1994 - 1996 : Height of Fame

In August 1994, their polished and melodic single "Live Forever," made the UK Top 10 and brought the band a measure of fame. Also around this time the band was involved in a high-profile incident on a ferry off the coast of the Netherlands. Liam Gallagher and McGuigan were arrested for fighting, whilst Arthurs and McCarroll were detained for alleged shoplifting. All four were subsequently refused entry to the Netherlands, and this incident became the first of many tabloid stories on the band. After scrapping the original tapes recorded with Dave Batchelor at Monmouth's Monnow Valley Studios, the songs had been completed at Sawmills in Cornwall with Mark Coyle and Anjali Dutt, with subsequent mixing by Electronic producer Owen Morris, at a total cost of £75,000. The publicity helped their debut album, Definitely Maybe (a phrase allegedly often uttered by Noel during recording), enter the charts at #1 in September 1994.

More hit singles quickly followed. The single "Cigarettes & Alcohol" a stage favourite, became the band's biggest UK singles success to date, when it reached #7 in October 1994 in the UK charts amidst controversy that its central riff directly plagiarised T.Rex's 1972 release "Get it On". The EP "Whatever" was released in December 1994, peaking at #3 in the UK charts and foreshadowing the band's move toward a mellower sound on the following album. That song, too, was the subject of accusations of plagiarism, and Neil Innes, formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, successfully sued on the basis that a substantial part of the melody was taken from his song "How Sweet to be an Idiot".

Oasis' assault on America began in January 1995, and with a few gigs and word-of-mouth reports, they were soon hovering around the US Top 50. Tensions between the Gallagher brothers on their first US tour, coupled with a disdain for Americans, caused Noel to temporarily quit the band after a disastrous gig in L.A. and fly to San Francisco without telling anyone. When Oasis' manager tracked him down, they decided to take a trip to Las Vegas to calm Noel down. Legend has it that he met a couple on their honeymoon there (the woman thought he resembled George Harrison), and that after a long conversation, they persuaded him to rejoin Oasis. The song "Talk Tonight" (one of the B-sides to "Some Might Say") is thought to be written for this woman.

Oasis soon had their first UK #1 with "Some Might Say", the first single from their second album (and the only track on the second album to feature McCarroll), in late April 1995. At the same time, drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band. Noel Gallagher has since claimed that his departure was a result of him not being technically good enough to play on more complex songs although McCarroll had not been popular with the rest of the band. There were also reported scuffles between him and the Gallaghers and Bonehead. McCarroll was replaced with quiet Londoner Alan White, formerly of Starclub and younger brother of renowned studio percussionist Steve White. White made his debut for the band at a Top of the Pops performance of Some Might Say.

"Some Might Say", like many of the band's singles, included a number of non-album tracks, on this occasion two of Noel Gallagher's finest compositions, "Talk Tonight" and "Acquiesce". "Roll With It" and "Wonderwall" were also UK number 2 hit singles, the former losing a notoriously hyped-up chart race with Blur's "Country House". "Don't Look Back In Anger" was more successful, becoming the band's second chart-topper the following March. During this period Oasis also made the all-important American breakthrough, with "Wonderwall" climbing into the US Top 10 at the start of 1996. Nobody could dispute that (What's The Story) Morning Glory? was one of the finest albums of the modern pop era, and it went on to become one of the bestselling albums of the 90s by a UK act.

On June 23 the group headlined the first night of the annual Glastonbury Festival, the UK's most foremost music festival. Here they performed a number of new songs including "Roll With It" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" but their performance was given a lukewarm reception by the critics. Wonderwall was given it's world public premiere the next day, when Noel performed a solo acoustic version for UK TV's Channel 4.

Oasis were suddenly receiving the media attention that was previously bestowed on the Beatles. They played two shows at London's Earl Court in front of over 20,000 people in November 1995, which were subsequently dwarfed the following year by concerts at Manchester's Maine Road and, on 10 and 11 August, at Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire (in front of an estimated 250,000 people). With the massive attention and success of Oasis the volatile relationship of the Gallagher brothers came under public scrutiny. Their sex lives, drug habits and fist fights were all examined and dissected, their uncompromising behaviour and laddish attitudes increasingly both entertaining and irritating.

On Monday, August 14, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up a "Battle of the Bands" that dominated the week's music news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis's "Roll With It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week. Oasis' management came up with several excuses, claiming "Country House" sold more because it was more competitively priced (£1.99 vs £3.99) and because there were two different versions of "Country House" with different B-Sides forcing serious fans to buy two copies. An alternative explanation given at the time was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll With It" single case, which did not record all sales.

Although a softer sound led to mixed reviews, Oasis's second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became the second largest selling album of all-time in the UK. The album also went on to sell over 19 million copies worldwide and spawned two further hit singles, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger", which reached numbers 2 and 1 respectively. The album's opening track "Hello", with its sing-along chant, was a common feature of Oasis's live performances. It features a sample from Gary Glitter's 1973 Top 10 hit "Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again". It also contained their hit, "Champagne Supernova" - featuring guitar playing and back vocals by Paul Weller - which received widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #20 on the US charts. Despite not being released in the UK, it received significant airplay and remains one of the band's most popular songs to this day.

In February 1996, Oasis became only the third band after The Beatles and The Jam to perform two songs on the same edition of British music television programme Top Of The Pops, miming to "Don't Look Back In Anger" and their cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize". On April 27 and 28 the group played their first headline outdoor concerts, a taste of things to come, at Maine Road Football Ground, Manchester, the then home of their beloved Manchester City. Highlights from the second night featured on the video There And Then, released later the same year.

As their career reached its zenith, Oasis performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth on August 10 and 11, 1996. The band sold out both shows within minutes; 250,000 people over two nights, at the time a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert held in the UK.

On August 23 Oasis were due to play the prestigious MTV Unplugged at the Royal Festival Hall but Liam pulled out, citing a sore throat. He watched the performance from a balcony with cold beer and cigarettes. Rumours of the band splitting came to a head on their ninth attempt to break America in September 1996. Following a fight with his brother, who had not even made it out of the country for the initial US concerts, Noel returned to the UK with the band in tow the following day. The rest of the US tour was cancelled and the press statement that followed reported that although touring was unlikely the band would stay together. Nevertheless, awards continued to flow throughout a remarkable year, highlighting the fact that few modern rock bands had managed to create such a body of high-quality work in such a short time, and no other (except the Beatles) became a such a massive media success.