Oasis

I've been spending a lot of time lately on the Steve Hoffman music forum (http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/forums/music-corner.2/), lots of good debate in there to be found amongst some otherwise over zealous audiophilery.

Someone started a topic a few days ago about whether Oasis were life changers, because Lars Ulrich, Metallica drummer, had claimed they were to him. General opinion seemed to be split roughly by Brits saying yes and Yanks saying no, with a few irrelevant comments about whether The Verve were bigger than Blur (of course they weren't!).

I* waded in with my 2 penn'orth (is that how you spell "penn'orth"?) and was quite pleased with what I came up with, even though I could have easily written 10 times more. Anyway, here were my thoughts below (and here's the whole debate, for anyone interested - http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/oasis-as-life-changers.384665/)

*using my usual internet alias of OobuJoobu
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In the UK, to a significant section of a certain generation, they most definitely were life changers. I was lucky enough to be one of the many millions who witnessed it "up close, from afar".

They didn't start the Britpop movement, in fact the first time I recall thinking "something's happening here" was when Suede burst on to the scene, about a year before Oasis did.

I was probably a few months behind most people when it came to Oasis, it wasn't until a Q magazine CD in late '94 came out with Slide Away as one of the tracks, that I first heard them, similar time to the build up to the Whatever single. Within a year, What's The Story came out, I was 23 at the time and got back from my honeymoon the day after the album came out, and my copy was waiting for me that a friend had bought so that I'd have it on my return. I had a couple of days before I was due to back to work, and I wanted to write a song one of those days. She's Electric, after just one day, was so ingrained in my brain, that the middle 8 of that song most definitely got plagiarised in my song "Game Of Life", I'm sure Noel would understand.

It's difficult to overstate just how big they were for that next year, someone of my age can only assume that's the nearest thing we've witnessed to The Beatles in our life time (but we know it's not the same). The Blur Vs Oasis chart battle of August '95, whilst ultimately silly and media driven, was unforgettable.

Blur won the battle, Oasis won the war, that's what was said many times over the subsequent years, is it true though? I'm not certain. (Also, let's be absolutely clear here, forget sales figures, The Verve were nowhere near as popular, or influential, or as part of the fabric of the country, as Blur were, it's not even remotely close).

Knebworth came in 1996, 250,000 people over 2 days, I was there on the Sunday, it was a day I'll never forget. I know that never again will I queue up at 7am to get in to a gig where the main act aren't on until 9pm. The line up was stellar:- Cast, Kula Shaker, The Charlatans (just a month after their keyboard player died), Dreadzone (worst live act I've ever seen but a welcome beer and burger opportunity), Manic Street Preachers. Legends of the era, but not in the same stratosphere as the act to follow, they were on top of the world, well, our world anyway. Noel's "This is history" comment, John Squire on stage, Jedi master passing the baton to Noel Skywalker.

1997 - The excitement and build up to this album was electric. Hearing "D'You Know What I Mean" on the radio for the first time, as I arrived in a new city to start a new life, and it felt like Oasis were with me, beginning the next part of their journey as I started mine. The day of the album launch, I can't remember if any shops opened at midnight to sell it, but I know I was in HMV at 7.30am as they opened early for release day, but the tills didn't open until 8am, so there was 30 minutes of holding the album and not being able to buy it. 7.55am it was still fairly quiet in the shop then it seemed like all of a sudden, WHOOSSHH, everyone descended on the shop and it was heaving by 8am with everyone buying the new album, queues back to the door.

Everyone had given the album maximum rating in advance, be it 5 star or 10 star. I remember we had family staying at our house that night, but tough, I was out of action as I sat on the living room floor, headphones on, soaking up the album. "Blimey, it goes on a bit, but it's great, everyone says so!". It was about 4 weeks later if I remember rightly, when Chris Evans on TFI Friday said he was going to let us in to a little secret: "Be Here Now, it's not actually that good". That seemed to be the key that opened up the floodgates to criticism of that album from various quarters, a real "Emperor's New Clothes" moment.

16th September 1997, my 2nd wedding anniversary, myself and Mrs OobuJoobu went to Newcastle to see Oasis (http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/oasis/1997/telewest-arena-newcastle-england-4bd797f6.html), her first time seeing them. Mrs O was particularly keen to keep out of the usual bustle near the front of the gig, so we held back out of the way. Only 3 or 4 days later did she tell me that the reason why was that she was expecting a little baby OobuJoobu and had just found out that day (my now 16 year old daughter!). Once again, starting out in a new phase of life and Oasis were there with us.

1999 - Bonehead quits the band. In a moment of madness that was never going to lead anywhere, I got hold of an email address for Creation records that night and submitted my application to replace him. Ridiculous! me just a singer/guitarist in a little £100 a gig pub band, covering Oasis and the like on a Friday night for petrol money. I'd never before or since had any remote ambition to be a rock star, but joining Oasis? Well, usual rules are out of the window. The last ever Oasis gig (I mean actual Oasis gig, rather than festival appearance) was in my home town of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, at the Spa Theatre. I've done about 7 gigs myself on that stage since then, and my main thought each time when setting up has been "I need to stand where Noel was stood". The Stones have played that stage - not bothered, so have The White Stripes, Paul Weller, and many major bands of the last 50 years, all I was bothered about was where Noel had stood.

I've remained a loyal fan since, even though the excitement levels of those days didn't last (I'll even defend Beady Eye's first album if challenged, in fact I love that album). But let's be in no doubt, my little Oasis story is one that's mirrored all around the country by people with their version of how Oasis changed their life, they were HUGE, they were life changers. D'You Know What I Mean?