1991 - 1993 : A Star is Born

The band's creative axis is the Gallagher brothers, Noel (b. Noel Thomas Gallagher, 29 May 1967, Longsight, Cheshire, England; guitar/vocals) and Liam (b. William John Paul Gallagher, 21 September 1972, Longsight, Cheshire, England; vocals) . They were brought up by Irish Roman Catholic parents in the south Manchester suburb of Burnage. While his younger brother was still in school, Noel, whose part-time DJ father had purchased a guitar for him at age 11, discovered punk, and like many of his peers happily engaged in truancy, burglary and glue-sniffing.

After six months' probation for robbing a corner shop he began to take the instrument seriously at the age of 13, later finding his role model in Johnny Marr of the Smiths. Liam was not weaned on music until 1989 when his elder brother took him to see the Inspiral Carpets. Afterwards, Noel befriended that band's Clint Boon, subsequently becoming a guitar technician and travelling the world with them. When he telephoned home in 1991 he was informed by his mother that Liam had joined a band.

The band was called The Rain, who took their name from a 1966 Beatles B-side. The Rain comprised Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll (drums) and Chris Hutton (vocals). When McGuigan invited school friend Liam Gallagher to join the group, Gallagher accepted, and quickly pushed for the band's name to be changed to Oasis.

Oasis first played live in August of 1991, at the Boardwalk club in Manchester. Noel Gallagher, who had recently returned from touring America as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, came to watch his younger brother play. A few months later he was invited to join the band. Although he had been critical of them, he agreed, with the provision that he would become the band's sole songwriter and leader, and that they would commit to an earnest pursuit of commercial success.

Oasis gained a loyal and vocal following on the local Manchester gig circuit and in 1992, Noel contacted Tony Griffiths of The Real People (who he had met when the latter performed as the opening act for the Inspiral Carpets), asking him if Oasis could use their studio in Liverpool to produce a professional sounding demo which they could then send to record companies. The resulting tape, known as the Live Demonstration tape, would form the basis for Oasis' first album. Ten cassette copies of Live Demonstration were sent out with a J-card insert depicting a swirling Union Jack and the now famous Oasis logo designed by Tony French but no response was received.

In May 1993, the band were invited to play a gig at a club in Glasgow called King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, by a band who shared their rehearsal rooms. Oasis, along with a group of friends, found the money to hire a van and make the six-hour journey to Glasgow. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club as they were not on that night's set list, forcing the band to bully their way in. They were given the opening slot and impressed the owner of Creation Records (Alan McGee), who happened to be there by chance, and who reportedly offered them a recording contract on the spot.

However, they did not sign until several months later, during which time a copy of the band's demo had been passed to Johnny Marr, who became an early convert to the cause and put the band in touch with Electronic's management company, Ignition.

With news spreading of the band's rise it seemed likely that they would join any number of labels apart from Creation, with U2's Mother label rumoured to guarantee double any other offer. However, loyalty to the kindred spirits at Creation won through by October 1993, and two months later the label issued the band's "debut", a one-sided 12-inch promo of "Columbia" taken straight from the original demo. BBC Radio 1 immediately playlisted it (an almost unheralded event for such a "non-release").

The commercial singles "Supersonic" and "Shakermaker" were released in the spring of 1994. Both gained national radio airplay and were Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom.

The following year began with a torrent of press, much of it focusing on the band's errant behaviour. Punch-ups and the ingestion of large quantities of drink and drugs led to gig cancellations, while frequent, often violent, bickering between the Gallagher brothers lent the band a sense of danger and mischief.