Cross - Oasis: the secret history

Do you think you know about music? Let me give you some clues and you can guess which band Im talking about.

Fact number one: Two of the bands members come from a family led by a father who was a part-time country western DJ.

Fact number two: Despite the groups obnoxious image, a surprising number of their songs have been dedicated to, or inspired by, the guitarists mother.

Fact number three: Up until the time when the band was formed, 80% of their membership was more or less permanently unemployed.

Fact number four: When tickets went on sale for their fall 1997 UK tour, seven million people tried to get through the phone lines on the first day.

Fact number five: The leader of the band has a fish tank that is so big, the foundations of his house had to be reinforced so it wouldnt fall through the floor.

Fact number six: The singer had a headboard on his bed worth $26,000.

Any ideas yet?

Fact number seven: The group is so wild and uncontrollable that they even wore out a tour manager who was a former member of the British Special Forces elite Parachute Regiment and a veteran of the Falklands War.

Have you figured it out yet? Well, theres a lot more where this came from. The band is Oasis.

Theyre arrogant, irrational, vindictive, sometimes violent and occasionally just plain stupid. But Oasis also happens to be very, very good. In a world full of one-hit wonders and pre-packaged pop groups, Oasis stands apart. Its been ages since a band has commanded so much attention for so long.

Most of us have heard their story. They were just five guys from Manchester, led by a brilliant but despotic songwriter and a singer with the manners of psychopath, who were collectively worth close to $100 million after just three albums.

One of the reasons Oasis is so big is that theyre newsworthy. Theres just always so much to talk about with these guys. They fight, they break up, they re-form, they get sued and they get arrested. Liam Gallagher once jumped from a limousine at 40 miles per hour just because he was losing an argument with the groups road manager.

Name another group that had more than half a dozen books written about them when they were two albums into their career. And by the time were done, youll know more weird stories about Oasis than you need to.

Lets start with Liam. William John Paul Gallagher was born on September 21, 1972. He calls himself Liam because thats the Irish way. He cried constantly for the first six months of his life because he was born with two different skin diseases. A few years later, he almost drowned when he fell into a fast flowing river. Fortunately, a quick-thinking friend was able to pull him out. When Liam was nine, he whined until his mother bought him a violin. He took lessons until high school.

Liam has always been a loudmouth. A group of kids at school once beat him with a hammer for being too mouthy. He joined a boxing club for a while, but was thrown out for being too violent. In fact, Liam had a reputation in school as being a bit of a psycho, but that didnt stop him from having more girlfriends than anyone else.

Liams first real job was working as a valet. Would you want this guy to park your car?

Noel Thomas David Gallagher, born May 29, 1967, is the middle child of three boys and five and half years older than his brother Liam. Some say that part of Noels disagreeable disposition has to do with the fact that his father (Tommy Gallagher, a real jerk) beat his mother while she was pregnant with him.

Hes always had that big eyebrow. When Noel was a kid, his nickname was Brezhnev after the Russian president who had the same singular long eyebrow.

He started playing the guitar when he was eight, and has been playing and writing songs ever since. Noel learned his first Beatles song (Ticket to Ride) when he was 11, while being grounded for six months for shoplifting. By the time he was 14, he was teaching other people how to play.

Noel was engaged to a girl named Diane when he was 18. They were together for about six years before they broke up. Then he met his future wife Meg Matthews (whom he would divorce in 1997 and remarry 10 years later), through a VJ who worked for the British branch of MTV.

Before he got into music, Noel worked as a sign writer and a baker. He worked in a bed factory and once made fish tanks for a living. He got a job with British Gas, but then someone at work dropped a big fitting on his foot and he was reassigned to the parts counter. Noel always brought his guitar to work, and when he wasnt busy, he would strum away behind the counter.

Noel was always going to concerts. Manchester bands were his favourite: New Order, The Fall, The Stone Roses. He was a huge fan of The Smithsthe kind that would buy the new single the day it came out. He once got Morrisseys autograph through his aunt who worked at the same hospital as Morrisseys father. Later, when Oasis got going, he would meet, and become friends with, The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Talk about a dream come true.

On Noels 21st birthday, he met Inspiral Carpets at a Stone Roses/James double bill. When the group needed a new lead singer, Noel was quick to auditionbut they said his voice wasnt strong enough. As a consolation prize, the band offered him the job of guitar roadie, which he took. For the next few years, Noel toured the world with Inspiral Carpets, hiding his drugs in the bands road cases. After soundcheck, he and the Carpets sound guy would jam onstage before the gig. Thats where a few Oasis songs were born.

By the way, Inspiral Carpets also auditioned a guy named Tim Burgess and turned him down, too. He went on to form his own band, which he called The Charlatans.

Meanwhile, Liam become the singer of a local band called The Rain, displacing their original frontman Chris Hutton. Liam was a huge fan of The Stone Roses and was determined to be like their singer Ian Brown.

The Rain also included Paul Arthur (a guitarist that everyone called Bonehead), Paul Guigsy McGuigan on bass and drummer Tony McCarroll.

It was Liam who insisted on the name change. He wanted to call the band Oasis after seeing an Inspiral Carpets poster in Noels bedroom, which advertised a gig at a local venue called The Swindon Oasis. Please now disregard any other stories you may have heard about where Oasis got their namethe ladies clothing store, the taxi company, the curry shop. That poster in Noels bedroom seems to be the real answer.

Oasis made their debut on August 18, 1991 at The Boardwalk, a tiny club on Little Peter Street in Manchester. 40 people showed up to watch them, including Noel.

Noel had always wanted to be in his own band. And he had just been sacked by Inspiral Carpets. All he had left was 2000 in severance pay. He was impressed by what his baby brother had done, but thought that the band needed work.

Noel said, I will join your group, but you have to let me be in charge of everything. And since he had worked with Inspiral Carpets, everyone in the band agreed. Thats when Oasis became a five-piece. Five months later, they made their live debut with Noel.

The gig that made Oasis was on Sunday, May 31, 1993. Oasis bullied their way onstage for a set at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow by threatening the owner.

One of the few people in the audience that night was Alan McGee of Creation Records. He was there to see one of the other bands on the bill, but was so impressed with the boys from Manchester that he decided to sign them on the spot.

McGee immediately started passing an Oasis single around the country. It was a track from an eight-song demo that had been rejected by a number of English labels. This was Oasis famous early single Columbia (White Label Demo).