who [5]. In an interview with Mexican radio station Reactor 105.7 on March 31, 2006, Noel mused that Starkey had real strong emotional ties with The Who and wouldn't leave them completely, adding that his part-time membership with The Who and Oasis, "suits him and it suits me" and that he wouldn't force Starkey to choose between the two bands, "because that wouldn't be fair." Image:Gallery pic2467.jpg In June 2004, Oasis headlined the Glastonbury Festival for the second time in their career, and along with new drummer, debuted two tracks - Archer's "A Bell Will Ring" and Liam's "The Meaning of Soul". The concert received mixed reviews, mostly because Liam was having problems with his singing, which made him quit while singing "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" and Starkey was perhaps still getting to grips with a lot of songs which he had only played publicly for the first time a couple of days previously.
In September 2004, the band released Definitely Maybe: The DVD commemorating the 10th anniversary of their debut album's release. The DVD contains an enhanced audio version of the album, four hours of live footage, and interviews with band members and the production team.
In May 2005, after three years and three scrapped recording sessions, the band released their sixth studio album, Don't Believe the Truth. It followed the path of Heathen Chemistry with songwriting duties being spread out, with Noel Gallagher contributing five songs, Liam Gallagher three, Andy Bell two and Gem Archer one. The album was generally hailed as the band's best record since (What's The Story) Morning Glory? by fans and critics alike, spawning 2 UK #1 singles with "Lyla" and "The Importance of Being Idle" (the band's 7th and 8th #1 UK singles, respectively), whilst "Let There Be Love" entered at #2. Oasis picked 2 awards at the Q Awards: one - a special People's Choice Award and the second for Don't Believe The Truth as Best Album. Following in the footsteps of the previous five studio albums, Don't Believe The Truth also entered the UK album charts at #1. The sleeve of the new album was also more understated than earlier designs, subsequently emanating a different tone compared to the band's previous albums. Andy Bell has likened the album to Forever Changes by Love, Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan and Revolver by The Beatles. Also it was the band's first album in a decade, not to feature drumming of Alan White, but of their newest addition - Zak Starkey.
In May 2005, Oasis embarked on a huge world tour. Beginning on 10 May, at the London Astoria, and finishing on 31 March, 2006, when the band played a sold out gig in Mexico City to 17,000 people, Oasis played more live shows than at any time since the Definitely Maybe tour of 1994/1995, visiting 26 countries, headlining 110 shows and playing to 1.7 million people.
Possible Oasis releases in 2006 include a documentary DVD entitled Lord, Don't Slow Me Down, looking back at the mammoth 2005/2006 world tour, a second b-sides compilation album, and also, much to Noel's disgust, a Greatest Hits/Best Of album. Noel claimed that he feared that the end of the band's contract with Sony BMG would lead to Sony immediately releasing a Greatest Hits album to cash in. The recording of a new album is expected to commence at the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007, after the band have rested from the tour, and when Zak Starkey's commitments with The Who are completed.
With the release of Don't Believe the Truth, the band fulfilled the 6-album contract which they signed in 1993. Following Noel's comments whilst accepting the "Best Music DVD" award at the NME Awards in London in February 2005, speculation grew that they were seeking to work once again with former boss Alan McGee on a new label, albeit one with major backing. Noel has since claimed that this was not what his comments referred to.
Discography
 1. Definitely Maybe (30 August 1994) #1 UK, #58 US, #1 IRL, #27 Austria, #4 SWE, #25 SWI
Note: This album is the UK's 3rd fastest selling debut album |
 2. (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (2 October 1995) #1 UK, #3 Austria #8 FRA, #4 US, #1 IRL, #7 ITA, #1 SWE, #1 SWI
Note: This album is the UK's 2nd biggest selling album |
 3. Be Here Now (21 August 1997) #1 UK, #2 US, #1 FRA, #1 CAN, #1 AUS, #1 JPN, #2 GER, #1 IRL, #2 ITA, #3 Austria, #1 SWE
Note: This album is the UK's fastest selling album, selling 695,761 in the first four days of its release and already #1 in 28 countries' charts |
|
 4. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (28 February 2000) #1 UK, #24 US, #6 FRA, #8 CAN, #12 AUS, #5 GER, #1 IRL, 1# ITA, #8 NZ, #3 SWE, #3 SWI
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 5. Heathen Chemistry (1 July 2002) #1 UK, #23 US, #8 FRA, #5 CAN, #3 AUS, #4 GER, #1 IRL, #2 ITA<, #16 NZ, #2 SWE, #1 SWI
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 6. Don't Believe the Truth (30 May 2005) #1 UK, #12 US, #5 FRA, #3 CAN, #5 AUS, #1 JPN, #2 GER, #3 SWI, #1 IRL, #1 ITA, #1 ARG, #6 Austria, #11 HOL, #12 NZ, #3 SWE
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Band members over the years
Line-up:
- Liam Gallagher - lead vocals, songwriting;
- Noel Gallagher - lead vocals, lead songwriting, lead guitar, back-up vocals;
- Gem Archer - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards, back-up vocals, songwriting;
- Andy Bell - lead guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, songwriting;
- Zak Starkey - drums and percussion;
Past members:
- Alan White - drums and percussion;
- Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs - rhythm guitar;
- Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan - bass guitar;
- Tony McCarroll - drums and percussion;
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The band have also used various keyboardists, including Mike Rowe, who toured and recorded for the most part of the band's career (1995-2002) and ex-Kula Shaker Jay "Jesus" Darlington, who has been behind the keyboard since 2002.
Awards
1994
- Q Award for Best New Act
1995
- Brit Award: Best British Breakthrough Act
- Ivor Novello Award: Songwriters Of The Year to be shared with Blur.
- NME Awards: Best New Band, Album Of The Year - Definitely Maybe and Single Of The Year - "Live Forever"
- Q Award: Best Live Act
1996
- Brit Awards: Best British Album - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, Best British Group and Best British Video - "Wonderwall"
- NME Awards: Best Band, Best Live Band, Best Album - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, and Best Single - "Wonderwall"
- Q Award: Best Act In The World Today
1997
- NME Awards: Best Musical Event - Knebworth and Band Of The Year
- Q Award:Best Act In The World Today
2000
- NME Award: Hero Of The Year - Liam Gallagher
- Q Award: Best Live Act
2003
- NME Awards: Best UK Band, Artist Of The Year and Best Haircut - Liam Gallagher
2005
- NME Award: Best Music DVD - Definitely Maybe
- Q Awards: Best Album - Don't Believe the Truth and People's Choice Award
2006
- NME Awards: Best Video - The Importance Of Being Idle
References
See also
External links
- Oasis Official website
- Oasis Lyrics
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