30 Mind-Blowing Facts That Every Fan Should Know About Oasis

15 May 2019, 12:01 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Oasis, with over 80 million records sold worldwide, holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful act in the UK between the years 1995 and 2005, with 765 weeks in the top 75 singles and albums charts. Here are some really interesting things to know about the English rock band:

Oasis is considered to be one of the biggest and most acclaimed bands of the 1990s, who have constantly remained as a huge influence in British music and culture.
Oasis's second studio album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory," which is their highest-selling album to date, was voted Best Album of 30 Years at the 2010 Brit Awards, with over 22 million copies sold worldwide.
The band has 17 NME Awards, nine Q Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards and six Brit Awards, along with two Grammy Awards nominations.
The group was listed in the Guinness World Records book in 2010 for "Longest Top 10 UK Chart Run by a Group" after an unprecedented run of 22 top 10 hits in the UK.
The British music press is known to have heavily compared a handful of late '90s Britpop bands such as Ocean Colour Scene and Kula Shaker to the band, while many popular bands and artists have cited Oasis as their influence or inspiration.
The band's original line-up consisted of Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan, and Tony McCarroll. The other members include Alan White, Gem Archer, and Andy Bell.
In August 2009, Noel left the band after a backstage "altercation" with brother Liam, which led to the breakup of the band. The other members continued to work together in Beady Eye, while Noel formed the eponymous band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.
Their most famous album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" is the fifth best-selling album in UK chart history, and was also the UK's biggest-selling album of the 1990s.
The band is said to have evolved from a earlier group named "The Rain," which consisted of Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs, Tony McCarroll, and Chris Hutton.
However, the band was not satisfied with Hutton's performance, Arthurs invited and auditioned acquaintance Liam Gallagher as a replacement for Hutton.

The band's name Oasis was actually suggested by Liam, inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster in the Gallagher brothers' bedroom which listed the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon as a venue.
The group, as Oasis, reportedly played their first gig on August 18, 1991, at the Boardwalk club in Manchester, where Noel Gallagher was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, came to watch his younger brother's band play.
Though Noel didn't think the band sounded spectacular, he consider the group as a possible outlet for a series of songs he had been writing for several years, and then approached the group about becoming the band's sole songwriter and leader.
Oasis's first big break was in May 1993, when the band was spotted by Creation Records co-owner Alan McGee, after nearly a year of live shows and rehearsals.
They were first invited to play a gig at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut club in Glasgow, Scotland, by Sister Lovers, who shared their rehearsal rooms, but were refused entry as they were not on that night's set list.
But, after they were given the opening slot, they impressed McGee, who was there to see 18 Wheeler, one of his own bands. McGee reportedly offered the band a recording contract, which they did not sign until several months.
Their most popular single "Shakermaker," which peaked at number eleven in the United Kingdom, was the subject of a plagiarism suit, which led to the band paying around $500,000 in damages.
Their debut album "Definitely Maybe," released on August 29, 1994, peaked at number one within a week of its release and eventually became the fastest selling debut album in the UK, at that time.
The band's third single from their debut album "Live Forever" was the first Oasis single to enter the top ten in the United Kingdom, and earned them critical acclaim.
Their most popular single "Talk Tonight," was actually inspired by the near-breakup of the band in Los Angeles in autumn 1994, when Noel went to San Francisco, after quitting the band and stayed with a girl he befriended during the previous show.

The first single "Some Might Say" from their second album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?," was actually the band's first number one in the UK Singles Chart. It is also one of the only Oasis singles to officially be also categorized an extended play.
The same track was also the last Oasis track to feature original drummer Tony McCarroll, who was asked to leave the band, following tensions between McCarroll and Noel. The rest of the tracks in the album feature Alan White on drums.
The rival Britpop bands Blur and Oasis released new singles on August 14, 1995, the same day, setting up the "Battle of Britpop" that dominated the national news. The result was Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll with It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week.
The following September Noel said in an interview with The Observer that hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die", for which he subsequently apologized in a formal letter to various publications.
In November 1995, the band played on back-to-back nights at Earls Court in London, which were the biggest ever indoor gigs in Europe at the time.
Oasis performed to 80,000 people over two nights at Balloch Country Park at Loch Lomond in Scotland on August 3 and 4, 1996, before back-to-back concerts at Knebworth House on August 10 and 11, 1996.
Both the shows of the band were reportedly sold-out within minutes, with over 2.5 million people applying for tickets, but just 250,000 being actually sold - a possibility of 20 sold out nights.
This was a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert held in the UK at the time, and to this day is the largest demand for a show in British history.
Their third album "Be Here Now," sold 424,000 units by the end of their first day of release, and over 696,000 units by the end of business on Saturday of that week, making it the fastest-selling album in British history.
In February 2008, in a poll conducted by the Q magazine and HMV to find the fifty greatest British albums of the last fifty years - two Oasis albums were voted first and second - "Definitely Maybe" and "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" respectively. Their album "Don't Believe The Truth" was ranked at #14, while "Be Here Now," was at #22.