The key to a successful Oasis video is shooting it in black and white and sticking Liam halfway up a wall
What we know about how Oasis have tricked us with their music videos
Like the Falklands War, 1966 World Cup win and that time we saw up Keith Chegwin’s arse on Channel 5, Oasis are seared into the English national identity, as inseparable as marmite from toast or Liam Gallagher from cocaine. While Blur and Pulp might have been the better bands, it is Oasis that the media prefer to lavish prosaic praise on, perpetuating the myth that they somehow stood for something, someone, somewhere. Even their truly awful albums receive recognition: BBC Radio 6 recently devoted a day to talking about how ‘Be Here Now’ isn’t quite as shit as people think it is.
Why is this? I’ve got a few theories. First, Oasis are a direct derivation of past UK music products, which makes them easy to understand – their best tracks sound like a mash up of ‘I Am The Walrus’ and ‘Pretty Vacant’, only not so hot. Noel’s lyrics particular are easy to grasp, since they borrow images and rhyming schemes from The Village With Three Corners series of kids’ books. It’s catchy stuff, no doubt.
Secondly, Oasis are unbeatable myth makers. There’s an expression in journalism ‘if it bleeds it leads’ i.e. the most gory story will take the top of the front page. Well, in band terms, Oasis are the goriest of stories; from on stage fights, smug-as-fuck interviews and innumerable break ups, when it came to getting a journo’s juices jumping there is/was no band better.
One of the most important parts of a band’s myth making process is the music video. So let us now take a look back through the Oasis’ archive and see what more we can learn about the band they call the busker’s best friend.