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The glory and the goodbye: Why this week was the most definitive in Oasis history

The first week of October saw the release of What’s The Story (Morning Glory) and 13 years later, Dig Out Your Soul - Oasis' last ever record.

The Manc - 6th October 2020

In the world’s biggest band, every week offers its own new dose of pandemonium.

Festivals. Fights. Flings. Flights.

When you’re a rockstar, each seven-day period is more intense, thrilling and exotic than the last.

That’s why no two pages in the story of Oasis are the same.   

Throughout the nineties and noughties, this group of Mancunian rascals were overindulgent, grandstanding superstars who practised what they preached; living a hard and fast lifestyle that served as a perfect visual accompaniment for their self-produced soundtrack of roaring guitars and crashing symbols. 

But in their two decades at the top, no week of Oasis mania was ever more definitive than this one: The first seven days of October. 

This was the week that propelled the band beyond the island of tea and scones onto the international stage. And it was also the week that would ultimately mark the end.

It all started on October 2, 1995. 

The scene was set for Britain’s most exciting up-and-coming band to justify the hype – as Oasis’ sophomore album, What’s The Story (Morning Glory)? was carefully placed on shelves around the UK.

Once those store doors opened, nothing was ever the same again. 

What’s The Story was snapped up by more than 345,000 fans in its first week – spending 10 weeks at number one in the UK charts.

One glance at the tracklist reveals why.

Roll With It, Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back In Anger, Some Might Say, She’s Electric, Champagne Supernova. 

The record was packed with anthemic earworms created to stand the test of time – enjoying constant airplay, analysis and mimicry for twenty-five years and counting. 

When What’s The Story landed in shops, Oasis achieved superstar status. 

Fast-forward almost exactly thirteen years, and another similar scenario was unfolding. 

It’s October 6, 2008, and for the seventh time in history, legions of Oasis supporters are swarming to stores for a another new release – an album the group has titled Dig Out Your Soul.

Fans didn’t know it at the time, but they’d never queue for an Oasis album ever again. 

Dig Out Your Soul signalled the end.

In the same week the world watched Oasis swagger into the spotlight, we would also soon hear their swansong.

An epic 18-month promotional tour of Dig Out Your Soul proved to be the tipping point for the two Gallagher brothers.

The pair had quarrelled over the cancellation of a show at V Festival (Liam citing laryngitis, Noel calling bullshit and said his brother had a hangover) before pulling the plug on a performance in France seconds before stepping out on stage. 

By the time they’d reached the Rock En Seine festival in August 2009, tensions were as high as they’d ever been, with the two siblings already travelling separately to shows. 

Just before the Paris gig, a blazing row culminated in Liam “wielding a guitar like an axe”. 

The pair were interrupted by a sudden knock at the door that cut through the chaos: It was their five-minute warning to prepare for the gig.

Instead of using these 300 seconds to make his way to the stage, Noel spent them inside his car. 

It was during those few moments he decided that was that. 

Oasis was done. 

A message on the band’s website, written by Noel, eventually appeared stating: “It is with some sadness and great relief…I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”

And that was that. The band was gone, and the two brothers remain at loggerheads a decade down the line. 

Rumours of a reunion have been a weekly occurrence in the eleven years ever since, but a reconciliation has always been just out of reach. 

The post-Oasis years have given birth to bands Beady Eye and High Flying Birds, and whilst there’s never really been any sight of a sincere olive branch, Noel has seemingly ignored impromptu tweets by Liam asking to give things another go, if only for a one-off gig.

The band’s’ closer, Dig Out Your Soul, is often lost within the footnotes of Oasis trivia today; bundled beneath the glory days of What’s The Story, origin tales of debut Definitely Maybe, and the drug-addled anecdotes of Be Here Now. 

But DOYS is sort of remarkable in how it holds up as such a solid piece of work despite the growing turbulence going on behind the scenes. 

Fittingly, the very last words to appear on an Oasis album are “soldier on” – an apt description of the brothers’ fruitless attempts to persevere through an upcoming tour fraught with tension; which would ultimately bring about the band’s demise.

You could frown at the Oasis timeline and spend hours trying to decide which dates to circle as being the most definitive moments in the band’s history. 

But no single week is more fascinating than this one. 

This was when we got the best and last of Oasis. 

In ‘95, the leap to glory. In ‘08, the unknowing goodbye.