More on: Oasis

As Oasis prepare to pick up a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, Mark Wilkins looks at the albums, the legendary gigs, the very highs and the very lows of one of the biggest bands Britain has ever produced.

Few bands have divided opinion amongst the music loving public like Oasis over the past decade. It's thirteen years since they exploded onto the UK music scene with a debut album that today still sounds vital, fresh and - most of all - unashamedly rock 'n' roll.

Now in 2007, on the back of last year's 'compilation' album (not quite a greatest hits, with eleven singles omitted) the establishment have deemed them worthy to receive the honour of a Brit Award for 'Outstanding Contribution to Music'.

In truth, the years of Oasis dominating these awards with Best Album wins and Best Band wins along with pretending to stick awards up their bottoms have long gone. So for some, the fact that this award is even being given to them will appear slightly baffling. These are the people who say that the band's best days and indeed songs are behind them. Others would disagree, regarding them still as a vital ingredient to a healthy UK music scene. These are the people that feel the decision to award them this 'honour' now is long overdue.

This is a band that over three crazy years achieved more than most bands do in a lifetime. So with this in mind, I am going to look back, not in anger, but at the records, the gigs, the singles, the memories of the years gone by, whilst also looking at where the band fit in today.

It's also fitting to do this now as so many young bands have cited Oasis and the Gallagher brothers as one of their biggest inspirations to pick up a guitar or start a band; to try and be a Rock 'n' Roll Star. Just no-one tell Liam someone's trying to steal his crown.


The Rise

Before any singles were released Oasis were already being dismissed in some corners as a bunch of northern chancers who had little to offer. These opinions were quickly changed though after the release of 'Supersonic' and 'Shakermaker' in 1994, the band's first two singles. These songs put the band firmly on the map. Suddenly they were heralded as rock and roll saviours, the debut album 'Definitely Maybe' remains their finest moment.

Noel's songs, filled with confidence and arrogance and turned up to eleven created a bulldozer of a record, but with a far sexier body, moving at a pace and flattening all challengers. Add Liam's snarl to the music and the songs are given something even more. Watching Oasis live in 1994 was an experience to behold. Liam would almost leap out into the crowd. His attitude and presence on the stage dominating everything. People question Liam as a frontman, because he does so little. It's because he does so little and yet dominates the stage that make him such a great frontman.

The record gave music a kick up the arse, and it gave UK bands an opening and the confidence that a rock band could mean something again. In Top 100 album charts it is always in the top ten, it remains a stupendously courageous and cocky piece of music.

The Blur v. Oasis chart feud remains one of the most surreal things make headline news on national television. Looking back now it was a ridiculous state of affairs - it wasn't just billed as a music battle, but North versus South – Working Class versus Middle Class and top it off there was Damon Albarn on the 9 O'clock news building it up as this massive winner takes all battle.

Follow-up album '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' upon its release wasn't well received, but the public didn't seem to care and after the release of 'Wonderwall', things started to go a bit crazy. The record itself is weak in parts, notably the aforementioned chart battle release 'Roll With It' and 'Hey Now!' - replace these songs with 'Talk Tonight' and 'Rockin' Chair' and the album would flow better and feel fuller.

It was in 1996 that things started to become more than just about selling records. The band embarked on a crusade of putting on massive stadium sized concerts. No British band had done this in decades. Maine Road, was an outstanding, majestic homecoming. A night of emotion and one of the finest gigs the band has ever played, with Liam's delivery of 'Cast No Shadow' sending shivers down the spine.

Knebworth on the other hand – well, sod the music. Could you hear anything? Could you see anything? They could have put on a CD and had cardboard cut-outs on stage – if you were any further away than about 100 feet you couldn't see a bloody thing and the sound was all over the place. With one in every twenty people in the country trying to get tickets, this was about more than just Oasis. Like The Stone Roses at Spike Island, it was a communal gathering. Others have tried to recreate nights at Knebworth; Robbie Williams boasts he played three times at the same venue. However, the Oasis gigs were historic and the gigs of a generation. I'm not sorry to say Rob, that your gigs had neither the celebration or the significance of those magical nights in the summer of '96.

Now what goes up must come down, and given the mix of volatile personalities, drugs, booze and excess everything that was now swamping the band, something was bound to go wrong.


The Fall

'Be Here Now' is the point where many observers believe they lost it. Before we dismiss the record completely, remember - when released this album was hailed as brilliant and outrageous, scoring 9 out of 10 and five stars in almost every music magazine you could wish to name. 800,000 people bought it over the course of four days - it remains the fastest selling album of all time in the UK.

As the hysteria surrounding its release was about to go into the stratosphere, Princess Diana was killed in Paris. The feel-good, over-exuberance of the songs was no longer what the country wanted to hear - Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' set the tone, The Verve's 'Drugs Don't Work cemented it. The harsh truth, on reflection, is that the songs themselves just didn't add up. When it's good, it's very good ('Stand By Me', 'Girl In A Dirty Shirt', 'D'you Know What I Mean'). When it's bad, it's actually pretty bad ('Don’t Go Away', 'Magic Pie', 'I Hope, I Think, I Know'). B-sides like 'Round Our Way' and 'Stay Young' would have given the album a better balance. If Noel had saved 'Masterplan' for this record then I don't think we'd be talking about the same perceived failure. Listening now, it's a fun, yet over-produced and over-long record. Its overblown feel was ultimately its downfall, but it is worth revisiting.

The award for worst Oasis album goes to 'Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants'. It has three redeeming features - four if you count the album cover - 'Go Let It Out', 'Fuckin' In The Bushes' and 'Gas Panic'. The album's experimental and downbeat sound didn't match the band's persona, and in the end, it sounds like an album that was rushed and lazily written, especially lyrically: "I can see a liar, sitting by the fire" anyone? What do mean you can't remember the song?

During the recording, two founding members left the band. At one point there were doubts that the band would continue past the world tour that was already booked up. It was for this world tour that the band recruited Andy Bell and Gem Archer; both excellent musicians and songwriters in previous bands. It's of this writer's opinion that their addition to the line up ultimately saved the band from disintegrating for good.

So would this be a case of out of the darkness and into the light? Well, not quite.


The Gradual Return

'Heathen Chemistry', Oasis Mark II's first full album was not the true return to form that people had been hoping for. However, as a record it's significant for the emergence of Liam Gallagher as a songwriter. After his 'Little James' was derided for its childlike rhymes, Liam could have cowered away and never written another song, but that's not Liam is it? 'Songbird' is two minutes long and is as simple as you like. It's also superb.

'Hindu Times' was one of their finest moments and produced some massive new anthems to rival the glory days. It was good enough for some but others wanted more. More depth and more maturity. Surprisingly it wasn't in Noels songs that this was to be found, but in Liam and Gem's. That alone pointed to a very different album next time out. It was a rebirth of sorts and along with the new found solidarity within the group; things seemed to be settled in the good ship Oasis.

Or so it seemed; another member, Alan White, drummer since 1995, suddenly left and that theory of happiness and solidarity was torn up and put firmly in the bin. Rats.

The real return to form was in 2005’s 'Don't Believe The Truth', not just because they produced an album of high quality, but because Oasis seemed vital again. As a record, it's full of subtle and well structured songs - 'The Importance of Being Idle' it has their best Noel composition since 'Some Might Say'. The gigs through the summer of 2005 felt like the old days - excitement and awe in equal measure and new younger crowd discovering them for perhaps the first time.

Things look bright in 2007. Noel's acoustic solo shows gave the old songs a new dinner jacket, and he seems ever more comfortable in his role as the elder statesman to the young pretenders of today. Last year's so-called greatest hits album was actually a great way of not simply highlighting to the world their finest 18 moments, but it actually highlighted just how many great songs were missing and how many they have at their disposal.

Oasis today is more than just about the music. It's always been about Liam and Noel, the live gigs, the laugh-out-loud interviews, the way they support and champion so many bands. It's this along with the music that make them a vital, and important part of British music.

The years have been up and down. The disappointments are there for all of us to hear, but without them we might not have some of the best young bands we have today. A content and creative Oasis may well end up producing an album later this year that proves all the critics wrong and stops people in their tracks. The days of them being the biggest band in the world may have gone, but the best days for Oasis could just be beginning.

Mark Wilkins

Oasis Official Site