KOKO Rewind
OASIS - Definitely Maybe (Released Aug 1994)
By KOKO Asia Team/p>
With the recent split of Oasis making news around the world, KOKO ASIA decided to take a look back at the bands discovery and first album, a release that some might say was never surpassed.
So, the story goes, on a cold wet evening in Glasgow back in 1993, Alan Mcgee the head of Creation records missed his train back to London. After many hysteric phone calls and arguments, he accepted that he was not going to make it home that night and decided to head to one of his favourite haunts, Glasgow infamous KING TUTS WAH WAH HUT music venue.
On walking in, he was confronted with the usual midweek crowd of about 12 people and proceeded to sink a couple of pints. 4 or 5 beers later, the band formerly known as RAIN but now going under the moniker OASIS stepped on stage. Alan was later to comment that "the audience was made up of me, my sister and a Japanese tourist...." Hardly the start you would imagine for a band that became one of the fastest and biggest selling rock n roll acts of all time!
He listened to the first song and thought "...it was fucking brilliant..." but was cautious in his approval as he was a bit drunk and had dabbled in some narcotics to ease the pain of missing the last train. After the second and third song, he was convinced that he was in the presence of something special. Yes, he was drunk but his ears could not be fooling him, he was mesmerised by the singer and midway through the fourth song of the set, decided to offer them a record deal. He approached Noel Gallagher - the brains behind the new Oasis line up and chief writer - after the performance, told him of his love for the band and offered him a deal on the spot. These stories of offers did not seem to occur anymore as the industry was slowly evolving its focus to the internet but Alan Mcgee had always worked on instinct and this was a special night.
Creation records, Alan Mcgee's label was famously in dire straits at this point and the rest of his team were concerned that Oasis could be the final nail in their very dark coffin. Bands like Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub just were not making him the money but after he played his various label managers the track 'LIVE FOREVER', they were all convinced that he was right and the Oasis machine rolled into gear.
Rumours more recently suggest that actually SONY BMG had already signed the band but felt that at the time, to release them on a major label was not the 'cool move' and so instructed Mcgee to attend the show, and if he felt right about them, SONY would license the band to his label, knowing the financial trouble he was in. This rumour has been denied and refuted many times and I for one prefer to think fairy tales can happen...so for the benefit of dreams, lets go with the myth!
Britpop was huge in 1994 and Oasis were rushed into the studio in Jan of that year to start work on their debut album. They spent 4 weeks recording and anticipation was high. Come the end of January, when they first were able to hear their hard labour in action, disappointment was the feeling surrounding band and the label. They had failed to capture the raucous sound that Oasis produced on stage and words such as 'thin' and 'weak' were banded about concerning the sound.
A trip to Amsterdam followed that was to end in a mass brawl and produced later, the infamous argument that was released on CD under the name "Wibbling Rivalry" where Noel accuses Liam of being a football hooligan - this was the first example of the trouble that would dog the band in future life. The brothers just cannot work or tour together for any period of time without it 'kicking off'.
So they came back to London, annoyed with how things had worked out in Holland and concerned about the quality of the album recordings. Noel decided that they needed to give it more edge and so they tore down the dividers that separated the various instruments and performers from each other in a studio (a technique much used still to this day unfortunately) and they re-recorded the album, playing live as if they were performing a show. Noel then later added reverb and sent it off for review by the label.
Again the feedback was poor. It just was not cutting it and by the end of March, the album recordings had been sent to an engineer turned producer called Owen Morris, in desperation, with the instruction "Do what the fuck you want with it, just make it work". Come May 1994, Morris had totally reworked the album recordings giving it drive, edge, filth and most of all bollox. Some would later comment that Morris created the Oasis sound on record, it was he that made them the act they are today. The album was released in August 1994 to both critical and commercial acclaim. It was to sell 100,000 in its first 3 days and the album was to give the band the title of the UK's fastest selling debut album of all time (unfortunately that title has now been taken by Pop Idol's Leona Lewis!).
The album itself is a mash up of songs from cocaine to lost love to what their best mate had for dinner!
It opens with the electric 'Rock N Roll Star', a call to arms to every lad in the country at that time to 'fucking have it'. Every pub up and down the land was filled with Liams strained vocals "tooniiiight im a rock n roll star". It was song to get dressed to, a song to get on it with your mates to but best of all, it gave you hope. 'Shakermaker' follows, one of the first examples of Noels ability to take on a song, mess about with it and put his own unique touch to it. The famous Coca Cola song "I'd like to teach the world to sing" by The New Seekers had been ripped to fuck by Noel but not enough to disguise is birthplace. So much so that The New Seekers attempted to sue them! Could they not see that this was positive piracy!
The next track on this album of greats was "Live Forever". The song that is still to this day, 15 years later, one of the only songs to continually retain its place in the set list. Surely a record in itself! Some say a tribute to John Lennon whilst others say the video of the band burying their later-to-be-sacked drummer, Tony Mcarroll, was a more telling story. Oasis can make you cry at times and this was the first example of a sing that brought emotion to 19 year old, drug taking, beer drinking lads. It was suddenly ok to be a bit 'soft' at times.
The middle of the album presents you with the big beats of 'Bring it on down' and the dark side of the band can be heard on their debut single release 'Columbia' which had been released months before the album. 'Ciggerettes and Alcohol' was one of those tracks that was always going to be a hit. With the intro ripped from 'Get it On' by T-Rex, Noel again showed us he was not scared to incorporate other influences and riffs into his song "If its fooking good enough, its in" was the motto. With lines like:
"Is it worth the aggravation
To find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?
It's a crazy situation
But all I need are cigarettes and alcohol!"
This was 90's Britain and Oasis had just captured the hearts and minds of everyone from 16 years old to 25. That song, even now has relevance and to be honest, rightly or wrongly, I believe is how most of the rest of the world perceives that demographic in the UK to be like.
'Slide Away' is Oasis's first foray into an epic track, later to be surpassed only by songs such as 'Champagne Supernova'. A gorgeous song that flows like a slow tide drifting out, Liams voice shows feeling that he had not really had a chance to show earlier in the album and you suddenly realise this band could be, just could be, genius.
The album shook the record industry to its very core, the band were to go on and release the 3rd best selling UK album of all time as their follow up to this monster debut.
Oasis were as an important band to the 90's as The Beatles were to the 60's in the UK, it took some of the rest of the world time to catch on but eventually they did. Despite many line up changes, the Oasis ethos has remained the same. Had Alan Mcgee caught that train, would the band have made it? Nobody knows and despite the many splits and arguments since this 1994 album, somehow, the recent split seems final. Something just feels like the end. Noels comments are strong and emotional in the days since the split, citing 'intimidation from his brother and band mates' as one of the reasons for leaving. Whatever happens, I think this album was their finest moment. This album will be talked about for years to come.
Do I think they are really over?
Definitely Maybe...
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