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Oasis · S2 E1
Creation Records
Signing to Alan McGee's label. The same indie imprint that gave the world My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, and Teenage Fanclub.
Alan McGee dials the number. On the other end, five lads from Manchester are about to join a label that nearly went bankrupt making Loveless and is running on fumes, ambition, and a half-ownership deal with Sony.
Oasis, The Hindu Times (2002). Raw, fuzzy, three chords, and pure indie-label energy. This is the sound Alan McGee heard the potential for when he signed five unknowns from Manchester.
The Hindu Times, Oasis (2002)
Released as the lead single from Heathen Chemistry, years after Creation Records closed its doors. But the raw, fuzzy guitar tone and three-chord simplicity is pure Creation DNA. Noel kept the production deliberately rough, trying to recapture the energy of the early days. Listen for Liam's vocal pushed right to the front of the mix with zero polish, like a band playing in a rehearsal room, which is exactly the kind of record Creation was built to release.
The Label
Creation Records is Alan McGee's baby, founded in 1983 with a borrowed drum machine and a South London living room. By 1993, the label has signed The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, and Teenage Fanclub. It has also nearly been destroyed by My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, a masterpiece that took two years and so much money to record that McGee had to sell half the label to Sony just to survive.
Sources
Creation Records, Wikipedia
Clash Magazine
“When we did the Sony deal in 1992 we owed over a million quid.”
— Alan McGee, Clash Magazine
TAP TO REVEAL: Which label tried to steal Oasis from Creation at the last minute?
The Demo Tape
Before King Tut's, Oasis record their calling card. On March 11, 1993, they drive to Liverpool and lay down eight tracks at The Real People's studio on Porter Street. The tape is called Live Demonstration, and only about ten copies are ever made. One of them ends up in Alan McGee's hands.
Sources
Audio Ink Radio, 2026
oasis-live.net
The Real People Studios, Liverpool
15 Porter Street, Dock Road. Where Oasis recorded the Live Demonstration demo tape in March 1993, two months before King Tut's changed everything.
(It's Good) To Be Free, Oasis (1994)
A B-side to 'Whatever' that sounds exactly like what its title says: pure release. The song charges forward with the energy of a band that has just been freed from obscurity, from Manchester, from the idea that this might never work. Creation Records gave Oasis the one thing they'd never had: someone outside the rehearsal room who believed in them.
(It's Good) To Be Free, Oasis (1994)
'Free to be whatever I, whatever I choose.' Noel wrote this during the Definitely Maybe sessions, and the lyrics feel like a direct response to signing the deal. After years of rehearsal rooms and dead-end gigs, someone finally said yes.
What nearly bankrupted Creation Records before they signed Oasis?
Oasis have a label, a demo tape, and a catalogue of songs ready to go. Now they need to turn all of it into an album, and their first attempt at recording will go so badly that the tapes get thrown in the bin.
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