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making withdrawn, apologetic music, dicking around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.
