Tonight, I’m A Rock ‘N’ Roll Fan

How a love for Oasis triggered an obsession with music.

Tonight, I’m A Rock ‘N’ Roll Fan

I appreciate that this is a sports blog, but sport is not my only interest so when I felt the urge to write about something else close to my heart, I decided to give it a go and post about it at a separate time to usual. I hope you enjoy. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated and if it is something that people enjoy then I may do this more often. Perhaps Sam on Sport will evolve into Sam On Stuff!

All the talk of the Oasis reunion over the last week has got me thinking back to a time when I fell in love with music. First things first, no I wasn’t lucky enough to get a ticket for the reunion shows. I queued, got kicked out and then was ultimately unsuccessful like thousands of other people but I have accepted the fact that this time it was perhaps not to be and that memories will have to suffice for now. Perhaps that’s not a terrible thing.

Back in 1995 I was 9 going on 10 years old and music to me was very much still Top of the Pops on a Friday evening and trying to record the Top 40 on a Sunday, scrambling to hit the pause button before Dr Fox uttered his first syllable and then trying to start again to catch every second of every intro.

My musical education had been a whirlwind of things that were popular in the charts and songs such as Saturday Night by Whigfield, Doop by Doop, Mmm Mmm Mmm by the Crash Test Dummies, and the Mr Blobby song stick in my head for some reason. Throughout 1994 I had become more aware of popular music through further exposure to TV and by having an older sister. My sister (like most girls of her age) had become a big fan of Take That and, although I could appreciate the craft of the songs and melodies that Gary Barlow created, the dance routines and fishnet vests really weren’t for me. I had been more taken by the boy’s boy band, East 17, and vividly remember being given their Steam album for my 9th birthday. I was particularly delighted when Stay Another Day, my favourite song from the album, became Christmas Number 1 that year and the accompanying video was a true classic. I doubt my Mum and Dad had paid much attention to their lyrics of other songs though, as listening back now some of it probably wasn’t the most appropriate.

Speaking of Mum and Dad, our musical tastes are often also shaped by what our parents listen to. I remember car journeys where Dad’s cassette of the Moody Blues’ greatest hits was played over and over again and we also had a copy of Abbey Road by The Beatles on an LP kicking about. He also liked Phil Collins, Elton John and Supertramp.

Mum was a bit more pop focused and I seem to remember records by ABBA as well as Kylie and Jason. She also liked musical based fare and was a fan of Michael Crawford and musicians like Richard Clayderman and Evelyn Glennie. She also often had the radio on so we were exposed to whatever was popular at the time. Overall it was a fairly mixed bag.

Anyway, come 1995 I was starting to take more of an interest in music and was slowly beginning to develop my own tastes. A big turning point was the 1995 Brit Awards in February. In those days this was still a must watch event and something that would be discussed heavily at school the next day. Although there were performances by the aforementioned Take That and East 17, as well as Elton John performing a medley after receiving a lifetime achievement award, the night was really the coming out party for Britpop in the wider public sphere.

In reality, the night belonged to Blur who picked up 4 awards including best album and best band. I remember Damon Albarn taking to the stage in a light blue football shirt to make his acceptance speeches. I also remember them performing live. However, it wasn’t the London band that really grabbed my attention. 

That accolade went to Oasis. Despite being beaten to the post by their rivals for a couple of awards, they won the Breakthrough Act award and, despite the whole thing probably lasting less than a minute, it was the best thing I had ever seen. Leading the way in a huge black parka, smoking a cigarette and mugging for the camera, Liam swaggered towards the stage with a confidence that I had never seen before. Better than that, once they reached the podium, he didn’t say a word, choosing instead to preen around while Noel took to the mic and thanked Ray Davies, George Martin and his parents before the whole band disappeared just as quickly as they had arrived. Who were these people? What were their songs like? Where could I see more of them? These were all questions that I was desperate to find out the answers to.

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one. The next day at school, many of my friends had also taken note of the coolness that emanated from the Manchester band and lunchtime was spent trying to perfect Liam’s gorilla walk.

I soon managed to find a few of their songs on the Now That’s What I Call Music tapes that my sister had (an obligatory purchase at the time) and was able to garner a small fix. Not long afterwards, Oasis achieved their first Number One single with Some Might Say (trustily taped on my ancient stereo that Sunday afternoon of course) and I was completely hooked.

Bear in mind that in those days, particularly as a pre-teen, it was incredibly difficult to actually get hold of new music. You couldn’t just go online and stream it like you can now or go to iTunes or Spotify and download it. You didn’t have your own money to just pop out and buy a single or an album so you either had to rely on a parent feeling extremely generous, or wait by the stereo with a blank cassette in just in case the song you wanted may or may not be played on the radio. To be fair though, I think this made us appreciate the music we liked even more.

By the summer, even my parents were aware of the so-called Battle of Britpop between Oasis and Blur. Everyone was. In August, Blur moved the release date of their single Country House so that it came out on the same day as Oasis’s Roll With It so the battle for Number One was on. I vividly remember standing in Asda with both cassettes in front of me and being told I could only buy one (the significance of one band beating the other hadn’t really resonated with me at that age) and being completely torn. I liked both songs, but in the end I actually plumped for the Blur song. Being only 10, the catchiness and silliness of it just resonated with me a little more. Bear in mind that my previous tape purchase had been Scatman’s World by Scatman John. Clearly I didn’t know everything there was to know about music just yet!

Blur (helped along the way by my purchase) won the battle that time, but in the long run, my allegiance was still firmly with the Oasis camp. I much preferred their other songs released from What’s The Story Morning Glory and purchased both Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger (their second Number One) when they came out as singles. By this point I had learned to save up pocket money to buy what I wanted. I didn’t actually manage to purchase the album until later (this was still a little expensive) but my friend’s big sister had a copy and we played it endlessly.

By the time 1997 rolled around, I was there on the first morning of release to buy Be Here Now. I understand why some of the reviews for this album were more negative over time, and that certain aspects are completely overblown and some songs are way too long, but to me it was absolutely perfect. I loved the grandeur of it and in songs like Stand By Me, D’You Know What I Mean? and All Around the World, Oasis had created some more classics to add to their catalogue. I still wasn’t overly aware of the brothers’ rivalry or everything that was going on in the press, I just knew that I loved their music and thought they were incredibly cool.

I looked on in envy as people went to see them at Knebworth and other places such as Glastonbury but did eventually get to see them live myself. As I expected, I loved it. I even got the chance to briefly meet Liam when I was working at the V Festival as a security steward one year. I had been asked to man the VIP section at the side of the stage during their set and during one Noel fronted number I became aware of someone sidling up next to me. As I turned around I heard Liam’s unmistakable drawl saying ‘I ‘ope yer looking after me Mrs in there!’ and I think I managed a barely perceptible open-mouthed nod before he swaggered off to meet his adoring crowd again. Not my own finest moment but one I will always remember.

From Oasis, my appreciation for British guitar music grew and over time I came to love many other bands such as The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, as well as going back to Oasis’s own roots and discovering bands like The Smiths and Stone Roses. I then widened the net even further and have appreciated many many indie bands from both our own shores and overseas.

I appreciate that these days, Oasis can be seen as overhyped and not as great as we all thought at the time, but to me they will always be the first band that I fell in love with. Because of them I developed a love for music and a yearning to go out and discover more and more which from that point on has helped create in me a taste that covers virtually every genre imaginable.

It is a shame that I won’t get to see the Gallagher brothers on their latest adventures but I will certainly be watching to see how it goes. Assuming they don’t fall out again before the first note of the first song is actually played that is! Then again, I guess that would just add to the legend.