#oasis lore

"In 1994, I was chief photographer for Melody Maker and that July I flew to New York for the Maker’s first Oasis cover. We were booked on the same flight, but the band were in club class and me and the hack were in goats-and-chickens. Liam came back to say hello. He was a garrulous guy, even pre-fame. He was standing at the back of the plane having a beer and this woman came by huffing and puffing with some kids and Liam offered to look after one of them. He pulled down one of those seats the flight attendants sit on and had the girl on his lap and chatted to her. After the tales I’d heard, I’d thought I was about to spend a few days with a nutcase. But he was sweet as a nut.

We were out there for four days. They were shooting a video and doing a gig. This shoot was on the third day and we’d over-grooved the night before. It was punishingly hot. We got on the subway, we walked here, walked there, looking for a location, then this woman from the label said: “I know this place.” She took us to a disused bridge. It was amazing: you can see one of the greatest cities in the world behind the band. I think Liam bought the top in homage to John Lennon. There’s a picture that Bob Gruen took of Lennon wearing a similar shirt.

so, there are a couple famous pictures from wembley 2000 (july 21-22) where liam appears to have an earring. cute, right?

well, if you tweet these pictures at him, he’ll tell you this: (2019-2026)

there’s obviously the chance he’s just fucking with everyone (i.e. denying the obvious vape earlier this year) BUT— it only really gets pointed out in photos from that gig. so if it is real, when did he get it?

as poet and scholar megan thee stallion once said, “don’t gotta edit, check the getty”. i’ve spent hours scouring stock photo sites looking for images where he appears to have an earring. these are not edited by fans and have been sourced from getty images & shutterstock. you may need to zoom in on some of these to see it clearly, but it’s totally there!

the earliest image i could find of liam with the earring is from the 1999 cannes film festival, held may 15 of that year. the hoop does not appear to be visible in photos from the february tommy hilfiger launch party, so he started wearing it between then and here. (he looks thrilled to be there, doesn’t he?)

more pics from ‘99:

august 11 - mickey blue eyes premiere

august 25 - water rats press conference

december 3 - 100fm radio show, philadelphia

it’s visible throughout their 2000 sotsog tour (photos taken between (february and july) and of course, at wembley! here’s the evidence from those gigs:

the last photo i can find that features the earring is from the leeds festival on august 28. these photos are pretty bad honestly and they aren’t stock photos, but there are like 5 photos of this gig out there anyway. if you look closely, there appears to be a band around his earlobe.

he was heavily photographed at the q awards that year, but his hairstyle completely hid his ears, so i can’t say for sure if it was there or not. i do believe he took it out prior to november 2000 because there are times where it caught the light and was slightly visible through his hair, but in all the photos from the event there are no signs of it.

cut to january 14 2001- liam shows up to the rock in rio festival with a noticeably bare ear!

there’s still a mark, though. here’s a great photo from june ‘01 where the piercing is clearly visible, and here’s a great picture from ‘17 that shows it’s still there— the evidence doesn’t lie!

There were already a lot of Oasis books and the reunion has only caused for even more to show up, so considering I've read a lot of of them, thought I'd make a sort of guide/review! ^^ Especially for people who are now getting into the fandom or don't have time to check out every book

[I should make the important clarification that you mustn't read these books for their quality of prose because you'll be quite disappointed]

A Sound So Very Loud (2025) by Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain: Unlike the rest of the works on this list, this is not an historical account of what happened in Oasis but rather a compilation of quotes and information regarding every song that Oasis has officially released. It's useful as a tool to consult recording dates, background of lyrics, and it also contains a few interviews done by Kessler himself across the years. A negative aspect of this book is that it doesn't include demos, unreleased songs or pre-Oasis music. Still, reckon it's quite practical.

Brothers from Childhood to Oasis: the real story (1996) by Paul Gallagher and Terry Christian: required reading if you want to dig into the world of Oasis books, because is the only work that encompasses the years before Liam and Noel were born and their early childhood. Amongst its highlights are the section in which Peggy tells her story and gives her perspective on the brothers, and the photos from the pre-Oasis period. The downside of this book is, of course, that it's written by paul gallagher. If you can ignore that and the barely veiled tint of resentment that covers his perspective of Liam and Noel, it's a very interesting read, especially for the historical data that it provides.

Getting High: Adventures with Oasis / Forever the people: On the road with Oasis (1997/1999) by Paolo Hewitt: These two are a bit trickier. It's good as a recount of the events of the Oasis 'peak', mostly because Hewitt was there at the time, but it is not an objective recount, of course. Hewitt doesn't intend to be objective, if anything he reinforces/follows Noel's perception of Oasis and himself and it gets mixed with Hewitt's own dramatised perspective. That is until the second book in which he grows desillusioned with Noel during the BHN era. So I think it's interesting if you want to read Paolo Hewitt's thoughts on Oasis (and perhaps bands in general) which if you are, good for you, but I find him deeply uninteresting.

Gallagher: The Fall and Rise of Oasis (2025) by PJ Harrison. Starts at the Oasis split and tackles the brothers after 2009: Beady Eye, NGHFB, Liam's solo career until the reunion. It's interesting and I'll admit it's original compared to the typical 1994-1996 treatment of Oasis. That being said, it's filled with gossip and a lot of the time its sources are The Mirror and The Daily Mail articles with unnamed sources. So it's not exactly credible, particularly regarding the reunion.

How to run an indie label (2024) by Alan McGee. Not strictly about Oasis but the band is of course very present all along the book. It's good for learning about the work behind the scenes, how Oasis affected Creation, their relationship with other bands, etc. McGee has a tendency to embellish certain events of course, but beyond that most of what he says checks out, he's respectful of the artists and offers a usually charming and accurate perspective of Liam and Noel.

Live Forever: the rise, fall and resurrection of Oasis (2025) by John Robb: if you're read other Oasis books or if you know quite a bit about the band, this book will not tell you that much stuff you haven't heard before. However it's a decent read especially since Robb takes everything with a bit of humour and he was there for certain events, including the party before the infamous cricket bat incident. Still, it relies on a lot of already published quotes and it's not authorised by the band. I will say it does include, unlike most other Oasis books, the 2000s, even if it's a short section.

Oasis: Knebworth: Two Nights That Will Live Forever (2021) by Jill Furmanovsky and Daniel Rachel: fun read about the Knebworth gigs, the behind the scenes of how it was put together, and a lot of lovely photos by Jill.

Oasis: The Truth: My Life as Oasis's Drummer (2010) by Tony McCarroll: you know what I said about authors not being impartial? Well, this is an extreme case of unreliable narrator lmao. Can be fun to read if only for the entertainment of Tony's hatred of Noel. But it does include some really early Oasis stuff that's missing on other books

Oasis: What's the story? (2016) by Ian Robertson: written by the band's former assistant tour manager and once again a first person account of the events during the prime of Oasis. The problem with this one, at least for a lot of people in the fandom, is Robertson as a person. But then again you could question everybody's integrity in this list and most of them are not exactly nice. I think there's some really interesting bits, especially some particular events in which Liam was involved that haven't been tackled by other books.

Supersonic: The Complete, Authorised and Uncut Interviews (2021): the interviews from the Supersonic documentary without the editing. Really complete and in-depth, absolutely required reading. Everything that can be said about the beginning and the prime years of Oasis is in this, in detail. Not because there's an objective narration of the events, but because there's a multitude of perspectives that allow you to see the bigger picture, and in my opinion, get as close as the truth as you can.

Ladies and Gentleman~

Behold; my delusional self, clinging to them.

Hi Anon! The lore is indeed deep with this one. So basically for the band, and especially for Noel, "making it in the US" was a HUGE deal so their LA gig there was very very important (also on account of a lot of music business types being on attendance that day). And prior to the gig, the band thought that they were doing coke but turned out to be meth so they were awake for days and generally not in a good state of mind when they took the stage.

In Supersonic, the narrative goes on like this: They did a shit gig, everyone was playing a different song, Liam was just making up words, etc etc. Noel was the only one that was relatively composed, etc... And then Liam throws his tambourine at Noel and that's it -- there is a big fight after the gig and Noel just takes off to San Francisco and stays with a girl he'd met before (the famous Melissa Lim that Talk Tonight is written about). He comes back after a week or so and this incident somehow changes the internal band dynamics.

What's very important is that Liam says Noel left a note under his door before he left and it said "How can we go on like brothers when we do this?" (also important to note that the last part, 'when we do this' is omitted in the Supersonic documentary).

You can also read everything they've said about the incident here (compiled from the Supersonic book). A really thorough account of the event & people's statements can be found here as well.

So, that's the 'official story.' But when you watch the entire gig, it becomes clear that it was not that BAD? If anyone was screwing up, it looks like it's Noel actually. Noel's vocals are really really bad and he seems really, really fucked up. Liam's doing a good job, considering the circumstances. Anyway, I really recommend watching it and seeing for yourself:

So if the gig was not so terrible, and if Noel, as usual, is giving us half-truths, what is the meaning behind the note that he slipped under Liam's door, "How can we go on like brothers when we do this?" Do what?

07/01/26

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