Well, a long time ago, a 16 year old lad from Manchester, England, was walking through the halls of his school. He was on his way to a certain classroom in which he knew a certain person was studying. This was his last day of school because he was dropping out, or something. Anyway, when he got to the classroom, he saw the person he had been searching for. It was some lout student that had been giving him some major stress recently. In his hand was a homemade flour bomb. He had been intending on throwing it at the guy who he was going to throw it at. In fact, that's just what he did. Except, the target ducked, and the "bomb" hit the teacher standing behind him instead. The adolecent Noel Gallagher was rushed to the principles office where he was informed that his permanant record would show that he had been expelled, quite dishonorably.

    Now, let's jump ahead a couple of years to see a slightly older Noel at a concert. He was talking to some guy that was standing next to him. It turned out that this guy was one of the members(or hangers-on. i don't know for sure)of a group called the Inspiral Carpets. Since Noel and the gent had gotten along with each other quite well(and the fact that Noel knew how to play a guitar)Noel was assigned as a roadie of the group. As such, he went wherever they did. Tuning a guitar here, buying a replacement drumstick there, until he decided that he had had enough with them and wanted his own band. So......he went back home.

Oasis have been on the ascent ever since. They've toured England four times within the past year, and each time every gig was sold out before they'd even hit the road. Their first single, "Supersonic," hit the independent charts at Number One, and their second single, "Shakermaker," has already cracked the British national Top 10. But Noel Gallagher, Oasis' songwriter and lead guitarist, isn't exactly dizzied by his band's rapid rise to the top. "It's all going really quickly," he says. "But if this is pressure, give me more!"

With the release of Oasis's American debut DEFINITELY MAYBE on Epic Records, rock fans Stateside will get a chance to discover the band that New Musical Express is calling "the premier gilt-edged rock 'n' rollers of the age." The album's title suggests a tentativeness that belies the self-assured rock 'n' roll swagger inside. "It's a phrase I use all the time. It's contradictory," Noel says with a slight smirk in his voice, "and I like that. It doesn't mean anything. Or does it? Definitely maybe."

"Rock 'N' Roll Star" kicks off Definitely Maybe with grinding guitars, over which Liam Gallagher--Noel's younger brother and Oasis' lead singer--laments the downside of the rocker lifestyle: too many late nights, too many intoxicating substances, accusations that it's just a "waste of time." Yet by the time the chorus rolls around, he remembers why he bothers with it all in the first place: "But tonight / I'm a rock 'n' roll star!"

The song fades out with a swirling, throbbing, psychedelic jam that in no way prepares you for what comes next: "Shakermaker," which evokes The Who Sell Out in much the same way as the crunchy guitar rhythm of "Rock 'n' Roll Star" suggests the Rolling Stones' harder-edged tunes. The spare arrangement of their sweet and melodic rock ballad "Live Forever" gives rest of the band a chance to shine. Drummer Tony McCarroll opens the song with a slow, almost wistful groove; rhythm guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs strums an acoustic; bassist Paul McGuigan joins in, first playing a complex melody line, then falling in with the rest as Liam's singing shows Oasis' vulnerable, heartfelt side.

Noel is particularly proud of "Live Forever" and "Married with Children," two of the slower songs on the album, because they force the listener to hear his band and not codify them too easily. "I like the fact that people can be taken aback by a song I wrote. That's what we're aiming for. I wouldn't like anyone to be able to define the Oasis sound; if someone can do that, then I'm not doing my job well enough." Don't try to pin these guys down, in other words; they'll defy every categorization foisted upon them.

The power and popularity of Oasis' records, their unwavering belief in their own abilities, and their incendiary live performances have earned them a wealth of accolades from the most credible elements of the British rock press. On stage, wrote Mojo, "Oasis take their places and just stand there. Impassively cocksure, quietly convinced of their roughly distilled essence of Everything Rock Delights In; derivative yet manifestly now."

"[These] songs deserve to be heard," said The Face. "More than that, they deserve to be really listened to. These aren't dysfunctional, dopey dole anthems--they're too quick-witted for that. Oasis' debut album, DEFINITELY MAYBE, is packed with three-minute pop shrapnel bombs..."

The band is taking all of this adoration in stride. "We don't see ourselves as stars," says Noel. "We just want people to come to the gig, and if they like it to buy the record. We just want to play the music and have a good time."

A good time, indeed: The debauchery that surrounds Oasis's performances has already become the stuff of legend. But when they hit the stage they're all business, all single-minded self-confidence. Oasis takes rock 'n' roll very seriously, and they refuse to strike poses or engage in obsequious banter with the audience. Some critics have interpreted this stance as studied arrogance, but Noel disagrees. "We wouldn't dare go on stage and prance around and preach to the audience." Liam reiterates his brother's sentiment in blunter terms: "I've got no time for jumping about, do I? I'm too busy singing the songs."

Believe the hype: With their new Epic album, (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY, Oasis erase any lingering doubts that they are anything less than the premier English rock & roll band of the present decade. Here is a record brimming with that special blend of confidence and creativity, energy and personality, which characterizes such past pop masterworks as the Rolling Stones' Between The Buttons, the Small Faces' Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, and the Beatles' Hard Day's Night.

The successor to Oasis' debut Definitely Maybe (released August '94), (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY was co-produced by Owen Morris and Oasis Noel Gallagher and recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. It features the premier US radio and video track "Morning Glory" and nine more Noel Gallagher originals including the hard-rocking #1 UK hit "Some Might Say"; the current #2 UK single "Roll With It"; and the future classics "Hey Now" and "Wonderwall." There are several rewarding experiments with strings and mellotron, and a truly epic closing track, "Champagne Supernova," which moves majestically from delicate acoustic intro to towering Spectorian wall of electric guitars and back again. (The song's 7� minutes feel closer to three.)

(WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY is a remarkable achievement by a band which formed just about three years ago in their native city of Manchester. Signed to Creation Records, Oasis released their first UK single, "Supersonic," in April 1994 after they'd been playing out live for roughly a year. The follow-up, "Shakermaker," rose to #11 on the British chart, followed by Oasis' first Top 10 UK hit, "Live Forever."

Definitely Maybe was released in August, 94 and promptly rose to #1 on the UK national chart--the fastest-selling debut album in UK pop history. At this writing (in August '95), Definitely Maybe has been certified gold in the US and double platinum in the UK. It has hung in the Top 20 of the UK album chart for a solid year, and sold more than two million copies around the world.

Oasis made their US live debut during the 1994 New Music Nights festival, appearing at Wetlands on July 21. Their first full-scale US club tour began September 23 in Seattle, ending October 29 at a SRO (Sweating Room Only) show at Wetlands in NYC. "What separates Oasis from new American punk bands like Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins," opined The New York Post's reviewer, "is that these Brits look as they might actually mean it...In today's pop world of pre-packaged outrage and re-packaged dinosaurs, you can't ask for more than that. Stardom beckons."

Appearing on MTV's "120 Minutes" on October 30, Oasis band performed live and premiered a new version of their "Supersonic" video. (This clip would go on to establish a new record for the longest chart run--24 consecutive weeks--in the 11-year history of CVC Report, America's leading music video trade publication.) On January 28, 1995, it was back to Seattle for the start of a second headlining US tour of eight weeks' duration. This time, however, Oasis were playing larger venues--including San Francisco's legendary Fillmore and The Academy in New York--and selling out every show.

Oasis' last performance in their original lineup took place April 26, 1995 on the BBCs "Top Of The Pops." Drummer Tony McCarroll was soon replaced by Alan White, a 22-year-old Londoner who made his first appearance with the band on the May 4 edition of "TOTP" when Oasis performed their #1 UK single "Some Might Say." In this year's BRIT Awards, the UK equivalent of the Grammys, Oasis was named Best Newcomver. And in the "BRAT Awards" sponsored by New Musical Express, Oasis walked away with Best Album (for Definitely Maybe), Best Single (for "Live Forever"), and Best New Band.

In the summer of '95, Oasis performed at several major European rock festivals, including Glastonbury in England and Roskilde in Denmark, and appeared as the special guests of R.E.M. at their 100,000-strong show at Slaine Castle in Ireland. In October, Oasis will set out on their third headlining US tour.

They can't take it much higher, can they? Being on a stage in front of 125,000 people two nights running. Blasting out their brilliant noise and hearing an eighth of a million people roar back at them in appreciation. Hearing and seeing it, making it happen. It doesn't get any higher, does it?

Liam and Noel Gallagher, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, Paul "Guigs" McGuigan and Alan White, collectively Oasis, have had ten months to ponder over that question, to listen to the sound of Knebworth echoing around their heads and figure out just where they can go next.

In thise ten months, every time they've gobbed on the floor, got engaged, looked at a house, had a haircut, flicked a V-sign, drawn the curtains, caught the plane, got married, gone down the pub - every time they've done anything that's had nothing to do with making music, they've made the front page of the daily papers.

They could so easily have become consumed by that world of professional celebrity, become just another load of pointless zombies with suntans. What they've chosen instead, what they've been doing on and off for those ten months regardless of the media, is to immerse themselves in what they're best at - making a classic record.

And if you want to know what it felt like to be on that stage at Knebworth - well, you're about to find out. 'D'You Know What I Mean?', Oasis first single in 18 months, takes you right back into the eye of their hurricane. It's a celebration of all that the band have achieved with their help of their audience. The band of the people, back playing for the people.

In 1994, when Oasis first arrived, the scene they blew apart was parochial, piddling, introverted and meaningless. Where everyone else seemed to be making withdrawn, apologetic music, dicking around on the edge of getting it on, Oasis were so direct that it took them barely a couple of months to electrify British music.

They drew together not only threads of other songs, but also a whole patchwork of existing musical ideals. They were obviously striving for what people in this country have always believed popmusic can achieve. From The Small Faces and John Lennon, via Punk Rock, through to The Stone Roses and Acid House, Britain's youth have always looked for a vision behind their heroes' tunes, a higher sense of common purpose in which to believe and find strength when the chips are down (which they usually are).

Unlike any other band for some years, Oasis were after just that. What they had to say was uncomplicated (urban life sucks, love conquers all, drink beer smoke tabs, er, what else?), but then if you look at rock's greatest ideologues they never stay the course. Oasis were just interested in that mega cultural impact which had rarely been achieved since the '60s - for its own sake, for the excitement, for the sense of mass communion, for the pure buzz of music.