OASIS: The Music…not the drugs, fights or arrests.
Daniel Harris charts the rise and fall of Oasis.
News reports of the final break up never led with: “Oasis, one of the most influential and successful bands of the 90s…” It was always: “Oasis: the band dogged by infighting between the Gallagher brothers for fifteen years…” Presuming he was sober enough to watch the news, seeing such reports must have left Noel Gallagher with the question…would it in fact have been a better option to have gone out in a blizzard of blow after (What’s the Story)Morning Glory? When Wonderwall was new and people paid attention to the sentiment before it was destroyed by pub rock cover bands? When calling Michael Hutchence a “has-been” at the Brit awards was…well, pretentious but also potentially justified?
It’s unfortunate that distracted by the Gallagher’s talent for histrionics, no reports have reflected upon what Oasis have given us as the Gallagher brothers walk off the stage for good.
They led off with one of the great first singles ever in Supersonic, which really set the tone for the accompanying debut album Definitely Maybe released in 1994. An LP full of the rock swagger, loose gravel vocals, hints at blues riffs and throwbacks to 60s pop rock, all of which had been lost from the musical landscape as a result of the 80s. Its genius was in its simplicity: basic rhythms and chord progressions that rolled into something unstoppable, with Liam Gallagher’s unmatched rock voice cutting through it all perfectly. Oasis brought the rock back to pop and together with Blur delivered Britpop to the world.
Oasis reached lofty heights between 1994 and 1997, with a combination of solid songs and pure luck. Morning Glory (1995) would be up in the top 5 biggest albums of the 1990’s, improving on Definitely Maybe with a bit more polish, a developing skill in song writing and a great knack of producing explosive yet catchy songs. Everyone knows Wonderwall, a song people have belted out at parties so often that the actual words of the lyrics no longer have a meaning. Perhaps the grandiose 8 minutes of Champagne Supernova was even more influential and powerful - a combination of a sleepy lead guitar over relaxed strumming and Liam’s distinctive vocals that climaxes in Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller’s duelling guitars before fading out. Similarly hits Don’t Look Back in Anger, Some Might Say, Roll With It and Morning Glory (song from which the album is named, an Australian only single) lead an album that rarely has a soft moment. The charging rock rhythms and innate ability of Noel to string together a powerful chorus turned Morning Glory Into a classic album that is a must in any decent catalogue of nineties music…but where do you go from here?
There are generally two options when attempting to maintain popularity and significance after releasing a great album. First is to lift the bar again which is rarely achieved and there are more failures then success stories. The Unforgettable Fire to Joshua Tree may be one success as is Sigur Ros’ () to Takk… but Graceland to Rhythm of the Saints is generally the norm. The only other path is to change your approach and Radiohead are the shining lights in this regard. Oasis released Be Here Now, attempting to produce a slicker and flamboyant version of Morning Glory, and while I have a soft spot for D’You Know What I Mean? and Stand By Me, both songs highlight the misguided approach taken throughout the entire album. Songs at least two minutes too long, overproduced and reeking of self-adulation, drugs and arrogance. Noel himself in retrospect hates the album. In spite of this, if Be Here Now was a first release Oasis would have be lauded as the next big thing and indeed it was originally received with some praise attached. Liam probably summed it as good as anyone “at that time we thought it was fucking great, and I still think it’s great. It just wasn’t Morning Glory.”
After Be Here Now, Oasis went through a bunch of line up changes and released Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (2000) and Heathen Chemistry (2002). Both albums failed to capture the public’s attention with any real longevity. They made the charts, but compared to their illustrious heights, sales and critical reception had atrophied. The release of Don’t Believe the Truth and the latest Dig out Your Soul gave Oasis a little resurgence, but the magic has dissipated. The rawness and optimism was lost somewhere between Morning Glory and Be Here Now.
So where did they go wrong? Any band probably has to actually like each other for there to be any longevity. Some of the animosity between the Gallagher brothers and other members of the band comes through the recordings. While they can link together and produce some cracking records; when it comes to touring, writing, touring, drinking, touring, drugs, writing, recording etc … all that bad blood must take its toll. The best of Oasis was in the first three years of Noel and Liam’s work, between 1993 and 1996 encompassing Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory. That’s where it ended. Oasis were never going to be U2: surviving the shifting musical trends. The last ten years saw a few good songs, but a band is more than just the music.
The departure of Noel closes a door on modern musical history that should be noted outside of scandal and turmoil. Oasis helped the musical world come out of the haze of synths in the 80s and pulled away from the culture of grunge offering something more universal, appealing and powerful. So give Champagne Supernova a spin again and feel the power that poprock once produced.
