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Oasis · S1 E7
King Tut's
May 31, 1993. A gig at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. Alan McGee of Creation Records is in the audience. By the end of the set, he wants to sign them.
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, May 31, 1993. Five lads from Manchester who aren't even on the bill are about to play four songs to thirty people, and one of those thirty people runs a record label.
Oasis, Stop Crying Your Heart Out (2002). From thirty people at a club in Glasgow to stadiums full of thousands crying these words back. Everything started at King Tut's.
Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Oasis (2002)
Noel wrote this as a reassurance, and Liam's vocal is unusually restrained, almost gentle, letting the melody work instead of his usual full-throated attack. Released from Heathen Chemistry nearly a decade after King Tut's, but the emotional core connects straight back to that night: a kid from Manchester telling you it's going to be all right. The production is cleaner and wider than anything on Definitely Maybe. Listen for the string arrangement behind the final chorus, the sound of a band that started in a Glasgow club with nobody watching.
Uninvited
Oasis are not on the bill. The actual lineup tonight is Boyfriend, 18 Wheeler, and Sister Lovers, who share a rehearsal room with Oasis back in Manchester. Sister Lovers invited them along for the ride, and the band has driven five hours to play a venue that doesn't even know they're coming. The King Tut's staff initially refuse to let them on stage.
Sources
Radio X
Glasgow World, 2024
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
272a St Vincent Street. The venue where Alan McGee saw Oasis for the first time and decided to sign them before the set was over. It's still open.
“By the time they did this fantastic version of I Am the Walrus, I'd decided I've got to sign this group, now.”
— Alan McGee, founder of Creation Records, 2013
TAP TO REVEAL: Why was Alan McGee at King Tut's early enough to see Oasis?
Four Songs
They play four songs to a room of about thirty: 'Rock 'n' Roll Star,' 'Bring It On Down,' 'Up in the Sky,' and a cover of the Beatles' 'I Am the Walrus.' Four songs. Thirty people. And one of them is Alan McGee, the founder of Creation Records, the label behind My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream. By the end of the set, he's made up his mind.
Sources
Radio X
Creation Records, 2013
Fade Away, Oasis (1994)
A B-side to 'Cigarettes & Alcohol' that blazes with the same raw energy Oasis brought to King Tut's. Pure early Oasis: loud, fast, and played like they've got nothing to lose. This is what thirty people in a Glasgow club heard that night, and why one of them reached for his phone the next morning.
Fade Away, Oasis (1994)
Read the lyrics while you listen. 'While we're living, the dreams we have as children fade away.' The song captures the tension between dreaming and doing. At King Tut's, the dreaming stopped and the doing began.
How did Oasis end up playing King Tut's that night?
Alan McGee picks up the phone and offers Oasis a recording contract with Creation Records. Next season: the studio, the singles, and the fastest-selling debut album in British history.
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