DISCUSSION #1: Oasis

[YI]

Okay. Last night IAceI got talk about how in the 'l33t music thread' there's very rarely any discussion. So, lets combat that. Every day or two there'll be something of a featured 'artist', probably done in the same thread (if one of the moderators would be good enough to change the thread name every day). Basically. I want to try and get discussions going. And what better way to start that poster boys of the britpop era, always a 'controversial' band, Oasis.

Whether you enjoy their music you have to argue that Oasis were and still are a hugely influential band. Not only to other musicians, but also to the general public, with the band having a big hand in the late 90's/early 00's chav look and attitude, of Ben Sherman shirts and polo neck tees, with the general "don't give a flying fuck" mentality. And it's no coincidence that if you ask any late teen or twenty-something scally blasting his 'New Monkey' whether he liked Oasis, he'll reply with an "Aye" and more than likely "Can you lend me a quid mate?"...you'd probably get a "Fuck off" every now and then too.

There's always the whole "Blur" or "Oasis" thing going on during the Britpop era. Personally, it was always Oasis to me. Granted I was about 10 at the oldest, I didn't really know much, but still, I knew I loved Oasis. And I 'knew' Blur looked like fucking puffs. For me Oasis always had that vibe of the 'everyman', whilst Blur seemed a little pretentious and 'studenty', which I still slightly feel (or at least know where I was coming from) now when looking at it, but don't get me wrong, I've come to absolutely love Blur. Now...there's a whole North/South divide thing that could be brought up here, but I don't really have the facts to really justify it. But I always had this inlking that Oasis = North, Blur = South.

Oasis seemed like a group of 'normal' guys from Manchester, playing some fucking rock tunes. They were anthems, plain and simple. Whereas Blur always seemed to push the boat out a bit more, musically. Try different things. But they never really had the 'massive' sing-a-long tracks that Oasis provided. And I'm going to cut it out with the Blur vs. Oasis stuff, it's been done a million times before...and to be honest, I have no idea where I'm going with it...I need to stop rambling.

Now. Onto Oasis as a musical entity. As previously said. They seemed to provide the anthematic stadium rock style tracks, without ever really pushing the boat out. Their first three albums atleast seemed very interchangable. And whilst the first two are arguably their best work, I still feel that they could have been 'more'. But I think it's somewhat that 'simplicity' that makes them so great. It is just 'big' fucking tunes. And at the the end of the day, great tunes is all that you need to make a great band/album.

It's been said that the band really lost their way after their first 3 albums. But personally I still think they really kept things fresh. Pushed a few more boundaries and people took time to get used to it, and Oasis took time to really 'master' it. People can say they've 'lost their way' and are 'past it', but when you can still put out tracks like "The Hindu Times", "Go Let It Out", "Fuckin' In The Bushes" (What a riff), "Who Feels Love", "She Is Love", "Little By Little", "The Importance Of Being Idle", "Part Of The Queue", "Lyla" and "Keep The Dream Alive"...give me past it.

Yes, they may not be as 'good' as a whole, or as relevent as they were back for the first two albums. But they're still one hell of a band, and I will be excited when their new album drops this year.

I hope that makes sense in some way shape or form...I just kept rambling and forgetting the points I was trying to make...anyways...discussion on Oasis....it can be as simple as posting your favourite songs...whatever.

[Clawson]

Is it weird I never knew about them until The Butterfly Effect and Stop Crying Your Heart Out? But yeah on the whole thing about them dropping off after Be Here Now, I think it's more of a fact that once you release two albums like Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory everything you do afterwards everybody is going to assume is shit. Let's face it though, Noel Gallagher isn't on welfare and in his 20s anymore so there is no way he'll ever be able to write an album as good as those two by himself again. Liam is getting into form though and Gem and Andy are really fucking solid writers too. Which is why Don't Believe the Truth was class and the new one will be as well.

[YI]

I always felt "Be Here Now" was actually their weakest album. Nothing overly awful about it, it just seems so bland.

Edited March 7, 2008 by YI

[Clawson]

I have to pick between Standing or Heathen Chemistry. Favourite three are Definitely Maybe, Don't Believe The Truth and Be Here Now in that order.

[supergrass]

I find it a little annoying when people write Oasis off as nothing more than a stadium/anthem rock band in the vein of U2. If you go back and listen to the first album in particular, Oasis are/were one of the most culturally relevant bands there have ever been. That album was what people went through at the time and something I can still relate to to this day. The Beatles' influences are severely overplayed too, there's as much Stones and T-Rex in there as there is Beatles, yet it's that they get called on every time.

Anyway, my favourite Oasis albums in order would be Definitely Maybe, The Masterplan and then either What's The Story or Don't Believe The Truth.

Heathen Chemistry has it's moments and it's quite interesting in as much as it helps to document the emergence of Liam as a songwriter. If you look at the progress he's made from Little James through to Guess God Thinks I'm Abel he's come a long, long way. Be Here Now and SOTSOG, well, Noel has distanced himself from those albums at times and admitted he was hardly in the best state of mind when they written. Although when you consider what tracks got bumped off those albums (and later included on The Masterplan/B-sides or salvaged and included on Heathen Chemistry) they could have been better than they were.

I'm quite excited about the new album and the continuation of Oasis The Democracy. As stated, Liam continues to get better, Noel looks to be on form if the last single is anything to go by, Andy has been writing amazing tunes for a long time (we'll overlook Hurricane #1 just this once) and Gem's 'A Bell Will Ring' was encouraging.

[Steeb]

To be honest, I detest Oasis. But I like them.

I detest their music, because, with the exception of a few songs ('Cigarettes & Alcohol', '....Being Idle') they sound like shit. Their sound is boring, muddy, and often devoid of an enjoyable melody - to me. However, I know they're capable of writing absolute stormers, as the two tracks I do like, I REALLY like.

I like them, because whenever they're on the radio as people, not a band, the Gallaghers are hilarious, and seem like genuinely nice, funny guys.

So the trick is do to more stuff with Moyles and Brand, and less stuff in the booth boys.

[Liam]

I think I kinda am in the same place as Steeb on this one. I don't detest thier stuff, but to be honest, there has been nothing that they have done that has really blown me away, or stuck with me in any meaningful way.

However, I like the Gallaghers.

[Skummy]

I can't stand them, never could...I was never really exposed to "Britpop" while it happened, so I was only notionally aware of them when I started listening to music on my own, and never enjoyed any of the singles I heard, and as I hung out mostly with a load of metalheads, I didn't hear anything more of them for years, really.

Now I've heard most of their stuff, and I really, really don't like it. Noel's voice is just about bearable, but Liam's really grates on me, I have no idea how anyone could enjoy listening to it. Their lyrics are absolutely awful rhyming dictionary bullshit, and usually nonsense, so they haven't got that going for them to make up for it, and pretty much all of their songs are either dull or the only interesting bits are stolen wholesale from '60s and '70s acts.

However, I don't think that necessarily makes them bad per-sé, they're a functional band in their own right, I just don't see what all the fuss was about, as they're really nothing interesting or special or original, there's just nothing that stands out about them at all, they're dull as ditchwater. BUT I don't think I'd mind them all that much if it wasn't for the fact that there are so many people out there who act like their best band in the world, and so many people (especially in Jersey, which is about as far from "the North" as its possible to be in Britain) who try and act like Liam Gallagher and just come off as moronic and obnoxious pricks, it's just that the hype about them really does make you expect something special, and it's not there.

However, I quite like Noel Gallagher....he seems like a nice, funny bloke, and while Liam keeps up the "best fookin' band in the world, mate" schtick and is generally an arrogant cunt, Noel just seems to find it all a laugh, and makes no apologies for what they are; he knows Oasis aren't great, and that they're just a sixties revivalist act, and he's having a great time of it all.

[Dan]

The Masterplan is fucking epic.

[Darloboy]

The Masterplan is fucking epic.

[Summers]

I think they're shit.

[Pesci]

I love Oasis. I didn't really discover them until like 2004, because when they were really popular in the 90s I was too young to know anything about it, and when I first got into music I was into shit like Limp Bizkit and then got into more American alt-rock from there. But yeah, they've been my favourite band for a while now, probably the only favourite band I've ever had that didn't change after a few months. I think every song off of their first two albums is brilliant, pretty much. I can understand why people don't like them, but the reason I like them is that I enjoy the way they sound and that's it really. Simple enough.

Still, I disike a lot of tracks from Be Here Now, SSOG and Heathen Chemistry, probably more than I like, though I thought Heathen Chemistry was a step in the right direction, and I love Don't Believe The Truth, and almost all of The Masterplan. They're not the same band they were thirteen or fourteen years ago, but I like their newest stuff almost as much as the old stuff.

[Clawson]

Honestly can anybody name a band who has better B-sides than Oasis does? Half of those are better than songs on the albums. Take Let's All Make Believe for example.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

They're not bad overall.

Their legacy has been tarnished by Wonderwall somehow slipping into the 'Hey Jude/Rockin' In The Free World/just about anything by OLP' category of 'songs my high school friends liked to sing crappily while one or two people played acoustic guitars equally crappily''.

[Clawson]

Their legacy has been tarnished by Wonderwall somehow slipping into the 'Hey Jude/Rockin' In The Free World/just about anything by OLP' category of 'songs my high school friends liked to sing crappily while one or two people played acoustic guitars equally crappily''.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I don't like Oasis but then I'm a Southern poof.

While a couple of their songs were genuinely enjoyable and entertaining, they just didn't do "it" for me. I didn't like their attitude and their music didn't seem to move on or to evolve over the years. I've started to dislike them more over time as they seem stuck back in the days, churning out the same old stuff which is showing its age but critics still celebrate every new turgid release as "the album of the year" or something.

But then people know what kind of music I like so my opinion can't be trusted.

That and I ALWAYS preferred Blur's outlook on such things and the way they went.

[GoGo Yubari]

Honestly, from my rather disconnected perspective as a child of the late-'90s as far as just STARTING to listen to real music goes, and a Seattleite to boot, I never thought Oasis were particularly special. They make some decent, catchy songs, but it all sounds rather bland and generic to me. Give me Blur any day of the week.

[IAceI]

While I don't like them as a band I'd listen to albums of, What The Story Morning Glory? has some of the greatest songs I'll ever listen to on it and songs I never tire of hearing and love to put on in the pub that all my friends enjoy. It's something we can all just agree is absolutely great listening, which I can't say for their 'rivals' Blur. Who do have some good songs, but when it comes to a test of time and which songs are holding up better not much other than Song 2, Parklife and Coffee & TV, which aren't really anthems I'd listen to. So for me when it comes to comparing which of these are better, well I like both for individual songs, I don't really care for listening to albums of eithers - but Oasis just have better songs.

That made no sense so if you want bullet point forms, I could do that ¬_¬

[Pesci]

I love Blur as well, they're probably my second favourite band... after Oasis. I don't see why so many people can only be fans of one or the other, really.

And I don't see how people say Oasis make the same songs over and over again. Compare "Supersonic" to "Don't Look Back In Anger" and they're completely different, only released, what, two years apart? Most of the stuff they've written after Be Here Now hardly sounds like their early stuff. To say they haven't evolved is a bit narrow-minded.

[DMN in the House]

I like 'Champagne Supernova' and 'Wonderwall'. I could leave the rest. They're not really my type of band.