   #copyright

Oasis (band)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Performers and composers

   Oasis
   Singer Liam Gallagher (left) and guitarist Noel Gallagher of Oasis,
   live in 2005
   Singer Liam Gallagher (left) and guitarist Noel Gallagher of Oasis,
   live in 2005
   Background information
   Origin Flag of England Manchester, England
   Genre(s) Rock
   Alternative rock
   Britpop
   Psychedelic rock
   Years active 1991–present
   Label(s) Creation
   Epic
   Columbia
   Big Brother
   Associated
   acts The Rain
   Starclub
   The Who
   Ride
   Heavy Stereo
   Website www.oasisnet.com
   Members
   Liam Gallagher
   Noel Gallagher
   Gem Archer
   Andy Bell
   Zak Starkey
   Former members
   Alan White
   Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan
   Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs
   Tony McCarroll

   Oasis are a popular English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1991.
   Led by lead guitarist and primary songwriter Noel Gallagher and his
   younger brother, lead vocalist and songwriter Liam Gallagher, they are
   the most successful group to emerge during the Britpop movement of the
   mid- 1990s. In 2005, The Guinness Book Of Hit Singles And Albums
   declared Oasis the Most Successful Act of the Last Decade in the UK.
   Oasis have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and have had
   eight UK number one singles. The Gallagher brothers are the only
   remaining original band members, and the present lineup is completed by
   rhythm/lead guitarist Gem Archer, bass guitarist Andy Bell and drummer
   Zak Starkey.

   Musically and lyrically, Oasis cite British Invasion bands such as The
   Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks as their major
   influences. They also cite The Stone Roses, The Sex Pistols, The
   Smiths, The Jam and T.Rex as other key influences.

   With the success of their critically acclaimed debut album, Definitely
   Maybe (1994), and its even more successful follow-up, the 19 million
   selling (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), coupled with a
   rivalry with their contemporary Blur, Oasis attained fame in the
   mid-1990s, and became one of the leaders of the Britpop movement. The
   Gallagher brothers featured regularly in tabloid newspaper stories, and
   cultivated a reputation as both bad boys and a band of the people.

   At the height of their fame, Oasis' third album, Be Here Now (1997),
   reached #1 in the UK charts, #2 in the U.S. and also became the
   fastest-selling album in chart history, with almost half a million
   copies sold on the first day alone. However, as the decade ended, the
   initial praise the album received on its release vanished, and the band
   suffered a huge drop in popularity. In 2005, their sixth album Don't
   Believe the Truth was released becoming their best-selling and
   best-received album since the mid-90's, selling 65,000 records in the
   first week in the United States.

History

(1991–1993) Early years and breakthrough

   Oasis evolved from an earlier band called The Rain, who took their name
   from a 1966 Beatles B-side. It comprised Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan ( bass
   guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll ( drums) and
   Chris Hutton (vocals). When McGuigan invited school friend Liam
   Gallagher to join the group, Gallagher accepted, and quickly pushed for
   the band's name to be changed to Oasis. Although there have been many
   theories on where Liam got the name from, he got it from an Inspiral
   Carpets tour poster which was in his and Noel's bedroom. One of the
   venues on it was the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.

   Oasis first played live in August of 1991 at the Boardwalk club in
   Manchester. Noel Gallagher, who had heard of Liam's involvement when he
   phoned his mother whilst on tour in Germany as a roadie for the
   Inspiral Carpets, came to watch his younger brother play. A few months
   later he was invited to join the band. Although he had been critical of
   them, he agreed, with the provision that he would become the band's
   sole songwriter and leader, and that they would commit to an earnest
   pursuit of commercial success. Oasis under Noel Gallagher crafted their
   musical approach to rely on simplicity: with Arthurs and McGuigan
   restricted to playing barre chords and root bass notes, respectively,
   McCarroll playing basic rhythms, and the band's amplifiers turned up
   until the sound distorted, Oasis created a sound "so devoid of finesse
   and complexity that it came out sounding pretty much unstoppable."

   After over a year of live shows, rehearsals and even taking the time
   out to record a proper demo (known as the Live Demonstration tape), the
   band's big break came May 31st 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 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 six-hour journey to Glasgow.
   Oasis original line-up, 1991-1995: Tony McCarroll, Paul Arthurs, Liam
   Gallagher, Paul McGuigan and Noel Gallagher
   Oasis original line-up, 1991-1995: Tony McCarroll, Paul Arthurs, Liam
   Gallagher, Paul McGuigan and Noel Gallagher

   When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club as they were not
   on that night's set list, but bullied their way in. 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.

(1994–1998) Britpop era and height of fame

   Following a limited white label release of the demo of their song "
   Columbia", their first single, "Supersonic", was released in April
   1994, reaching #31 in the charts. Their third single, " Live Forever,"
   was their first to enter the Top 10 of the UK charts. After troubled
   recording and mixing sessions, their debut album, Definitely Maybe, was
   finally finished and was released in September 1994, entering the
   charts at #1, and at the time becoming the fastest selling debut album
   ever in the UK.

   The band also garnered attention due to Noel Gallagher's penchant for
   taking the odd riff or lyrics from other artists. The track "
   Cigarettes & Alcohol" had a main riff which Noel Gallagher admitted
   he'd taken directly from T. Rex's 1972 release " Get it On".
   "Supersonic" had a guitar solo reminiscent of George Harrison's " My
   Sweet Lord" and " Shakermaker" was reportedly the subject of legal
   action by the New Seekers due to the similarity to their song " I'd
   Like to Teach the World to Sing".

   The best part of a year of constant live performances and recordings,
   along with a typically hedonistic lifestyle commonplace in young rock
   bands, were starting to tire the band out and a breaking point was
   finally hit during a gig in Los Angeles in September 1994 where Liam
   was under the influence of crystal meth, leading to a shambolic
   performance during which he made offensive remarks about American
   audiences and assaulted Noel with a tambourine. This upset Noel to such
   an extent that he temporarily quit the band immediately after and flew
   to San Francisco. He recovered enough to finally rejoin the band in a
   Texas recording studio in October 1994 to record new songs, most
   notably " Talk Tonight" which directly related to his recent
   experiences. Two of these songs were released as B-sides on Oasis'
   Christmas single EP " Whatever" which peaked at #3 in the UK charts and
   foreshadowed the band's move toward a mellower sound on the following
   album.

   Oasis had their first UK #1 in April 1995 with " Some Might Say", the
   first single from their second album. At the same time, drummer Tony
   McCarroll was ousted from the band, replaced by Londoner Alan White,
   formerly of Starclub and younger brother of renowned studio
   percussionist Steve White, whom Paul Weller himself recommended to
   Noel. White made his debut for the band at a Top of the Pops
   performance of "Some Might Say".

   During this period, the English press seized upon a supposed rivalry
   between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur. Noel Gallagher played
   along, telling The Observer that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James
   of Blur would "catch AIDS and die". He subsequently apologised for this
   in a formal letter to Melody Maker magazine.
   Oasis line-up, 1995-1999: Noel, 'Bonehead', Liam, 'Guigsy' and White
   Oasis line-up, 1995-1999: Noel, 'Bonehead', Liam, 'Guigsy' and White

   On August 14, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same
   day, setting up " The Battle of Britpop" that dominated the week's
   music 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 explanations for this, claiming "Country House" sold more
   because it was more competitively priced (£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.

   Oasis had begun recording material for their second album in May of
   that year in Rockfield Studios near Monmouth. Although a softer sound
   led to mixed reviews, Oasis' second album, with their first new member,
   (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became a huge seller and is currently
   the third largest selling album of all-time in the UK. The album also
   went on to sell over 19 million copies worldwide and spawned two
   further hit singles " Wonderwall" and " Don't Look Back in Anger",
   which also reached numbers 2 and 1 respectively. The album's opening
   track, "Hello", with its sing-along chant, was a common feature of
   Oasis' live performances. It also contained their hit " Champagne
   Supernova" — featuring guitar playing and backing vocals by Paul Weller
   — that received widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #20 on the US
   charts. Despite not being released in the UK, it received significant
   airplay and remains one of the band's most popular songs.

   In September 1995, bassist Paul McGuigan briefly left the band, citing
   nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of The
   Ya-Yas, who featured on some of the tour dates as well as in the
   "Wonderwall" video before leaving abruptly whilst on tour in the USA.
   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". In order to complete the tour, McGuigan was
   successfully convinced to return to the band.

   In February 1996, Oasis became only the third band after The Beatles
   and The Jam to perform two songs on the same edition of British music
   television programme Top of the Pops: "Don't Look Back in Anger" and a
   cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize". On April 27 and 28 the group
   played their first headline outdoor concerts at Maine Road Football
   Ground, Manchester. Highlights from the second night featured on the
   video There And Then, released later the same year. As their career
   reached its zenith, Oasis performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth
   on August 10 and 11, 1996. The band sold out both shows within minutes;
   250,000 people over two nights (13.5 million people applied for
   tickets), at the time a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert
   held in the UK.

   The next month proved to be difficult for the group. On August 23 Oasis
   were due to play the prestigious 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, allegedly
   heckling Noel's singing between songs. The group left for a tour of
   American arenas early the next month but within days Noel flew home
   without the band, who followed on another flight. It received massive
   media attention and the group promptly issued a statement assuring fans
   that Oasis were not splitting up. Oasis' success at the 1996 BRIT
   Awards was overshadowed by Noel's statement that "Has-beens shouldn't
   be presenting awards to gonna-bes." after being presented an award by
   INXS singer Michael Hutchence

   Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 at historic
   Abbey Road Studios recording their third album. Be Here Now was
   released in August 1997, the band choosing to launch it on a Thursday
   rather than the traditional Monday. Preceded by the UK #1 single "
   D'You Know What I Mean?", the album was perhaps their most anticipated
   effort, and as such became the subject of considerable media attention.
   Anticipation culminated with the screening of the documentary "Right
   Here, Right Now" on BBC1 on the eve of the album's release. The
   attendant press attention and hype helped the album become the
   fastest-selling album in UK history, selling 423,000 units on its day
   of release, and reached number 2 in the US album chart.

   Be Here Now ultimately outsold Definitely Maybe worldwide but could not
   match the sales of (What's the Story) Morning Glory. Although early
   media reviews were positive, once the hype had died down, the album was
   criticised for being bloated and derivative with most of the critics
   focused on the extensive length of several songs, the heavier sound,
   and overproduction. Noel defined the album as "the sound of a buncha
   guys... on coke... in the studio... not giving a fuck."

   The Britpop movement was over and the band failed to meet expectations
   with Be Here Now. After the conclusion of the disastrous Be Here Now
   tour, amidst huge media criticism the group decided to stay clear of
   each other and kept a low profile throughout 1998. Noel Gallagher also
   was criticised for firing most of his stacks of songs into B-sides.
   Some of these finally found a more high-profile home on The Masterplan,
   a compilation album of 14 B-sides, released in November. "There was a
   two- or three-year period where everything I wrote was just
   fantastic.", related Noel in a recent interview. "And, of course, if
   all the B-sides for the singles off Morning Glory would’ve been what
   became the Be Here Now album, I think we would’ve gone on to be
   possibly one of the biggest bands of all time. Not that we’re not
   anyway. But I think we would’ve been as big as U2, because I had an
   idea in my head for Be Here Now – it was to be the most bombastic,
   fucking hugest-sounding record of all time. And I didn’t worry too much
   about the words or the arrangements. But the really interesting stuff
   from around that period is the B-sides. There’s a lot more inspired
   music on the B-sides than there is on Be Here Now itself, I think." .

(1999–2003) Transitional stage

   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. The majority of the album had been
   written by a now "clean" Noel Gallagher, who had quit taking cocaine in
   the summer of 1998. This was to have a major influence on the lyrical
   content of the album. Recording sessions began in the south of France
   in April, with everything believed to be have been going to plan.
   Behind the scenes, however, 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. Oasis fans were given a
   further shock days later, as the departure of bassist Paul "Guigsy"
   McGuigan was announced. McGuigan said later that the departure of his
   close friend triggered his own.

   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. The hunt was also on for replacements for the two guitarists
   with such names as Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr, John Squire, David
   Potts, Gary "Mani" Mounfield and Steve Cradock all rumoured to be
   contenders to fill the positions. 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.
   One of Archer's first roles was on November 5, 1999, where he took part
   in filming of the promo video for Oasis' new single, " Go Let It Out",
   which was the first single to be taken from their new album. David
   Potts, who was rehearsing at the time with the band, backed off because
   he thought he would be sacked soon and didn't want to play the bass.
   The band then drafted Andy Bell, former guitarist/songwriter of Ride
   and Hurricane#1 who was announced as their new bassist, a week later.
   Bell had never played bass before and he was obliged to learn to play
   it, along with a handful of Oasis' back catalogue of songs, in
   preparation for a scheduled tour of America in December 1999.

   With the death of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big
   Brother, named after Noel, which released all of Oasis' records in the
   UK and Ireland.

   Oasis' fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released
   in February 2000 to good first-week sales. However, the album was met
   with lukewarm reviews and seen as a small but noticeable departure from
   their traditional sound, with more experimental, psychedelic
   influences. To coincide with the general atmosphere of change
   surrounding the band, the cover of the album — an animated photo of New
   York — featured a new "Oasis" logo designed by Gem Archer and was also
   the first Oasis release to include a song written by Liam Gallagher,
   entitled "Little James". As of now, Standing is among the band's
   lowest-selling albums worldwide, although it did spawn another UK #1
   with "Go Let It Out" and contained " Fuckin' in the Bushes", which is
   often used as an opener for Oasis gigs.

   After two months of ongoing rumours about the band's future after every
   such sibling brawl, Noel 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 positive reviews. The second Wembley show, which was broadcast
   to over a dozen countries, was a chaotic affair. Liam was clearly
   drunk, making several rambling statements, which included a derogatory
   announcement of his separation with his wife, Patsy Kensit and also at
   brother Noel. He also had trouble singing in tune and at times changed
   the words to certain lines and at other times did not bother to sing at
   all.

   Along with Liam, Noel and Alan both ended their marriages during this
   period. Liam started a relationship with former All Saints member
   Nicole Appleton, who soon became pregnant with their son Gene. Noel
   started dating publicist Sara MacDonald and their relationship
   continues to this day, even though the pair broke up for a short time
   in 2002.

   Throughout 2001, Oasis split time between sessions for their fifth
   studio album and live shows around the world. In January, the band
   played three festival dates in South America before returning to
   England for studio work. In May, the band travelled to North America
   for the month-long 'Tour of Brotherly Love' with The Black Crowes and
   Spacehog. Alan White missed the tour with a thumb injury, and was
   replaced by older brother Steve. Noel and Gem joined The Black Crowes
   on stage at the end of most shows, performing classic rock covers. The
   tour was followed by a June gig in Paris supporting Neil Young and July
   appearances at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and a festival show in
   Bangkok, Thailand. In October, following two months of recording, Oasis
   performed six shows to sold-out venues in London, Manchester and
   Glasgow. Dubbed 'Ten Years of Noise and Confusion,' the shows
   celebrated the band's first ten years as a live act.

   Heathen Chemistry, Oasis' first album with new members Andy Bell and
   Gem Archer, was released in July 2002. The record blended the band's
   sonic experiments from their last albums, but borrowed heavily from
   1960s and 1970s English rock music. Liam, who was rapidly growing as a
   capable songwriter, wrote the hit single, " Songbird". Heathen
   Chemistry was also a much more balanced recording process for the band,
   with all of the members, apart from White, penning songs. This new
   working method, along with less fighting and drug and alcohol abuse in
   the studio, ultimately gave the record a more relaxed feel compared to
   past efforts. Johnny Marr provided additional guitar as well as backup
   vocals on a couple of songs, and while critics gave Heathen Chemistry
   lukewarm reviews, it was commercially successful.

   After the album's release, the band embarked on a world tour that was
   successful but once again flavoured with incidents. In the US kick off
   Tour in Pompano Beach, Florida, vocalist Liam lost his voice on the
   third song, after a brief confussion on stage, Noel decided to go alone
   with the concert, performing most of the Masterplan album songs, it was
   considered a memorable concert for the fans. In late summer 2002,
   whilst the band was on tour in the US, Noel, Bell and touring
   keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident in
   Indianapolis, IN. While none of the band members sustained any major
   injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. Liam also suddenly
   bolted offstage for no apparent reason during a show in Fukuoka, Japan,
   leaving Noel to take over vocal duties. It was the second Fukuoka show
   in three years that Liam failed to complete.

   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 involved in a violent
   brawl at a Munich nightclub. All of the Oasis party were arrested and
   were only released after the band's management reportedly paid out
   around £170,000 in bail money. Police later said that Liam, White and
   members of the band's entourage had been drinking "very heavily". Tests
   also showed Liam had been taking cocaine as well. Two years later Liam
   was fined around £35,000, with part of the money going to an injured
   police officer, violently kicked in the groins by Liam. Liam lost two
   of his front teeth, while White had a brain scan, due to minor head
   injuries.

   The band ended the year by embarking on a short UK arena tour. 2003
   began with the release of "Songbird", the fourth single taken from
   Heathen Chemistry. It was the first Oasis single that hadn't been
   written by Noel Gallagher, and reached number 3 in the official UK
   charts in February. The band then ended the Heathen Chemistry tour in
   March by performing two shows in Dublin, before returning to Germany to
   play four rescheduled dates.

(2004–present) Resurgence in popularity

   Oasis began recording a sixth album in late December 2003 with
   producers Death in Vegas at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall. The album was
   originally slated for a September 2004 release to coincide with the
   10th anniversary of the release of Definitely Maybe. However, longtime
   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. In subsequent interviews, Noel seemed to agree, saying that
   he has nothing against Alan, but the latter's personal life was
   impeding on his professional commitments with Oasis.

   Recording sessions continued with drummer Terence Kirkbride, brought in
   temporarily, who only performed on the track "Mucky Fingers". Zak
   Starkey, drummer of The Who and the son of Beatles' Ringo Starr, was
   later asked by the band to join them in the sessions. He also played on
   the subsequent world tour as well as all of the band's music videos.
   However, as he is still unconfirmed as a bandmember, he was not
   featured on the album's sleeve and did not appear in promotional
   activities such as interviews and photo-shoots. Thus, for the first
   time in the band's career, Oasis appeared as an official four-piece.
   Starkey was invited to join Oasis full-time after the end of the band's
   tour in April 2006.

   In June 2004, Oasis, with Starkey, headlined the Glastonbury Festival
   for the second time in their career and performed a greatest hits set,
   which included two new songs — Gem's "A Bell Will Ring" and Liam's "The
   Meaning of Soul". The performance received mixed reviews as the
   brothers were reprising their roles as brawling siblings. Liam, having
   problems with his singing, walked offstage at the end of the concert,
   and Starkey was still getting to grips with the songs, which he had
   only played publicly for the first time a couple of days previously at
   Poole Lighthouse.

   In September 2004, the band released Definitely Maybe: The DVD
   commemorating the 10th anniversary of their debut album's release. The
   DVD contains an enhanced audio version of the album, four hours of live
   footage, and interviews with band members and the production team.

   After much turbulence, the band's sixth album was finally recorded in
   Los Angeles-based Capitol Studios from October to December the same
   year. Producer Dave Sardy took over the lead producing role from Noel,
   who decided to step back from these duties after a decade of producing
   leadership over the band.

   In May 2005, after three years and as many scrapped recording sessions,
   the band released their sixth studio album, Don't Believe the Truth,
   fullfulling their contract with Sony BMG. It followed the path of
   Heathen Chemistry as being a collaborative project again, rather than a
   Noel-written album. It was also the band's first album in a decade not
   to feature the drumming of Alan White, with Zak Starkey taking his
   place. The record was generally hailed as the band's best effort since
   (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by fans and critics alike, spawning
   two UK #1 singles: " Lyla" and " The Importance of Being Idle" (the
   band's 7th and 8th #1 UK singles, respectively), whilst " Let There Be
   Love" entered at #2. Oasis picked up two awards at the Q Awards: one a
   special People's Choice Award and the second for Don't Believe the
   Truth as Best Album. Following in the footsteps of Oasis' previous five
   albums, Don't Believe the Truth also entered the UK album charts at #1.
   The three singles off that album were all hits in the UK and
   demonstrated the fact Oasis can still make the music and attract the
   fans 10 years after they were at their most popular.

   In May 2005, the band embarked on a massive world tour — one of the
   biggest in their career. Beginning on May 10 at the London Astoria, and
   finishing on March 31, 2006 in front of a sold out gig in Mexico City,
   Oasis played more live shows than at any time since the Definitely
   Maybe tour of 1994–1995, visiting 26 countries, headlining 110 shows
   and playing to 1.7 million people. The tour passed without any major
   incidents and was the band's most successful in more than a decade. The
   tour included sold out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden and
   LA's Hollywood Bowl, two venues important to the Gallagher brothers
   because their idol, John Lennon, proclaimed them to be the two places a
   band must play if they visit the States.

   Also in 2005, Oasis contributed to the original soundtrack of the film
   Goal! with a new song called "Who Put the Weight of the World on My
   Shoulders", written and sung by Noel Gallagher. The CD also contains a
   new version of " Cast No Shadow" completely re-recorded and produced by
   UNKLE which features Noel on vocals, as well as a remix by Dave Sardy
   of " Morning Glory".

   In 2006, Oasis released a "Best-of" double album entitled Stop the
   Clocks, which featured what the band consider to be their "definitive"
   songs. Though the band didn't want to release a 'Best of', their
   contract with Sony Music had just expired, forcing a release against
   the band's wishes. In November 2006 the band released " Lord Don't Slow
   Me Down", a rockumentary film looking back at the 2005–2006 world tour.
   That same month, Noel and Gem, backed by Terry Kirkbride, began a short
   tour to promote Stop the Clocks. They have played around a dozen shows
   in various countries around the world.

   On February 14, 2007, Oasis received the BRIT Award for outstanding
   contribution to music. After receiving their award, the band played a
   set consisting of " Cigarettes & Alcohol", " The Meaning of Soul", "
   Morning Glory", " Don't Look Back in Anger" and " Rock 'n' Roll Star".

   Oasis' next album has been hinted at by Noel. In April 2007 issue of
   NME he claimed "The next one in theory is already fucking written. I've
   got eight songs that I'm pretty happy with. I think Liam's got one or
   two that he thinks are brilliant. We're waiting for Gem and Andy. It's
   just a case of sitting down and saying, 'When do we want to do this?'".
   Recording sessions for new material will not commence until mid-2007 at
   the earliest, due to the absence of Starkey, who is touring with The
   Who until June 2007. Noel also said to NME that he is working on a solo
   album, which however was quickly dismissed by the band's official site,
   a couple of days later. Touring in the summer also isn't in the list,
   because the band are writing and demoing new material. Rumours of Gem
   and Noel participating in Glastonbury and the full band on Live Earth
   prove to be untrue.

Discography

   The following is a list of only full length studio albums:
    1. Definitely Maybe - August 30, 1994
    2. (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - October 2, 1995
    3. Be Here Now - August 21, 1997
    4. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants - February 28, 2000
    5. Heathen Chemistry - July 1, 2002
    6. Don't Believe the Truth - May 30, 2005

The band

Line-up

     * Liam Gallagher – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriting
     * Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, back-up vocals, lead songwriting,
       lead vocals
     * Colin "Gem" Archer – rhythm guitar, keyboards, lead guitar, back-up
       vocals, songwriting
     * Andy Bell – bass guitar, songwriting, lead guitar, keyboards
     * Zak Starkey (semi-official member) – drums and percussion

Live and temporary members

     * Jay Darlington – keyboards, hammond organ (2002–present)
     * Terence Kirkbride – drums and percussion (2004–present)
     * Steve White – drums and percussion (2001)
     * Scott McLeod – bass guitar (1995)

Past members

     * Alan White – drums and percussion
     * Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs – rhythm guitar
     * Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan – bass guitar
     * Tony McCarroll – drums and percussion

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Awards and nominations

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