May 25, 1997
By Jae-Ha Kim
Cleveland Plain Dealer
GETTING HIGH: THE ADVENTURES OF OASIS
By Paolo Hewitt, Hyperion, 396 pp, $12.95.
In Great Britain, Oasis isn’t just any
band--it is the band. To get a perspective of how popular they are
in their homeland, check this out: The five-man group from Manchester
performed two nights at England’s Knebworth Park to more than 250,000 people.
It was the largest audience for any single band in Britain.
Their album “(What’s The Story) Morning
Glory” ranked as one of the Top 10 best-selling records of 1996 in America.
And although their claim to be as good as the Beatles has yet to be proven,
the group’s talent and arrogant charisma is undeniable on hits such as
“Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Live Forever.”
A skilled journalist who has been an
Oasis fan since their early days, Paolo Hewitt has written the most comprehensive
book to date on the band (there are at least a dozen circulating in the
UK). With “Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis,” he had access
to the band, their friends and family members, and Hewitt seamlessly weaves
their stories into the group’s history. While he spares no adjectives
to describe the greatness that is Oasis, he also doesn’t dismiss the group’s
love for drugs (cocaine and marijuana) or their early bouts with crime
(car theft, shoplifting).
Guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher,
29, and his baby brother, singer Liam, 24, were born and raised in Manchester
by their mother Peggy. When their father left them, Noel became the
de facto man of the house, even though his elder brother Paul still lived
at home. The pugnacious second son would take on a similar role when
he joined Liam’s band--Oasis--in 1992.
Prior to that, Noel had toured as a
guitar tech with the Inspiral Carpets, even though he knew more about playing
the guitar than fixing any technical problems. His solution when
there was equipment failure was to kick the offending item into submission.
Failing that, he would tell the band to purchase new gear.
Once he joined Oasis, the power structure
shifted in the group from Liam, who had formed and named the band, to Noel,
who had something the other members didn’t: good, original songs.
Hewitt’s portrayal of the bickering
Brothers Gallagher is vivid. And as much as Liam resented his brother’s
dominance in the band, he also had a reverential attitude for Noel’s talent
as a songwriter.
After one particularly heated row with
his brother, Noel played a song he had just written (“The Masterplan”).
“Liam stands up, goes over to Noel and
says, ‘That is as good as any Beatles’ song,” Hewitt writes. “I’m
telling you man, it is. You don’t know how ------- good you are ...
And it’s a B-side? How ------- top is that?”
Oasis has been criticized for copying
other bands (the Beatles, Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones) rather than relying
on their own skills. To a certain extent this is true. What
“Getting High” makes clear, though, is that critical accolades take a back
seat to having fun and giving their fans a good time for Oasis. And
in many respects, that’s what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.
The Pop Music Critic at the Chicago
Sun-Times, Kim is a New York Times Best-selling author. Her latest book
is Best of Friends (HarperCollins).
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