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Oasis · S3 E6
The Album
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? Released October 2, 1995. It will sell 22 million copies worldwide and define what British rock sounds like.
October 2, 1995. Record shops across Britain open their doors, and 345,000 people buy the same album in seven days, a number nobody has ever seen before.
Oasis, Little by Little (2002). Seven years after Morning Glory, Oasis were still chasing the high of that album. Every record they made after it was measured against the one that sold 22 million copies.
Little by Little, Oasis (2002)
A double A-side single from Heathen Chemistry, 'Little by Little' is Noel writing a pop song with the precision he perfected during the Morning Glory sessions. The chord progression is deceptively simple, the melody is built to stick in your head after one listen, and the production is clean without being sterile. It's the kind of three-minute single that Noel could write in his sleep by 2002, because Morning Glory taught him how. Listen for the way the bridge lifts the song into a different key before dropping back, a trick he learned from the Beatles and never stopped using.
The Numbers
345,000 copies in the first week. Ten weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart. By the end of the year, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? has become the fastest-selling album in British history. It will go on to sell 22 million copies worldwide and become the third best-selling album in UK chart history, behind only Queen's Greatest Hits and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's.
Sources
Official Charts
Morning Glory, Wikipedia
“My instinct is telling me this is gonna be great, so therefore we'll go and we'll do it.”
— Noel Gallagher, Return to Rockfield documentary
TAP TO REVEAL: What track was pulled from the Morning Glory tracklist at the last minute?
The Cultural Moment
Morning Glory doesn't just sell records. It becomes the soundtrack to an entire country's sense of itself: Cool Britannia, New Labour, the feeling that Britain is the centre of the world again. Every pub, every student flat, every car radio is playing these songs. For a brief window in the mid-90s, Oasis aren't just a band, they're a national mood.
Sources
NME
Official Charts
Where does (What's the Story) Morning Glory? rank among the best-selling albums in UK chart history?
The Masterplan, Oasis (1995)
The B-side to 'Wonderwall' that might be Noel's greatest song. While Morning Glory was selling millions, this was tucked away on the back of a single, heard only by the fans who flipped the record over. 'All we know is that we don't know.' The most philosophical thing Noel ever wrote, hidden where almost nobody would find it.
The Masterplan, Oasis (1995)
'All we know is that we don't know, all we know is that we don't know.' Noel's most searching, open-hearted lyric, given away as a B-side while the A-side sold 22 million albums. Some fans think this is the best song he ever wrote.
Morning Glory: The Numbers
The album is everywhere, the singles are in every chart, and Oasis need a stage big enough to match. Two sold-out nights at Earls Court, London, twenty thousand people per show, and a crowd that knows every single word.
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