In the ’90s, Oasis created one of the greatest one-two punches in rock ‘n’ roll history.
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Definitely Maybe (1994) and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) were culture-shifting events full of working-class anthems that ultimately outlived Britpop.
Guitarist, band leader, and songwriter Noel Gallagher was on an unstoppable creative run. Moreover, the consistency of Oasis’ B-sides was rivaled only by The Smiths’ catalog.
But it all changed when their third album, Be Here Now, arrived in 1997.
Don’t Write a Rock Album Wearing Shorts
Following the success of “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” Noel Gallagher echoed John Lennon, saying Oasis was “bigger than, dare I say it, f—–g God.”
He and his younger brother and frontman, Liam, were never short on hubris and swagger, and the Manchester lads had the songs, chart success, and stadiums of fans in bucket hats to back it up.
However, the band would soon implode under the weight of their success.
Noel was vacationing in 1996 on Mustique—a private island in the West Indies—with Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Mick Jagger, and Jerry Hall. This became the setting where he’d write another album. He told NME, “There might have been a small amount of cocaine.”
He stayed on the island for six weeks, and producer Owen Morris joined him toward the end of his vacation to record demos for what became the third Oasis album.
When he revisited the demos, Noel said, “You can actually hear what a great time I’m having on holiday.”
Too Much Everything
Be Here Now represented the beginning of Britpop’s end. The album’s bloat mirrors the band’s excess, and the partially submerged Rolls-Royce on the album cover further documents the ’90s glut.
The songs on Be Here Now are objectively too long (“All Around the World” goes on for nearly 10 minutes), and there isn’t a moment of air or space as multitudes of tracks and instrumentation fill the dense mixes.
In hindsight, Noel admitted he should have worked harder on the album. He told Q, “In the studio, it was great, and on the day it came out, it was great. It was only when I got on tour that I was thinking, ‘It doesn’t f—–g stand up.’”
It’s (Not) Gettin’ Better (Man!!)
Oasis reissued Be Here Now in 2016, and Noel planned to edit the album for the rerelease. After a week in the studio, he said the master tapes didn’t “grab me at all.”
Meanwhile, he thought about remixing the entire album but quickly abandoned the idea.
The lone remix, “D’You Know What I Mean? (NG’s 2016 Rethink),” appears on Disc 2 of the reissue alongside the album’s B-sides and demos. (The original Mustique demos are on a third disc).
He said remixing the album was “missing the point; the album is supposed to be this f—–g mental.”
The Masterplan Should Have Been Album Three
While Noel enjoyed his prolific songwriting run, he backed the group’s single releases with potential hits.
The band’s B-sides collection, The Masterplan, opens with one of their best songs, “Acquiesce.” In 1995, Creation Records released “Some Might Say” as the lead single from (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, backed by “Acquiesce” and “Talk Tonight.”
Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine a version of Be Here Now as a 10-track album with “Acquiesce” and “Talk Tonight.” It probably changes the course of their career and possibly Britpop.
As a result, critics found subsequent Oasis albums to be exercises in diminishing returns. (However, this writer—and resident Oasis defender—will happily argue the later albums include gems worth listening to, like “The Importance of Being Idle.”)
“I regret not having the wherewithal to think, ‘Actually, this run of tunes cannot go on,’” Noel told Q. “But you’re high on f—–g coke most of the time when anything is possible. No one’s going to say, ‘Hang on a minute, it might dry up at some point.’”
But the magic was indeed gone, and Noel spent several Oasis albums trying to get it back.
The End
Still, Be Here Now was a commercial success. Riding a wave of momentum from two colossal albums, it topped the UK charts and reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 (two spots higher than Morning Glory).
The Gallagher brothers reached their nadir in the summer of 1996 when Liam refused to sing at a pivotal MTV Unplugged performance. Then, the singer bailed on a U.S. tour to buy a house instead.
Oasis had peaked at their legendary Knebworth concert in 1996, and the headline-making tumult soon turned into VH-1 Behind the Music sadness.
Be Here Now could have borrowed its title from Jim Morrison. This is the end.
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Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images
