In 1994 we kicked around a new British band called Oasis. While “Live Forever” got decent radio play on our alternative rock station, 102.1’s lack of playing anything else from their debut album rendered Oasis as potential one hit wonder fodder. So we didn’t expect much from the shaggy haired Brits that we were told ripped off The Beatles. It was pretty easy not to. I mean, most of us were still hip hop heads.
But while urban sounds dominated our outward existences, we longed for ways to round out of our creativity. And besides, hip hop had a tendency to get dull. And sometimes it was angrier than we were. While we were into good beats and an occasional melody we finally figured out that we were suckers for (and still are) samples from something soulful and “way back,” and that wasn’t what hip hop was evolving into. It seemed to be getting more intense and situational. Situational in a way that we just couldn’t relate to.
Or maybe we never could quite relate to it but now we just needed something that paralleled our thoughts and the things we kept hidden. So now we would easily abandon the aggression for something glowing and insightful. But it had to be something glowing and insightful with a good amount of attitude.
New avenues had to be paved. And that’s exactly what What’s The Story Morning Glory? did for us.
It did all that-had meaning and made us feel alive with living and breathing hopes. But it also fed us a new culture. And we wore it everyday. From our Adidas, to our make shift mop tops, to the music that we listened to everyday-we were mad for it. It rounded us out solely because at this time if you listened to Oasis, you wanted to wear what they were wearing and you wanted to listen to everything that they listened to- The Beatles, The Jam, The Stone Roses, etc….. It simply became what you did. Or maybe that’s what we as sophomores in high school did.
If you hate Oasis, that’s ok. I will always be indebted to them for giving me a sneer and a bit of a punch when I needed it most. For helping me find ways to spend my allowance on cd singles and also for recording one of the best episodes of MTV Unplugged ever!
Liam-less and fantastic, Noel sings his heart out on songs that he wrote. And he sings both parts. I would’ve chose their entire Unplugged performance as an album that changed my life but….it’s not an actual album. However, it is amazing! Check it.
BLONDE ON BLONDE 