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Oasis Guides

Oasis is an English rock and roll band, originally known as The Rain. Oasis have sold more than 50 million records all around the world. They have also enjoyed eight UK number-one single hits.

The Beginning of Oasis

Oasis was formed in 1991, and they evolved from the band formerly known as The Rain. They were originally made up of four band members: Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs, Tony McCarrol and Christopher Hutton. However, the band members were not satisfied with Hutton, and instead allowed Liam Gallagher to audition for a replacement to the band. Gallagher was the one to suggest changing the bands name to Oasis, from The Rain. Liam got this idea from an Inspiral Carpets poster which hung in his bedroom. Liam’s brother, Noel, was a roadie for the band at the time. The poster listed a number of venues that the band had played at. One of them was the Oasis Leisure Centre, which is located in Swindon.

The first live show that the band Oasis played was at the Boardwalk Club, in August of 1991. This club was located in Manchester. Noel, the younger brother of Liam, joined the crowd to watch his little brother play. He and the friends he brought didn’t believe that Oasis was that great, but he thought that perhaps he could incorporate his songs into the group’s vocals. Consequently, Noel talked to the band about joining the group. His condition, however, was that he would be the group’s leader as well as the solo songwriter, and that the band would commit to being as successful as they could be. The group agreed, and still talks about how many songs Liam brought to the band. Under Liam’s direction, the band created an excellent sound, made even more unique from the amplifier’s distortion. .

Oasis played for a little over a year from here, with a variety of live shows, lots of rehearsals and their demonstration recording, which was called the “Live Demonstration”. Oasis got to enjoy their biggest break yet in the month of May, 1993. They were discovered by the co-owner of the recording studio, Creation Records. Alan McGee then asked them to play at a club found in Glasgow, Scotland. This club was called the King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. They also played with a group called Sister Lovers. The band members of Oasis gathered their friends, raised up enough money to hire a van to drive them, and set out on the 6 hour road trip into Glasgow. Conflicting reports have been told about the band’s arrival to the club, when they were refused to be allowed in, as they were not written in on the set list for the club. Some reports say that they bullied themselves right into the club, although all of the band members and Alan McGee have stated that they did not. Whatever the case, Oasis played the opening spot and McGee was very impressed by their music. Four days later, McGee signed Oasis into a contract with Sony Records.

Oasis released their demo song Columbia, which was only a limited version. Their first official single entitled Supersonic was put out in April of 1994. It reached the number 32 spot amongst the charts. After this release, the song Shakemaker came along, which followed with a lawsuit involving plagiarism, which costs Oasis to pay out a lot of cash. Their first single to land in the Top 10 was Live Forever, which enjoyed its spot in the UK chart. Oasis then released Definitely Maybe, their first album, which found itself at number one in the charts. This album made it as the quickest selling debut record ever to be seen in the UK.

After a good year of many live performances and recordings, the band started to go downhill. At a show in LA, Liam was playing while having taken the drug crystal meth. At the show, Liam ended up making offending remarks about the Americans in the audience, and assaulted his brother Noel during the show with a tambourine. Noel quit the band right after this incident, and flew off to San Francisco. He walked out of the band with no notice, and did not let anyone know his plans. This whole incident inspired the song called “Talk Tonight”. A Creation executive was able to track Noel down and was able to persuade him to continue on with the band. Noel and Liam made up, and the group started to tour again in Minneapolis. .

Information on the Band Members

Although Oasis currently has 6 members within them, they have been through a few members to get where they are at today. .

Past Members of the band

• Zak Starkey- Zak Starkey is a drummer who is very well known as being a child of The Beatles sensation Ringo Starr, also a drummer. He was the third drummer when playing for Oasis, playing the drums and percussion from 2004 through 2008. .

• Alan White- Alan White played the drums for the band for a long period of time, from 1995 through 2004. The circumstances surrounding his departure are still somewhat unknown. .

• Paul Arthurs- Paul Arthurs, also known as Bonehead, played the rhythm guitar from 1991 through 1999. He reportedly left to spend more time with his young wife and children. .

• Paul McGuigan- Paul McGuigan performed on the bass from 1991 through 1999. As a founding member of the band, he was one of the first to play when they were known as The Rain. He also reported leaving to spend more time with his family, although this claim has been disputed. .

• Tony McCarroll- Tony McCarroll played the drums and the percussion from 1991 through 1995. He replaced the drum machine when the band was The Rain. He was replaced by Alan White, as the band felt his drumming was not up to par..

Present Members of the band

• Liam Gallagher- Liam Gallagher is the lead singer, songwriter and musician for Oasis. He has been praised for his abrasive and appealing singing style, and was considered a figurehead for the Britpop movement. Liam is still a very popular name for British music, and has written many singles for the band. These include “Songbird” and “I’m Outta Time”. Liam also founded is own clothing line, known as Pretty Green. He has played with the band from 1991 to the present day.

• Noel Gallagher- Noel Gallagher is the songwriter for Oasis, as well as the lead guitarist. He has been with the band since 1991, when he watched his brother perform at one of their first gigs. He is also an occasional singer for the band. In 1988, Noel became a roadie for the band called Inspiral Carpets, until becoming a member of Oasis.

• Colin Archer- Colin Archer, also known as Gem, played in Oasis from 1999 to the present. He joined to play the rhythm guitar, progressing up to playing the leads guitar as well. Archer also contributes to a few of the bands songs. In the very early 80’s, he started his career in a band named The Edge. Archer also plays the harmonica.

• Andy Bell- Andy Bell joined the group in 1999 and is still a current member. Bell plays the keyboard and the bass, as well as contributing to the songwriting of the band. Bell is a former member of Ride, a 90s band, and can also sing, DJ and produce.

• Chris Sharrock- Chris Sharrock plays the drums and the percussion for the band, and joined in 2008 to the present day. Sharrock joined the band when Starkey left. He made his debut in a session played on front of 150 different Oasis fan club enthusiasts.

Discography

The band has 7 main albums that they have released since they formed in 1991. They also have a live album, two extended play albums and five video records. Oasis has released thirty-one different singles to date.

1. Definitely Maybe Oasis put out their debut album entitled Defiantly Maybe in 1994, after forming about 3 years beforehand. A few singles from the album were already enjoying much success, such as “Supersonic” and “Cigarettes and Alcohol”. Definitely Maybe became a fast success, and went down in history as the fastest selling debut record in the United Kingdom. It enjoys a 7x platinum standing in the UK, and was also the album that brought about their success in the United States. Worldwide, Definitely Maybe sold more than seven million copies.

2. What’s the Story, Morning Glory? The second album to be put out by Oasis was entitled What’s the Story, Morning Glory? This record was the band’s best success, and sold about 347,000 million copies during its debut week in the UK alone. 20 million copies of the album have since been sold all over the world. According to the chart history of the UK, this album is the third largest record on the charts. In America, the album reached 4x platinum status when it sold 4.6 million copies. The album was released in 1995.

3. Be Here Now The album Be Here Now was released to the public in 1997, and was very highly anticipated. Oasis was considered at that point to be at the height of their popularity. Be Here Now quickly became the UK’s quickest selling record, with a sale of over a million during the first two weeks of being released. Eight million copies have been sold since the year 2008.

4. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants The fourth album to be released from Oasis was called Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, and was released in 2000. The album went double platinum according to the British Phonographic Industry. It became a number one hit album in the UK, but was actually the bands least successful album of all. The media itself gave the album not-so-good reviews, and the songs were considered darker than normal.

5. Heathen Chemistry The fifth album of the band was released in 2002. The album Heathen Chemistry was the first album to offer many different songwriters to the mix, such as songs from Liam Gallagher, Andy Bell and Gem Archer. This album turned out to be the last one to have Alan White, the bands longtime drummer, performing in it. The albums release was somewhat dampened by the leaking of 11 of its songs on the Internet, which happened about 3 months before the album was released. The album made it to number one on the UK, but only got to number 23 in the US.

6. Don’t Believe the Truth The sixth album, Don’t Believe the Truth, was released in May of 2005. Within a week, it hit the #1 spot on the United Kingdom charts, and made it to #12 in the United States. This album boasts lyrics from all the members of the band. This was the first album that Zak Starkey, who replaced Alan White, was heard on the drums. The Don’t Believe the Truth tour went to 26 countries, and the band played 113 concerts during that tour. From this tour came the film entitled Lord Don’t Slow Me Down. This is now available on DVD.

7. Dig Out Your Soul In October of 2008 Oasis released Dig Out Your Soul, the seventh album from the group. The band promoted the album on their world tour from 2008 through 2009. Dig Out Your Soul has sales over 2 million at the present time. .

Awards and Nominations

Brit Awards

• Oasis have been nominated and won many awards in the Brit Awards, an annual music award show. Between the years 1995 and 1996, the won the title of Best British Newcomer Video, Album and Group. In 2007 they won the Outstanding Contribution to Music award. They were also nominated for 6 more awards during that time period, which they failed to win.

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Grammy Awards

• Although Oasis has been nominated for three different areas, they have yet to win a Grammy.

Ivor Novello Awards

• The Ivor Novbello Awards are directed for those who are songwriters and composers. Oasis was nominated and won for songwriters of the year for 1995, and were nominated in 2003 for the best lyrical and musical song.

Other awards that Oasis has received are as follows:

• MTV Europe Music Awards: Won Best UK Act, Best Song, Group and Rock between 1994 and 1997.

• MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Won for Best Live act in 2002. • NME Awards: Won Best Band, New Band, Live Band, Single and Album of the Year, Best Single, Album, Music Event, UK Band, Band and Artist of the Year, Best Musical DVD, Video, British Band and Band Blog, between 1995 and 2007. • Q Awards: Won awards for the Best New Act, Live Act (twice), Best Act in the World Today (three times), Best Album, People’s choice and the Classic Songwriter Award, between 1994 and 2006. • Top of the Pops: Won for Best Rock Act on 2002. • Vodafone Live Music Awards: Won for Best Live Music DVD on 2007.

Oasis Videos