As Oasis reunites, a timeline of the Britpop band’s ups and downs
And Noel Gallagher In 1999 Liam
Oasis announced a reunion tour on Tuesday, 15 years after the Gallagher brothers’ feud forced the classic Britpop band to disband. Here’s a look back at Oasis’ ups and downs:
Noel Gallagher, Oasis’ songwriter and guitarist, is born in Manchester.
Younger brother Liam Gallagher, Oasis’ frontman, is born in Manchester.
Bassist Paul McGuigan, guitarist Paul Arthurs and drummer Tony McCarroll form the band Rain. Liam Gallagher is added as a singer and suggests a different water-based name: Oasis. With the addition of Liam Gallagher’s eldest brother, the band has a new direction.
Oasis’ debut album, , is released and hits No 1 on the UK albums chart. “Darlings of the English alternative scene, these four blokes from Manchester alternately are loved by British critics as rough-edged retropopsters with a tinge of Beatles or hated as Fab Four pastiche,” an Associated Press review says at the time.
Oasis’ second album, , is a smash hit and becomes one of the UK's bestselling albums of all time. McCarroll, the original drummer, is fired. He’s subsequently awarded £550,000 after suing.
Oasis wins best group, best album and best video (for 'Wonderwall') at the Brit Awards, saying backstage the only award they valued was the last one, as it was fan-voted. “Anything that’s voted for by corporate pigs means nothing,” Noel says of the other, industry insider-decided trophies.
Oasis embarks on a US tour that neither begins nor ends well. Minutes before departing from London, Liam Gallagher refuses to board, forcing Noel Gallagher to fill in at the Chicago opening date.
Liam rejoins the band a few days later, saying he needed to sort out a “personal matter” and denying the band was about to break up.
Two-thirds of the way through the tour, the band returns home prematurely, blaming “internal differences". Oasis denies sibling rivalry or poor ticket sales caused the cancellation, and attributes the decision to Noel. The band says they will begin work on their third album as a result of coming home early.
Their third album, , is released. Tapes of the early outtakes had been stolen during the hush-hush recording. Noel tells fans should not expect to see Oasis play festivals, which he likens to “traveling circus-type things” — although some of the band’s most tumultuous moments will happen at festivals over the next decade or so.
He also has harsh words for Courtney Love and says he finds Alanis Morissette, Sinead O’Connor and Bjork “annoying".
The band’s first Australian tour stars off inauspiciously in February, when a Cathay Pacific pilot threatens to throw their 30-member entourage off the plane for rowdy and offensive behaviour on a flight from Hong Kong to Perth. Liam denies behaving offensively, blaming instead “rude” passengers and an uptight crew for the six official complaints lodged against the group.
Noel says he was asleep and didn’t know anything about a disturbance. Liam and other members of the entourage are banned by the airline.
Liam is charged with headbutting a 19-year-old British tourist who was taking photographs outside the band’s hotel in Brisbane. The teen drops the criminal charge and says he will sue instead. Noel apologises for the band bickering during a Brisbane show and refusing to do an encore.
Later that year, Liam is arrested in London after a photographer claims the singer punched him and smashed his equipment outside a pub, but no charges are ultimately filed.
Two more founding members, McGuigan and Arthurs, quit the band within two weeks of each other. Arthurs says he quit to spend more time with his family and the Gallaghers suggest the same might be true of McGuigan. The brothers say they did not try to persuade them to stay.
Oasis’ fourth album, is released. Noel suggests the band has come close to splitting before, but also says Oasis has outgrown its “hedonism” phase.
In May, the band’s management says Noel will not play any further foreign dates and will be temporarily replaced as guitarist. The decision was prompted by friction within the group, but band spokespeople do not elaborate. Noel rejoins the band for its final dates in the UK.
Noel tells the BBC in June he left because of Liam’s behaviour, calling his younger brother “monkey boy” and a “a bit of an idiot". Noel takes credit for keeping the band together and says it’s “just been made impossible for me to let alone be on the same stage but be in the same room as” Liam.
Within two weeks, Oasis cuts short sets at rock festivals in Switzerland and Portugal after being pelted with objects on stage, receiving criticism for their attitude from the organisers.
, their fifth album, is released.
Oasis takes on the British army over its unauthorised use of two older songs in a recruitment video for Scotland’s Highlanders regiment, leading to the recall of 300 copies.
In August, Noel and two other band members are hurt but not seriously injured in an Indianapolis car crash.
A fight in December at a posh Munich hotel between patrons and Oasis’ members and entourage leaves Liam with broken teeth. He’s accused of kicking an officer outside the hotel nightclub and the remaining concerts in Germany are scuttled so Liam can get surgery. The band calls the fight an “unprovoked attack". Two years later, Munich prosecutors say they are unable to determine who started the brawl and drop the investigation after fining Liam €50,000.
After drummer Alan White quits, Oasis taps Ringo Starr’s son Zak Starkey to fill in during their headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival, intensifying comparisons between the band and the Beatles.
Their sixth album, , is released.
Oasis’ 1995 hit 'Wonderwall' is voted the best British song of all time by Virgin Radio listeners, besting Queen’s 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Led Zeppelin’s 'Stairway to Heaven' and The Beatles’ 'Let It Be'.
In September, Noel is attacked at the Virgin Festival in Toronto when a man rushes the headlining band from backstage and pushes him. Noel falls on his speakers and is taken to the hospital after the show for a suspected fractured rib and ligament damage.
Their last album before splitting, , is released.
Oasis says China blocks the band’s mainland debut over Noel’s participation in a 1997 concert for an independent Tibet.
Noel quits Oasis just before a performance at a festival near Paris, this time seemingly for good as the band disbands. He cites “verbal and violent intimidation”, without offering details.
Liam sues Noel for saying Liam’s hangover caused the cancellation of a 2009 festival performance.
He says in a statement that the lawsuit is not about money, but that he wants an apology and for Oasis fans “to know the truth” about what happened, and that laryngitis prevented him from performing the gig. The lawsuit is later dropped.
Liam performs 'Wonderwall' without Noel at the London Olympics’ closing ceremony.
Noel reportedly turns down an offer of £20m to reunite with Liam for an Oasis anniversary tour.
Liam performs at a benefit concert for the victims of the deadly Manchester Arena bombing, prompting speculation the brothers could reunite. He blasts Noel’s absence, saying he had shown his “true colours".
Benefit organisers say Noel — whose spokesperson said he could not attend because of a family trip — approved using Oasis’ music during the concert and that he would donate royalties from 'Don’t Look Back in Anger' to the British Red Cross’ One Love Manchester fund.
Noel is later announced as the headliner of a concert in honour of the victims as the venue reopens.
Liam tells the AP he would like to reunite with Noel, but accuses him of wanting to go solo to “get all the coin and be surrounded by all the yes men you can fire and hire whenever he wants".
Oasis announces a 14-date tour for the summer of 2025. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Saturday.