It was 1995 and after the huge success of the previous year everyone had high expectations of Oasis.
Had Noel not had such a large back catalogue of finished songs, they would have followed the traditional route of disappearing into a studio for a year or two but Oasis had other plans. For them things were just warming up.
1994 statistically was an amazing year for the band, five top 40 singles (3 of which went top 10), a number one album and the year ended headlining Brighton Conference Centre, one of the UK’s larger indoor venues and a stepping stone to the cold arena circuit.
On April 24th 1995 the band released a four track EP which spearheaded the start of what was to be a campaign to release the biggest selling album in the UK of the 1990’s.
Contained in the EP were four of Oasis’ best songs: Some Might Say, Talk Tonight, Acquiesce and Headshrinker. Although they had always had strong b-sides, this time the band were releasing an EP where three of the songs could easily have been the lead track.
The songs were first previewed on The White Room which was essentially a Britpop programme presented by Marc Radcliffe on Channel 4. On the 14th April Oasis appeared on the show performing three tracks, two of which were from their new EP.
Firstly, there was Acquiesce which was for many the first time we’d seen how Liam and Noel’s vocals complemented each other as they sang “Because we need each other, we believe in one another”. Rumour has it that McGee insisted this should be the lead track of the EP but Noel refused. Despite it not making it onto the album it was still performed live throughout the next decade.
The same show saw Noel perform the second track from the EP ‘Talk Tonight’ with Paul Weller.
On the 17th April the band recorded the ‘Live By The Sea’ video in Southend and then headed over to Sheffield Arena on the 22nd April supported by Pulp, this was the gig where they first unveiled ‘Don’t Look Bank In Anger’. This was also the last gig for drummer Tony McCarroll, although he did perform with the band on Top of The Pops the following week.
The following week Oasis entered the UK singles charts at number 1.
It would be another five months until the release of ‘(What’s The Story” Morning Glory?’. In that time the band would become household names before the album went on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide. No Creation band previously, or would ever again scale such heights.
Things were changing back in April 1995 and it would never be the same again….
Sleeve image courtesy of Microdot Creative