Ah, Oasis were a British institution and a reliable part of our culture to lean back on. One of the few interesting groups to emerge from the 90s. Big fan, me, but I only got into them a year ago - I was 8 when they ended the BritPop era with
Be Here Now so I missed out on the Oasismania thing and it took me a while to come around to them.
Very, very good band with two very good lead vocalists (for those of you who haven't followed the band in recent years, Noel became a far more prominent singer within the band).
And while all their music retained that huge Beatles influence, their big hit
Morning Glory? definitely carried more of The Beatles sound than anything else they did. 2005's
Don't Believe The Truth was probably the nearest they came to doing an album of rip-offs but it picked from a greater multitude of sources than just The Beatles.
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It's quite amazing how many of you are unaware Oasis didn't still exist when their album last year hit number 5 in the US charts and a single hit number 12 in the modern rock charts. I mean, a band don't do that if no one's listening right? Their power to dominate the British singles charts was very impressive in this modern era where nothing's fashionable for more than ten seconds. They weren't what they were, but managed to be a huge presence for 15 years.
A few facts:
60 million album sales.
They were embarking on an absolutely huge tour just recently, which set the record for most British tickets sold in one day by a band (500, 000, for their stadium leg). Total UK shows this tour: 19 UK arenas on the 2008 leg, and 9 stadiums, 2 arenas, 1 theatre and 2 festivals on the 2009 leg (sickness meant a cancellation of one festival). Their last major UK tours were 2006 and 2005 so it's not as if this was the first tours in ages.
Their albums consistently sold a lot and charted highly in the UK and globally, they just felt the death of Britpop more in America than anywhere else. Worldwide sales, UK chart positions and certifications:
1994:
Definitely Maybe (7.5 million) - UK 7x Plat,
#1
1995:
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? (19.5 million) - UK 12x Plat,
#1
1997:
Be Here Now (7 million) - UK 6x Plat,
#1
1998:
The Masterplan (b-sides compilation, 1.5 million) - UK Plat,
#2
2000:
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (3 million) - UK 2x Plat,
#1
2000:
Familiar to Millions (live double, 1 million) - UK Plat,
#5
2002:
Heathen Chemistry (4 million) - UK 3x Plat,
#1
2005:
Don't Believe the Truth (3.5 million) - UK 3x Plat,
#1
2006:
Stop The Clocks (double hits set, 2.5 million) - UK 4x Plat,
#2
2008:
Dig Out Your Soul (2.5 million) - UK 3x Plat,
#1
What was truly shocking was their British singles chart run though:
1994: 31, 11, 10, 7, 3 (1 Gold, 3 Silver)
1995: 1, 2, 2 (1 Platinum, 2 Gold)
1996: 1 (1 Platinum)
1997: 1, 2 (1 Platinum, 1 Gold)
1998: 1 (1 Silver)
2000: 1, 4, 4 (1 Silver)
2002: 1, 2, 2 (1 Silver)
2003: 3
2005: 1, 1, 2
2007: 10
2008: 3, 12
2009: 10
Late 94 - Late 08, all 22 singles they put out in a row hit the top 20. 18 of those made the top 5, with 8 hitting number one - including the lead single from the first six studio albums.
Maybe now it makes sense why it's a big deal to us, even if you guys won't bat an eyelid
They did a few smaller shows to warm-up culminating with an arena, then a coupla big shows at Hyde Park....the first one sold out in 2 minutes. Then Glastonbury, Oxygen 2009, T In The Park. They're now actively discussing if they'll maintain their reunion.
Blur Store - they're presently organising double albums for each Hyde Park gig. They put out a new hits set (
Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) to coincide too.