Day 126: Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
I didn’t even try to get Oasis tickets. I thought it’d be unfair, I‘ll leave that for the superfans. While I’ve liked the Oasis songs I’ve heard, I’ve not even listened to enough Oasis to be a fan. I’m more of a fan of Liam Gallagher’s old tweets if anything. Maybe it’s because I’m foreign, maybe it’s because of my age, but I feel like I just missed the phenomenon that was Oasis, so it’s about time I listen to my first full Oasis record from beginning to end.
Album cover courtesy of Creation Records
Oasis was formed in Manchester in 1991 by singer Liam Gallagher, guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan, and drummer Tony McCarroll. Liam’s brother Noel, then a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, came to see one of their gigs and was convinced to join the band, but only if they stopped mucking around and decided to pursue it seriously.
They released their first album, Definitely Maybe, in 1994. It is sort of a miracle that they managed to get the band back together because the first time they broke up was also in 1994. A month before Definitely Maybe was set to be released, the group had been touring and tensions had been building, because according to Noel, “Someone had discovered the joys of crystal meth.” That someone, of course, was Liam. It all culminated at a fateful gig at the Whiskey a Go-Go where Liam would intermittently go wolf down some meth, played the wrong songs and threw a tambourine at Noel’s head. Understandably, Noel was out.
They’ve fought like cats and dogs over the years, even I know that much. But there is a magic to the band itself, maybe one that’s almost heightened by the fact that the band feels precarious: you want to enjoy them when they’re at their functional peak. I get the hoopla, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is a banger of an album. You wouldn’t expect something so emotional from a record that’s essentially called “how goes it, boner?” but the name under-promises and the music overdelivers.
It kind of feels like Oasis returned at the right time. Today, Britain is a pretty hopeless place without really much going for it – deep down, you know I’m right – and Britpop and the assorted movements of art at least gave people something distinctly British to be proud of that’s not based on empire or division. If there’s one thing that brought people together last summer, it was definitely the return of Oasis, and I feel like I now get what all the fuss was about. I always associated them with lads-lads-lads and “Wonderwall”, but obviously they’re more than that.
I’m not sure if there’s much I can say about the music of Oasis that hasn’t been said before, and definitely not after having three glasses of red wine with dinner, but (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is a 9/10 — what on earth could I find to critique about this album? I’ll try to get into their music with a bit more time on my hands in the future.