Uploaded with
ImageShack.us
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher (vocals and tambourine), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar) and Tony McCarroll (drums, percussion), who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher (lead guitar and vocals).
Oasis evolved from an earlier band called The Rain, composed of Paul McGuigan (bass guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll (drums) and Chris Hutton (vocals). Unsatisfied with Hutton, Arthurs auditioned acquaintance Liam Gallagher as a replacement. Liam suggested that the band name be changed to Oasis. This change was inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster that hung in the Gallagher brothers' bedroom. One of the venues the poster listed was the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon, Wiltshire.
After over a year of live shows, rehearsals and a recording of a proper demo (known as the Live Demonstration tape), the band's big break came in May 1993 when they were spotted by Creation Records co-owner Alan McGee. Oasis were invited to play a gig at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut club in Glasgow, Scotland, by a band called Sister Lovers, who shared their rehearsal rooms. Oasis, along with a group of friends, found the money to hire a van and make the journey to Glasgow. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club as they were not on that night's set list, which reportedly caused the band to bully their way in (although both the band and McGee have given contradicting statements about how they actually managed to get into the club on that night). They were given the opening slot and impressed McGee, who was there to see 18 Wheeler, one of his own bands, that night. McGee was so impressed by what he saw he signed the band to Creation four days later. Due to problems securing an American contract, Oasis ended up signing a worldwide contract with Sony, which in turn licensed Oasis to Creation in the UK.
Oasis did not associate themselves with the Britpop movement and were not invited to perform on the BBC's "Britpop Now" programme introduced by Blur singer Damon Albarn. On 14 August 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up "The Battle of Britpop" that dominated the national news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll with It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week. Oasis' management came up with several reasons for this, claiming "Country House" sold more because it was less expensive (£1.99 vs £3.99) and 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 by Creation was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll with It" single case, which did not record all sales. Noel Gallagher told The Observer in September that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die", which caused a media furore. He subsequently apologised for this in a formal letter to various publications.
Bassist Paul McGuigan briefly left the band in September 1995, citing nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of The Ya Ya's, who was featured on some of the tour dates as well as in the "Wonderwall" video before leaving abruptly while on tour in the US. McLeod later contacted Noel Gallagher claiming he felt he had made the wrong decision. Gallagher curtly replied "I think you have too. Good luck signing on." To complete the tour, McGuigan was successfully convinced to return to the band.
Oasis were due to record an episode of MTV Unplugged at the Royal Festival Hall but Liam pulled out, citing a sore throat. He watched the performance from a balcony with cold beer and cigarettes, heckling Noel's singing between songs. Four days later the group left for a tour of American arenas but Liam refused to go; the band decided to continue the tour with Noel on vocals. Liam rejoined the tour on 30 August, and on 4 September 1996, Oasis performed "Champagne Supernova" at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Liam made gestures at Noel during his guitar solo, then spat beer all over the stage before storming off. A few weeks later Noel flew home without the band, who followed on another flight. This event prompted media speculation that the group were splitting up. The brothers soon reconciled and decided to complete the tour.
In early 1999, the band began work on their fourth studio album. First details were announced in February with Mark "Spike" Stent revealed to be taking a co-producing role. 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". 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. Two weeks later the departure of bassist Paul McGuigan was announced. The Gallagher brothers held a press conference shortly thereafter where they assured reporters that "the future of Oasis is secure.
The now three-piece Oasis chose to continue recording the album, with Noel Gallagher re-recording most of Arthurs' guitar and McGuigan's bass parts. After the completion of the recording sessions, the band began searching for replacement members. 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. Finding a replacement bassist took more time and effort. The band were rehearsing with David Potts, but he quickly resigned, and they brought in Andy Bell, former guitarist/songwriter of Ride and Hurricane No. 1 as their new bassist. Bell had never played bass before and had to learn to play it, (with Noel since saying that Liam said "if he can play the guitar, he can play the fookin' bass.") along with a handful of songs from Oasis' back catalogue, in preparation for a scheduled tour of America in December 1999. With the folding of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, which released all of Oasis' subsequent records in the UK and Ireland.
While touring in Barcelona in 2000, Oasis were forced to cancel a gig when an attack of tendinitis caused Alan White's arm to seize up, and the band spent the night drinking instead. After a row between the two brothers, Noel declared he was quitting touring overseas altogether, and Oasis were supposed to finish the tour without him. Noel eventually returned for the Irish and British legs of the tour, which included two major shows at Wembley Stadium. A live album of the first show, called Familiar to Millions, was released in late 2000 to mixed reviews.
In late summer 2002, whilst the band were on tour in the US, Noel, Bell and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident in Indianapolis. While none of the band members sustained any major injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. In December 2002, the latter half of the German leg of the band's European tour had to be postponed after Liam Gallagher, Alan White and three other members of the band's entourage were arrested after a violent brawl at a Munich nightclub. The band had been drinking heavily and tests showed that Liam had used cocaine. Liam lost two front teeth and kicked a police officer in the ribs, while Alan suffered minor head injuries after getting hit with an ashtray. Two years later Liam was fined around £40,000. The band finished their tour in March 2003 after returning to those postponed dates. Liam Gallagher said Oasis began recording a sixth album in late December 2003 with producers Death in Vegas at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall. The album was originally planned for a September 2004 release to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the release of Definitely Maybe. However, long-time drummer Alan White, who at this time had played on nearly all of the band's material, left the band in early January 2004. 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. White was replaced by Zak Starkey, drummer of The Who and the son of The Beatles' Ringo Starr. Though Starkey performed on studio recordings and toured with the band, he was not officially a member and the band were a four-piece for the first time in their career. Starkey played publicly for the first time at Poole Lighthouse.
In May 2008, Zak Starkey left the band after recording Dig Out Your Soul, the band's seventh studio album. He was replaced by former Icicle Works drummer Chris Sharrock on their tour and like Zak, Chris was not an official member of the band and Oasis remained as a four-piece.
In June 2008, the band re-signed with Sony BMG for a three-album deal. Oasis recorded for a couple of months in 2007 between July and September—completing work on two new songs and demoing the rest. They took a two-month break, because of the birth of Noel's son. The band re-entered the studio on 5 November 2007 and finished recording around March 2008 with producer Dave Sardy.
On 7 September 2008 while performing at Virgin Festival in Toronto, a member of the audience ran on stage and physically assaulted Noel. Noel suffered three broken and dislodged ribs as a result from the attack, and the group had to cancel several shows while he recovered.
On 28 August 2009, following a fight between the Gallaghers in a backstage area, which reportedly resulted in Liam breaking Noel's guitar, the group's manager announced the cancellation of their concert at the Rock en Seine festival near Paris just minutes before it was about to begin, along with the cancellation of the European tour and a statement that the group "does not exist anymore".
Two hours later a statement from Noel appeared on the band's website writing that "with some sadness and great relief...I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer". The rest of the band have since continued their career in the band Beady Eye, while Noel ventured into a solo project eponymously called Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.
On 16 February 2010, Oasis won the award for Best Brit Album of the Last 30 Years at the 2010 BRIT Awards. Liam Gallagher collected the award alone, before presenting his speech. His speech thanked Bonehead, McGuigan and Alan White but not his brother, Noel. Liam threw his microphone and the band's award into the crowd. On 15 March 2010, Liam defended his actions at the awards ceremony, saying "I'm sick of it all being about me and Noel, the last couple of months has pretty much been all about me and him so I thought it was only right to mention the other lads who played on the album and the best fans in the world." and "I thought it was a nice gesture to give this to the fans, obviously it was misinterpreted as per usual." about throwing the award.
Oasis were most heavily influenced by The Beatles, an influence which was frequently labelled as an "obsession" by the British media. In addition, members of Oasis have cited The Stone Roses, The Bee Gees,T. Rex, Sex Pistols, Slade, Small Faces, The Who, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, The Stooges, The La's, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, R.E.M., Humble Pie, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, The Kinks, The Jam, Pink Floyd, The Verve, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, and The Smiths as an influence or inspiration.
Legal action was taken in the case of Neil Innes (formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and The Rutles) who sued after the song "Whatever" borrowed from his "How Sweet to Be an Idiot". He was awarded royalties and a co-writer credit. Noel Gallagher claimed in 2010 that the plagiarism was unintentional and he was unaware of the similarities until informed of Innes's legal case. Oasis were also sued by Coca-Cola and forced to pay A$500,000 in damages; When asked about the incident, Noel Gallagher joked "Now we all drink Pepsi." "Shakermaker" allegedly lifted words and melody from "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".
Many bands and artists have cited Oasis as an influence or inspiration, including The Killers, Arctic Monkeys,[not in citation given] The Enemy, Elliott Smith, Lily Allen, Maroon 5, The View, Hurts, Coldplay, The Strokes, The Coral, Ryan Adams, The Kooks, The Rifles, The Pigeon Detectives, Keane and Kasabian.
No Way Sis were a cover band from Glasgow who had a top 40 hit in the UK with "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" a cover of the New Seekers song sung in the manner of Oasis. The Japanese band Little by Little derived their name from the Oasis song of the same name.
Band Members
Liam Gallagher – lead vocals, tambourine (1991–2009)
Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards (1991–2009)
Gem Archer – rhythm guitar, bass, harmonica (1999–2009)
Andy Bell – bass, rhythm guitar (1999–2009)
Chris Sharrock – drums (2008–2009)
Former members
Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, piano (1991–1999)
Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan – bass (1991–1999)
Tony McCarroll – drums (1991–1995)
Alan White – drums, percussion (1995–2004)
Zak Starkey – drums (2004–2008)
Studio albums
Definitely Maybe (1994)
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
Be Here Now (1997)
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (2000)
Heathen Chemistry (2002)
Don't Believe the Truth (2005)
Dig Out Your Soul (2008)
