Oasis, "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Don leads us to refreshment in a desert of grunge
Don’s Pitch:
Oasis splashed onto the scene in 1994 with their debut, Definitely Maybe, unabashedly declaring their desire to be rock & roll stars. Released just a year later, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? absolutely, positively cemented them as the biggest band in the world.
Criticized upon release by some as being too referential to classic rock cliches, WTSMG? was a refreshing wakeup call for a world sleepwalking to American grunge. And make no mistake, brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher were going to let you know it. Working class heroes from Manchester, their hands-in-pocket nonchalance belied massive ambition.
Everything about the record is Big with a Capital B, starting with the production, a brick wall of sound with vocalist Liam’s big mouth mixed straight out in front. Opener “Hello” and second-side stand-out “Morning Glory” crash into your speakers and never let up, the tide rising until the last notes ring out.
Underneath the onslaught of stadium-ready noise, there’s significant depth beneath the band’s bold, brash bravado. The tender chorus of “Cast No Shadow.” The sweetly psychedelic “She’s Electric.” And the most obvious example, of course, being the wondrous “Wonderwall,” a huge hit at the time, and a quarter century later still one of the most enduring, endearing, signature songs of the ‘90s.
Oasis poured themselves into every song, especially the climactic “Champagne Supernova.” Featuring Paul Weller jamming on lead guitar, it’s an epic anthem bespoke for concerts often attended by more than a hundred thousand fans at a time, sometimes on consecutive nights.
My favorite track is “Don’t Look Back In Anger.” Lyrically, it goes sideways, a pastiche of nods to John Lennon (“start a revolution from my bed”), some bird named Sally, and still another character standing up next to a fireplace whilst summertime is in bloom. It doesn’t make sense at all. But it *sounds important* the way rock music used to. (Maybe it’s the clear inspiration from Pachelbel’s Canon.) Guitarist Noel takes lead vocal and couldn’t be more earnest. His solo is splendid. And his lyrics are redeemed with the prescient end to the 3rd verse:
Don’t put your life in the hands
Of a rock and roll band
Who’ll throw it all away
We all know Oasis never again reached the same heights. Indeed, the stubborn, sparring Gallagher brothers have thrown it all away. But it wasn’t a waste. Whatever you think of their music, give them credit for going all-in like a premier league club with relegation on the line. Only back then, they had nothing yet to lose.
Mitch’s Response:
So-called music historians with their fancy degrees in music and history will tell you that the punk rock movement rose in opposition to the perceived excesses of mainstream rock, especially prog rock (for some weird reason the only thing punks hated more than brushing their teeth was Yes). Punks wanted to bring authenticity back to rock music, three chords at a time.
The arrival of the greatest film in the history of cinema (This is Spinal Tap) was the final blow to the rock star era, and the golden gods of classic rock were cut down to mere mortals. By the time of hair metal everyone was in on the joke: while Robert Plant was a rock star, Dee Snider was just playing a rock star, and we all knew it.
But then Oasis showed up and became the world’s first post-modern rock band: authentic rock stars and a parody of rock stars all rolled up into one. Somehow, Oasis managed to simultaneously channel both Duke Fame and Nigel Tufnel - Liam Gallagher even once said: “That’s the story of my life, mate, I’m always having to go one louder.” (And I’d bet a quid from a Vicar on St. Swiggin’s Day that he'd never seen Spinal Tap). They wrote stupid anthems with lyrics seemingly ripped from google translate, and yet also dropped gorgeous songs full of human insight and wisdom (“Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say.”). They got to the toppermost of the poppermost and threw it all away, but that’s just nitpicking now, innit?
Oasis was able to pull off such a seemingly impossible feat because of the quality of their songs. They’re a good band but they’re great songwriters. Every song on WTSMG? is solid and some are truly transcendent: “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” deserve their classic status, but “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, “Cast No Shadow” and “She’s Electric” are also aces. Even the b-sides on this truly terrific album are fantastic. Great pick Don.
Pitch Successful
CJ’s Response
We were having a music argument back at EONS headquarters the other day, as we often do. This particular debate was an ancient one. To wit, the ‘80s vs the ‘90s.
Don and Mitch took the stance that there were more great ‘90s bands than ‘80s bands and that the best ‘80s music was left over from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Ken countered that being thought of as one of the best bands of the ‘90s was a bar so low that it could be stepped over without bending one’s knee.
I advanced Ken’s cause, arguing that a comparison of the long-term impact of each decade was a slaughter in favor of the ‘80s. You still hear many of the great ‘80s bands in popular culture today while even the biggest bands of the ‘90s seem to have faded from our collective consciousness. My three children, all born between 2000 and 2006, are proof. Each of them has favorite ‘80s bands independent of whatever my wife and I played for them, whereas they couldn’t name a ‘90s band if you spotted them the Stone and the Temple.
Oasis is the final nail in the ‘90s’ coffin. WTSMG? is a very good album, maybe even a great one. And Oasis was huge! But, I haven’t spared a thought for the Gallagher brothers in over 20 years and probably wouldn’t ever have if Don hadn’t pitched this album.
That aside, revisiting WTSMG? was a fun ride. Some of the songs have aged better than others. The title cut, “Hello” and “Don’t Look Back” are still stone-cold killers. “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” feel labored and a bit dated in the cruel light of 2021. Still and all, it’s a solid listen.
But, answer me this: U2 and Oasis are playing on the same night and you can only see one. Which show are you going to?
Thought so.
Pitch Failed
Ken’s Response:
Back in the early 1990s, when the internet was still in its infancy, a guy named Mike Godwin proposed a theory that the longer an online discussion goes on, the more likely someone is to make a comparison to Hitler or Nazis. This became known as Godwin’s Law. A few years later, Godwin’s Law expanded to the idea that WHEN the inevitable Hitler comparison comes into play, the discussion/debate is over and the person who made the comparison lost.
This well-known internet phenomenon led me to invent Jude’s Law. If we take Godwin’s Law and adapt it to music, one can argue that any suggestion that a band is “the next Beatles” or that they’re “going to be more popular than The Beatles” immediately ends any conversation and the person invoking The Beatles loses. And that’s all I heard during the mid 1990s: Oasis is the next Beatles.
Listen up people, just because a band is from a working-class neighborhood in England and they make good music, it doesn’t make them the friggin Beatles! And to make matters worse, the Gallagher brothers actually embraced the comparison, proclaiming that they’d “be bigger than The Beatles”. A statement proving nothing more than they were completely disconnected with reality.
If it’s possible, Don, CJ, and Mitch are all correct this week. Oasis is one of the best bands of the ‘90s. They’re great songwriters and musicians, and the world is better for having their music in it. But it was the 1990s, and rock had somewhat devolved from the ‘70s and even the ‘80s. Popular music as a whole was getting worse, so the beauty of Oasis stood out more against a backdrop of mediocrity. Just don’t compare them to The Beatles.
Pitch Failed
Don’s pitch went plonkers - d’ya know what I mean? - and Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory has been exiled from the Newbury St. Collection.
Shall we talk tonight about our favorite songbirds from Manchester? Slide on by the comments sections and let us know what you think about Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Brit-Pop and ‘90s rock.
Please join us next week as CJ keeps the rock rolling with The Pretenders’ 1984 classic, Learning to Crawl. Ay, oh, way to go, CJ-o!
Also, I love the idea of an EONS headquarters.
Always an entertaining read, guys. I liked this record when it was new but then went a long time without listening to it unless I was in the vicinity of a radio playing something from it (who am I kidding, it’s always “Wonderwall”). Anyway, I recently found it used in a record store. I carried it around for a bit before putting it back and buying other stuff. I don’t think I need to revisit this one, though the title track is splendid. I own solo records by both Noel and Liam, the lyrics haven’t improved.