Short Biography
THE rock annals are so full of myth and invention that every now and again when the real deal shows up, it takes a while to recognize it for what it is.

Noel Gallagher's memories of his first appearance at the UK's biggest rock festival, Glastonbury, in 1994 are episodic and intimate, like outtakes from a movie he'd wandered into. They're of things like taking possession of a backstage caravan from the band he'd once worked for as a roadie, and coming offstage to be told that Oasis's second UK single, "Shakermaker," had climbed to number eleven in the UK chart; of someone from their record label Creation Records being disappointed to fall short of the top ten while the band...

Short Biography
THE rock annals are so full of myth and invention that every now and again when the real deal shows up, it takes a while to recognize it for what it is.

Noel Gallagher's memories of his first appearance at the UK's biggest rock festival, Glastonbury, in 1994 are episodic and intimate, like outtakes from a movie he'd wandered into. They're of things like taking possession of a backstage caravan from the band he'd once worked for as a roadie, and coming offstage to be told that Oasis's second UK single, "Shakermaker," had climbed to number eleven in the UK chart; of someone from their record label Creation Records being disappointed to fall short of the top ten while the band, having just heard their music soaring towards a horizon for the first time, now knew there would be no space they couldn't fill, were individually thrilled. Noel recalls having the astonishing intimation that the band's dreams were about to become true. Oasis were at the forefront of a new generation of British guitar groups who stepped out of the shadow of native dance culture and American grunge, with eyes fixed on the mainstream in a way that would have been unthinkable a few years before. 60,000 people went away from that first Glastonbury performance and told a million others about the thrill of what they'd seen: about this band who were the absolute primal essence of rock and roll, refined and distilled to ragged perfection - the impact of whose music, then as now, was so bafflingly much greater than the sum of its parts. We all went away knowing we'd seen something great and that the acts who followed Oasis that afternoon might as well not have bothered.

Talk to the Gallagher brothers about how they made it that far and you get no romanticisation, because while their tale might read like a fairy story now, that's not how it began, and you don't have to delve far to find echoes of rock's origins in the Delta. The details of their early lives in the tough Manchester, UK  district of Burnage are well documented, but fortunately there were compensations in the form of an old guitar their father brought home one day - in which Noel found refuge for hours at a time - and regular trips to the local Maine Road Stadium to watch Manchester City play football. In the case of the latter, what fascinated the boys was not so much the action on the pitch, but the ‘stands full of crowds singing together, something you never saw (and still seldom see) anywhere else. And what they sang was so uplifting. Noel had been born three days before the release of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper, but football provided his first real experience of music and it may be coincidence that songs like "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Champagne Supernova" seem to come fully alive in a stadium; that Oasis are one of the few bands you'd rather see in that environment than in a sweaty club. But there again, it may not. Critics who dismiss Oasis's songs as populist fail to recognize the core emotion behind them, which is yearning.

So in their different ways, the songs are mostly about transcendence and it's arguable that what we have here is a form of English soul music... which also explains the uniquely intimate relationship between Oasis and their fans - why their audience not only remains constant, but constantly renews itself, regardless of whatever vogues are playing elsewhere.

Liam formed the band. Noel never played in one until he came home from roadying for Inspiral Carpets and managed to persuade the four friends from the original lineup that he should join forces with them. Liam appears to have been born to his destiny as a rock star - his mother tells a story of him covering dropped lines in a nativity play with a spontaneous impression of Elvis - but Noel expected to be a builder like his dad. None of his mates were into music, but a first sighting of local boys The Smiths in 1984 turned his world upside down, with Liam equally besotted by The Stone Roses' legendary early Manchester shows, setting the seal on the brothers' musical ambitions a few years later.

We often assume the rise of Oasis to have been instant and unchallenged, but it wasn't: the first review in Britain's NME was noncommittal and the second scathing. Nevertheless, by the time that blistering debut album Definitely Maybe arrived, most observers had no trouble recognising it as a stone cold classic. The instinctive theme was the band's dream of escaping the life they'd been born to, but where a song like Rock ‘n' Roll Star, with its chorus of ‘Tonight...I'm a rock ‘n' roll star!' could seem aloof in other hands, this song wasn't about being a rock star, it was about feeling like one; about that fleeting sense of immortality you got when you stalked into a bar knowing you looked great, felt great, were the very essence and summation of being - the sense that existence could never, ever have more to offer than this. No one has ever captured this precarious thrill better than Noel, while Liam seems its perpetual embodiment. The singer's six-syllable phrasing of the word ‘imagination' in the first line of "Cigarettes & Alcohol" makes it easily the most iconic song line of the 1990s.

Everything which followed was built on this ecstatic foundation. The second album, (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, went over the top when "Wonderwall" became a world-wide anthem of 1995. Then there was the insanity surrounding the release of the band's third album, Be Here Now, in 1997, of a type not visited upon the British Isles since Beatlemania and which no album could hope to live up to. Notwithstanding its author's retrospective belief that Be Here Now was rushed, it springs a lot of surprises when listened to with fresh ears at this remove: at the very least, it looks like the most perfect expression of its time, which seemed to feed the inevitable post-millennial comedown, and a sense of disorientation which found focus in Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, the album made just before the sudden departure of founder members Bonehead and Guigs. All the same, a period of rebuilding both band and the brothers' personal lives  culminated in 2002's Heathen Chemistry, which combined the band's best collection of songs since Morning Glory with the fresh drive provided by new members Gem Archer and Andy Bell.

The interesting thing about the story so far is that, throughout, the group's live audience continued to grow on a world-wide scale, perhaps because the brothers' triumphs and travails seemed to reflect our own as individuals. Just as they are a part of our story, we feel ourselves to be a part of theirs and perhaps the most revealing thing Noel Gallagher has ever said about the band came in response to a question concerning their lack of razzmatazz live, to which he replied simply that "if you take the emphasis away from razzmatazz, the audience gets more involved with itself." And now we seem to have entered a second phase. Their most recent album, Don't Believe The Truth, rightly heralded as a triumphant return, differs from its predecessors in that the writing is shared amongst the band. Liam continues to blossom and mature as a songwriter, while Gem Archer and Andy Bell have stepped forward with telling contributions and are making it increasingly hard to remember a time when they weren't around. Meanwhile, Noel's own tunes seem to be engaging with the world in a more direct way, almost as wry Information Age protest songs in some cases. Where this might lead, it's impossible to know, but anyone who saw 2005/06's world tour will have found Oasis looking and sounding as vital as at any time since '94.

In-depth Biography
Oasis shot from obscurity to stardom in 1994, becoming one of Britain's most popular and critically acclaimed bands of the decade; along with Blur and Suede, they are responsible for returning British guitar pop to the top of the charts. Led by guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher, the Manchester quintet adopts the rough, thuggish image of the Stones and the Who, crosses it with "Beatlesque" melodies and hooks, distinctly British lyrical themes and song structures like the Jam and the Kinks, and ties it all together with a massive, loud guitar roar, as well as a defiant sneer that draws equally from the Sex Pistols' rebelliousness and the Stone Roses' cocksure arrogance. Gallagher's songs frequently rework previous hits from T. Rex ("Cigarettes and Alcohol" borrows the riff from "Bang a Gong") to Wham! ("Fade Away" takes the melody from "Freedom"), yet the group always puts the hooks in different settings, updating past hits for a new era.

Originally, the group was formed by schoolmates Liam Gallagher (vocals), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan (bass), and Tony McCaroll (drums). After spending several years as the guitar technician for the Stone Roses-inspired group the Inspiral Carpets, Noel Gallagher returned to Manchester to find that his brother had formed a band. Noel agreed to join the band if he could have complete control of the group, including contributing all the songs; the rest of the band agreed and under the new name Oasis, they began a year of intensive rehearsing.

After playing a handful of small club gigs, the band cornered Alan McGee, the head of Creation Records, and forced him to listen to their demo. Impressed, he signed the band. The group released their first single, "Supersonic," in the spring of 1994; it edged its way into the charts on the back of positive reviews. With a melody adapted from "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Shakermaker" became a bigger hit in the early summer. Released a month before their debut album, the soaring ballad "Live Forever" became a major hit in England. The group's first record, Definitely Maybe, became the fastest-selling debut in British history, entering the charts at number one. Oasis mania continued throughout 1994, as the group began playing larger theaters and each new single outperformed the last. However, tensions in the group began to build -- Liam and Noel refused to do joint interviews because they always fought -- and Noel Gallagher briefly left the band at the end of a difficult fall American tour; he soon re-joined and the band headed back to England. As "Supersonic" began to climb the U.S. album rock and modern rock charts, the non-LP, string-laden "Whatever" hit number two over the British Christmas season.

At the beginning of 1995, the group concentrated on America, promoting the single "Live Forever." The song became a major hit on MTV, album rock, and modern rock radio stations, peaking at number two, and Definitely Maybe went gold in the U.S. Returning to England after a sold-out American tour, the group recorded a new single, "Some Might Say." On the eve of its release, drummer Tony McCaroll parted ways with the band, with Alan White taking his place. "Some Might Say" entered the charts at number one upon its May release; its success led to all of their previous singles re-entering the indie charts. Oasis spent the rest of the summer completing their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, which was released in October of 1995. Upon its release, the album shot to number one in England, becoming the fastest-selling in the U.K. since Michael Jackson's Bad.

Over the course of 1996, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became the second-biggest British album in history, as Oasis became international phenomenons. On the strength of the single "Wonderwall," Morning Glory became a Top Ten success in America, eventually being certified quintuple platinum; it also reached the Top Ten throughout Europe and Asia. During 1996, the Gallaghers' combative relationship frequently made newspapers and gossip columns, particularly when they suddenly pulled out of their late summer U.S. tour. This followed the group's two concerts at Knebworth, which broke records for being the biggest outdoor concert in England. After Oasis abandoned their American tour, they concentrated on recording their third album. Where their first two albums were quickly recorded, they took several months to record the third, finally completing it in the spring of 1997. The album, Be Here Now, was released in late August, with the single "D'You Know What I Mean" preceding the full-length record in July. Greeted with generally enthusiastic reviews and robust sales, Be Here Now shattered sales records in the U.K. and nearly topped the U.S. charts, positioning the quintet as the de facto rulers of rock. However, a backlash set in among both critics and record buyers over the album's perceived excesses, which meant that Be Here Now lacked the shelf life of its predecessors. Not long afterward, typical infighting unraveled the band's tour, and the group disappeared from the spotlight for a time, although a collection of B-sides, Masterplan, did follow in 1998.

As the band was recording their fourth album in the summer of 1999, Bonehead left Oasis, claiming that he wanted to spend more time with his family. Interviewed by NME on August 11, the day after the parting was made public, Noel Gallagher seemed unfazed: "It's hardly Paul McCartney leaving the Beatles." Ex-Ride guitarist Andy Bell and onetime Heavy Stereo guitarist Gem Archer signed on after the recording of 2000's Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was completed. In fall 2000, the band celebrated their monumental world tour success with the release of their first-ever live record, Familiar To Millions. The album highlights Oasis' July 2000 gig at Wembley Stadium and was released on six different formats including CD and cassette, DVD, VHS, Triple Vinyl, and Mini Disc. Two years later, Oasis surfaced with Heathen Chemistry. Worldwide dates coincided the release of Oasis' fifth studio album, however problems loomed ahead. While touring America in late summer, Noel Gallagher, Andy Bell and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were injured in Indianapolis after their taxi collided head on with another vehicle. Oasis were back on the road in two weeks time after cancelling shows in Indianapolis, Boston and Philadelphia shows, but the album wasn't doing as well as the tour. First single "Hindu Times" barely made a mark on MTV and struggled to cling to mainstream and college radio until fall. In December 2002, Liam Gallagher and a few other members of the Oasis entourage were involved in a street scuffle in Munich. The younger Gallagher sustained facial injuries and was later arrested while two of the band's security guards sought serious medical attention. A second single, "Songbird", was issued in late winter 2003. The next album suffered delays when initial sessions with the electronica duo Death in Vegas as producers were scrapped and when drummer Alan White made his exit from the band. With Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey taking White's place, the band finished Don't Believe the Truth which saw worldwide release in May of 2005. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide