Was Oasis the biggest band in the world?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by WildHoneyPie9, Jul 30, 2017.

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  1. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Probably more like not caring about fashion.
     
  2. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    I think the only reason this thread is so long is because until this forum, I didn't realize Oasis fans were this defensive like Beatles fans are. The correlation is starting to not feel coincidental.

    No one Rock in Rio performance or sales figure or no-reason-one-liner claim will determine anything. Seeing the picture as a whole is the only way. The issue is that I'm learning the Oasis fan needs to be the absolute best and now on this page, the last rock band...ever! Obviously, that's not true. We live in a world where bold claims are attempted to hide uneasiness.

    Comments like they're as famous as The Cranberries to put down the Oasis fan is also obviously untrue. But they stem from a thread title (which is a question, not a statement - not the OP's fault), that they were the 'greatest band in the world' and the focus on that has now become greatest band of the world in the whole decade or for the last 30 years. Hard for your typical music fan to accept statements this self-important and borderline pompous.
    --------
    The general consensus added up here has the most likely conclusion. For the years of 1995-1997, they were the UK's biggest band. No matter how we spin statistics or various countries' concert lineups for rock festivals, this is a very proud statement to have as an Oasis fan and it should be enough. It's enough for me and I own every song they released.

    But it seems the Oasis fan has now pushed that victory into more bold claims like most influential band, most popular of the decade, most popular of the last 30 years, most important, most this most that. This is where most forum members and the rest of the world would have an issue. The greed of wanting more and more bold claims by putting down every band around them until they reach 2nd all-time behind the Beatles. It's inevitable that someone will say they were popular than U2, more influential than Nirvana, better than the Stones until they reach #2 all-time.

    The irony that Oasis themselves no longer make bold claims but they're audience does 25 years after the fact feels like insecurity. If an Oasis fan needs this much to feel better about themselves and this world, then maybe it's time to realize that Oasis just doesn't care if you defend them or not for a 25-year old argument. Having as much ego as Liam isn't always the best thing.
     
  3. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    The OP's very first sentence limits the time frame to a very short period.
    'Was Oasis the "biggest band in the world" during the Mid 90s?'
     
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  4. autumn daze

    autumn daze I really don't belong here

    Location:
    Milton Keynes, UK
    Wow, only read the last few pages but oh my this is a controversial subject, it would appear!

    I can only talk about my recollections of the time, being a British teenager when Oasis began their rise. At that time, in the UK, they rose at such a rate that it was inevitable to us they'd become, perhaps even were, the biggest band in the world. But that is the view as seen from within the UK. I can't suggest what the view was from elsewhere as I wasn't there.

    There was a buzz around Oasis that I've never seen anywhere either before or since. It was fairly short lived, looking back, but in that 94-97 period they were potentially the most exciting band in the world. And I don't just say that based upon their music but their attitude, whether you like it or not, their persona, their impact upon culture (I seem to recall Liam being on the cover of US Vogue magazine with the tag line 'Cool Britannia') and the like. Once again, looking at the UK, they were in the nightly news broadcasts, which at that time were still very formal British affairs, breakfast tv shows were camping outside their houses for live television and the radio did a huge u-turn on their playlists to include every Brit Pop band they could find. A single of simply the brothers arguing even charted, from memory!

    The US should have gone under their spell but the band blew it each time they took a shot - again, from memory, I remember they played an award show and Liam ended up spitting on the stage and got booed off.

    So, to British people who lived through the mid 90s they certainly were the biggest band in the UK, and appeared to be rising at an unbelievable rate that would seem inevitable to them taking over the world, but would appear they didn't crack the places they needed to in order to get there. I would say, however, a band so polarising could never be the biggest band in the world, that's why the bands who are usually spoken about in those terms - U2, Coldplay, Foo Fighters etc - are generally safe and uninteresting. Yes, Bono, Chris Martin and Dave Grohl aren't everyone's cup of tea, but they all come across as nice and safe people whereas the Gallagher's look like they'd steal your daughter if you opened the door to them.

    Anyway, as you were.
     
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  5. followmehome

    followmehome Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    So yeah, Oasis probably WERE the biggest band in the world apart from the USA for a few year in the mid-late 1990's. I'm not even a huge fan of the band, but it's really weird and also funny that there's a very vocal mostly US anti-Oasis crowd on here who refuse to recognise how huge (in terms of both record sales and cultural impact) Oasis were.
     
  6. wowiezowie

    wowiezowie Forum Resident

    Only in their own heads! They did have a big cultural impact in the UK but i'm glad i never went along with it, my whole circle of friends went to Knebworth in 1996 and i was the only one who said 'no thanks'
     
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  7. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    Again, I don't think U.S. fans have any prob giving them most popular UK band for 95-97 but it's more about the Oasis fan claiming more and more to the point of obsession mixed with insecurity. It's great exploring the psychology of the Oasis fan and I'm learning about how music fans like to define themselves by the bands they love hence the sensitivity.
     
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  8. clarkydaz

    clarkydaz Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    Knebworth was my first ever gig. It wasn't the same without you :D
     
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  9. mindgames

    mindgames Forum Resident

    Location:
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    To come back at this:

    I do. Do you though? You posted "[Liam] could've opened up for a bigger band if he wanted to I'm sure but he's a bit more uptight about stuff like that.", to prove a point in comparison with Noel Gallagher. And I'm showing you that’s a preconception, since Liam opened in the late afternoon for The Stone Roses when his commercial success was at an all time low, a band he surpassed left and right at the height of his popularity.

    I never disagreed with you on thinking Liam would love to be back in Oasis. Not much to argue about that: he's stating that all the time. But again, as I posted before: Noel needs Liam as well, and Liam has his own thing now. What changed is that Noel had big solo success from the start while playing it very safe on stage, and loved to rub that in. That’s cool, entertaining as well, fair at that point in his career. Liam could've done the same Oasis greatest hits set and would've sold way more tickets, yet he went back to square one just to be able to create and play in a band. That’s not the attitude of someone who just wants to have success, as the posts I reacted to falsely insinuated. An unknown name, no hits, a disastrous second era with Spinal Tap-like happenings instantly killing momentum, opening for bigger acts as the only way to play larger crowds, while Noel simply co-headlined any festival for years with the same 7 Oasis songs and the same 7 rotating new songs. "Can you sing?!"

    Now, “suddenly”, Noel Gallagher had a year of terrible PR, 4 new songs which are being slaughtered by the exact same fan base which were confidently buying his records before, him instantly defending his new material in every interview like a man pushed to the edge, while Liam Gallagher easily sells out every venue he announces in a heart beat with a new generation of kids in the crowd singing his new and old catalogue.

    To say Noel is fine with just playing some music in whatever venue because he doesn't need Oasis, while he's squeezing out every drop from the fans with "hospitality packages", and opens up for stadium acts with nothing to promote (yet), is just untrue. If anything, we can conclude that both would reunite Oasis for the success, the fame, the kick. The one difference there is, is that Noel understands Oasis had run its course for 9 years which didn't do the legacy much good, and it's a way better position for them to stay split up.

    That's an easy excuse when one doesn't wanna listen to the fair counter-arguments. I've seen Noel Gallagher solo as often as Liam Gallagher solo, I travelled abroad more for Noel than I did for Liam because I agree with Noel on the lad crowds in England, and I cringed this Summer at Liam's gigs at the kids shouting "**** Noel" and 30 seconds later asking for 'Live Forever'. For Noel, to say it at loud and biting the hand that feeds you is just stupid though.

    So it's silly to claim any bias would have any role in stating things changed this year. Hell, I even think the whole scissorsgate is Noel taking the piss and that if Liam would've done something similar everyone would say how it's a genius move and Noel is so boring for not doing something like this.

    My whole point was, again, how Noel suddenly changed his ways and tone at the same moment Liam started to outclass him. “Suddenly”. Previously he was having banter on Beady Eye (“Stratford's finest Oasis tribute band”), but it was all in good spirits and with respect (“I'm very ****ing sad about Beady Eye, because I know they really wanted to make it work. I think Liam should make a solo record, put his balls on the line, put his name up in lights and go for it.”), and now Liam has done exactly that with huge success while the tables have clearly turned he’s saying: “I’m not a fan so I wouldn’t listen to it. [..] I have nothing to say about it.”

    Luckily he now reluctantly admitted hearing some of the singles, mentioning ‘Wall Of Glass’ and “the one that sounds like Adele shouting into a bucket” which gotta be about the dreadful ‘Chinatown’, or if not the “by the numbers Guy Chambers” ‘For What It’s Worth’. And that’s Noel with his hilarious ways again.
     
  10. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    Great post, apart from the bit about Chinatown, possibly my favourite song on the album! :)
     
  11. NunoBento

    NunoBento Rock 'n' Roll Star

    Location:
    London
    It's hilarious. I don't think I've ever seen a topic here where so many people come to actively hate or actively disregard a band.

    If any proof was needed of their relevance even 20 years after their peak, that pretty much sums it up.

    I'm suprised no one came here saying:
    "Who is this 'Oasis' guy? 'Wonderwall'? Did this Oasis guy do a cover of the George Harrison album? I like The Beatles. Them, I know."
     
  12. NunoBento

    NunoBento Rock 'n' Roll Star

    Location:
    London
    Dude, you sure know your Oasis.
    Hit every single nail.

    (‘For What It’s Worth’ does sound like Guy Chambers trying to write an Oasis circa Morning Glory song. But it's really cool nonetheless)

    While I agree with you on every account, let me just say that I've never seen Liam nor Beady Eye live, but saw Noel 4 times, 3 of them abroad and I travelled specifically to attend the concerts. Also, my favourite album of this century is "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" and my favourite song is a tie between "Solve My Mystery", "Idlers Dream" and "Alone On The Rope". So yes, I'm a fan.

    "This" Noel however doesn't seem like the same person we used to know and love. He looks and sounds completely alienated from the real world. Too much time with his pal Bono, I reckon.

    As for the scissorsgate, let me quote Noel himself, when he was talking about Arcade Fire's bizarre stage antics in 2014:

    "That's just to distract you from the sh!t music that's coming off the speakers."
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2017

  13. Where are you getting Oasis selling 80 million Verifiable units?

    Chili Peppers may claim 80 million, but only 57.8 million are verified, so Oasis will probably be less.

    The Cranberries did 14.5 million units US from 4 albums between '93 - '96;

    Oasis did 6.6 million units US from 7 albums between '94 - 08
     
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  14. enfield

    enfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex UK
    The oasis figure of 70 million is from Wikipedia and various other chart websites.Chilli's was quick a google search.

    Why are people so obsessed with how well a group did or didn't do in America? When this is a thread about the biggest band in the 'world' as a whole.
     
  15. I think earlier in the thread we verified Oasis total Verifiable worldwide sales between 32-40 million. You or I can claim anything, backing it up beyond Fan club or news claims based on PR hype is another thing.

    The US is usually 40-60% of most artists'/bands' Verifiable worldwide sales, particularly at the time frame we are speaking about, the biggest market, crucial to any claims of biggest band in the world otherwise you are just the Slade, Status Quo, the Jam, etc.,
     
  16. mindgames

    mindgames Forum Resident

    Location:
    -
    We also verified something else earlier in the thread...

     
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  17. Still the world's largest music market, maybe you can suss out Oasis' total worldwide Verifiable sales...
     
  18. mindgames

    mindgames Forum Resident

    Location:
    -
    Why do you keep on ignoring the fact their success in the US was nothing to sneeze at, on top of them being a worldwide phenomenon.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2017
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  19. clarkydaz

    clarkydaz Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
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  20. enfield

    enfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex UK
    You still seem to be obsessed with US sales?? Oasis's first album alone sold 20+ million copies.So where you pick a number like 32-40 million in total i don't know..The fact remains that Oasis were not that big in the US and because of that it seems some of our cousins on the other side of the pond just cannot grasp how big they were in other parts of the world.
     
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  21. enfield

    enfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex UK
    The last great Rock & Roll band.:agree:

     
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  22. NunoBento

    NunoBento Rock 'n' Roll Star

    Location:
    London
    Saw The Stone Roses at that stadium. Quoting the Gallaghers, it was biblical.
     
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  23. dlb99

    dlb99 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Population of Brazil, 208 million.
    Population of UK, 66 million.

    Chilli's can headline in Brazil, Oasis were just a lead in act. Quite embarrassing for a supposed biggest band in the world. The fact is, they were only ever the biggest band in the UK and select other markets. Never cracked America.
     
    BluesOvertookMe likes this.
  24. You can't make up to the sales claimed, 80 million based on Switzerland, Brazil, UK, etc., It is simply NOT going to happen.
     
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