When
Creation Records supremo Alan McGee saw them at a club gig in Glasgow
they had no manager, no agent, and no money. Just greatness. He
signed them on the spot. An unsuspecting world was about to be blown
away.
On April 11th 1994, Oasis released their debut single, 'Supersonic',
an elegantly noisy pop celebration. By now their live shows were
being talked of as something very special and they'd built an extensive,
committed fan base. A trio of classic singles, 'Shakermaker', 'Live
Forever' and 'Cigarettes and Alcohol' further emphasised Oasis'
soaringly assured power. Their increasingly growing audience began
to wonder what they ever did without them.
More live shows followed, including a triumphant New York debut
and promoters soon got used to the band breaking all records, exceeding
even the wildest expectations. With the release of their debut album,
'Definitely Maybe', it was time to rewrite the record books once
again. The album was the fastest selling debut in British history,
entering the charts, unsurprisingly, at number one. It's still in
the UK top twenty after a staggering eighteen months, going way
past triple platinum and perhaps more impressively has sold well
over one million copies outside the UK.
They crowned 1994 with
their No.3 Xmas single 'Whatever', swept the readers' and writer's
polls in the music press, and were, unsurprisingly, winners at the
BRIT Awards. Barely a year between their first single and the stratospheric.
Not bad going. In 1995 the reputation of Oasis' live shows sky-rocketed.
All around the world gigs sold out in under half an hour, and telephone
exchanges from Dublin to Detroit blew up through the sheer weight
of calls for tickets. Furthermore they headlined Glastonbury, played
two nights in a colossal tent on Irvine Beach, Scotland, and staged
the two biggest ever indoor gigs in Europe, at a specially-expanded
Earls Court.
So loud were the latter
that serious earth tremors were reported in the Kensington and Chelsea
areas. The shows themselves were astounding, emotional, and proof,
if any was needed, that Oasis were undoubtedly the biggest and best
band in the country. On record, too, the band had progressed, in
April 'Some Might Say' provided them with their first No. 1 single,
selling over 300,000 copies. The follow-up 'Roll With It' reached
400,000, and 'Wonderwall' is Platinum (600,000) and rising after
12 weeks in the Top Ten, and inspired an almost instant cover version
by Mike Flowers.
Their second album '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' went straight
in at No. 1, and became the fastest-selling album since Michael
Jackson's 'Bad' in 1987. By the end of 1995 it was certified 6 times
Platinum, and, apart from Robson & Jerome, by far the biggest-selling
album of the year. This success is being mirrored world-wide, with
the album hitting No. 1 in France, Sweden, Ireland and New Zealand,
as well as reaching gold in most other countries.
If last year was magnificent, their future looks better still. Edging
into 1996 , there's 4 BRAT Awards, 6 BRIT nominations, and 'Don't
Look Back In Anger' their ninth single in less than 2 years. Significantly,
at time of writing '...Morning Glory?' had just jumped to No. 5
in the US Billboard charts.
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