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If you’re an Oasis fan, the announcement this week that the band are due to reissue their first three albums (Definitely Maybe, What’s the Story Morning Glory? and Be Here Now) should be greeted with joy - not disappointment.
This is not simply because previously unreleased material will be made available, but more importantly because that the news means (for the time being at least) that the Gallaghers have no plans to reform Oasis. Thank God.
The news of the reissues has received a mixed reaction from fans and detractors alike. There are of course the naysayers who have dismissed the band’s output since day one as generic drivel who have welcomed the news with a predictable level of dismissive derision. There are those, on the other hand, who are excited and encouraged by the news, and finally those who whilst welcoming the news, have expressed dismay that the big announcement wasn’t linked to full scale reunion and tour.
I can deal with the first two groups (as an unashamed Oasis fan myself I fall into the second category), but I’m baffled by those calling for a reunion. Why should Oasis reform? From recent comments on the “blogosphere” many appear to be pining for one final tour or a 20th anniversary Knebworth show which would allow the band to say farewell. The phrase “go out on top” has been ubiquitous. The resultant event, whether it be an anniversary show or full tour, would simply be a vapid exercise in nostalgia.
Picture the scene; Liam’s voice straining to deliver a performance that has been out of his vocal range for a good 15 years (on numbers such as 'She’s Electric', 'Up in the Sky' etc), whilst multi-millionaire Noel looks on disinterestedly as the band belts out tracks about escapism and going out that he wrote in his twenties whilst penniless in Manchester.
And then there’s the question of the line-up... In order to fully immortalise the Knebworth/ Britpop years surely the band would have to reinstate the original line-up? Anything else would undermine the credibility of any reunion. However, with Bonehead working on new musical projects and Guigsy famously reclusive (refusing even to contribute to the 10th anniversary Definitely Maybe DVD release) this seems highly unlikely to occur. In short the rose-tinted view held by many of any such reunion is simply wishful thinking.
There’s an argument, only partly justified, that Oasis went on too long as it is and their post-90s output descended ever deeper into turgid Beatles pastiche. Any such reunion would add further weight to these assertions, as the dichotomy between the Oasis people fondly remember from the mid-90s and the reality of how the band would actually appear/sound in 2014 would be painfully obvious for all to see.
When a band splits the myth surrounding their output perpetuates and their reputation grows over the generations. Take The Smiths for example, one of the most revered British bands of all time who disbanded before they had chance to make a bad record. The point is Oasis did make underwhelming albums but they also created era-defining anthems on a scale that very few other bands ever have done. To reform would almost act as an admittance of the failure for the Gallaghers’ of their post-Oasis output, but would also be a betrayal of the band’s legacy. They may have gone off the boil toward the end of their tenure/career but even so what have the band still got to prove or achieve?
By not reforming the band’s reputation would continue to grow untarnished, as people’s nostalgic selective memories will inevitably remember their career highlights, rather than say Little by Little, or Who Feels Love. In order to do justice to the greatness of a band that for so many summed up an era it is best to remember Oasis as they sounded at the peak of their powers. The aforementioned re-releases of Definitely Maybe, WTSMG and Be Here Now will allow fans to do this, whereas a reunion of any sort would completely endanger their reputation. It’s best to relive the past, not recreate it.
I for one do not want Oasis to be here now.
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