Thought you knew everything about one of Britpop’s most celebrated debut albums? Think again…
Oasis guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs took part in an online listening party last night for the band’s debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’ – and he shared a few untold gems about the making of it.
It was part of a series put on by The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, who for the past week has been hosting album listening parties featuring contributions from the brains behind some of Britpop and British indie’s most celebrated records.
At the end of a week that included playbacks of Blur‘s ‘Parklife’, Franz Ferdinand‘s self-titled debut and The Charlatans’ ‘Some Friendly’, last night (March 27) was the turn of Oasis’ 1994 debut.
While Liam Gallagher was said to possibly be taking part, the listening party was hosted Burgess, Bonehead, Brian Cannon (as Microdot), who was responsible for creating the artwork for ‘Definitely Maybe’, and Kevin Cummins, NME’s chief photographer for much of the ’80s and ’90s, and who shot the band before and after their meteoric rise.
Kicking off the playback with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, Bonehead told fans: “When I think of my guitar sound it’s always this track I look to.”
Paul Arthurs.@BoneheadsPage·27 MarTrack 1 Rock n Roll star What an album opener? Doesn’t need an introduction , still gets crowds bouncing now, 26 years later on stage with Liam. When I think of my guitar sound it’s always this track I look to
Mentioning Coca Cola a couple of times, Bonehead revealed that not only was “the melody for ‘Shakermaker’ was stolen from the Coca Cola advert,” but the song “originally had the words I’d like to buy the world a coke to keep it company, but we had to take them off or else, said Coca Cola.”
Elsewhere, Bonehead revealed that ‘Slide Away’ was the only song that survived the original sessions from when the band recorded at Monnow Valley Studios. He added that in his opinion it’s “the best ever vocal take from Liam.” He joked: “When he sings ‘oh let me be the one’ I’d let him be the one.”
Ending on ‘Married With Children’, the Oasis guitarist mentioned how it was recorded in a bedroom at Mark Coyles house. “I love the guitar sound on this, it was an unplugged electric of Coyleys, miked up in the bedroom. Another great vocal from Liam too,” he said.
Brian Cannon shared some original concepts for the album’s artwork, including how Liam wanted the artwork to be a knife stuck in a lump of butter.
Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
And we’re off! Before we had settled on the idea of shooting the sleeve in Bonehead’s house, Liam’s ‘concept’ for the artwork was a knife in a lump of butter – true story! #timstwitterlisteningparty
Sharing the original running sheet for ‘Live Forever’, how the album cover was inspired by The Beatles, and also how the Oasis logo was inspired by the Decca Records logo seen on some Rolling Stones album covers, but in a font style that mirrored the Adidas logo, see some of Cannon’s insights below.
Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
The front cover of Def Maybe was inspired by the back of the Beatles album ‘Oldies But Goldies’ I just loved the fly on the wall feel to the shot.
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Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
Original running sheet for ‘Live Forever’ mapping out all the tracks on the recording. As featured in the coffee table book I designed for the remastered box set.
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Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
The first thing I did for the band was the logo – inspired by the Decca Records logo seen on a Rolling Stones album – here’s the prototype in which I used an approximation of the Adidas font – before changing it.
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Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
First ever Oasis artwork mock up – obviously never going to be the sleeve – just wanted to see how the logo worked. The first and only outing for the prototype logo. That’s the original Supersonic mock up.
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Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
Noel would hand write out the lyrics to every song so I could develop the concepts for the sleeve artwork – even album tracks.
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Brian Cannon / Microdot@MicrodotCreativ
Sleeve test shot in @BoneheadsPage house – me and Bonehead’s wife Kate in the shot. This was a week before the final shoot.
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Kevin Cummins posted a series of early images of the band during his time covering them around the release of ‘Definitely Maybe’, including his very first shot of the band for NME.
This was the first Oasis photo I shot for the @NME – we flew to Amsterdam – the band travelled overnight on the ferry. When I got there only Noel was there – the rest of them had been deported for fighting with Chelsea fans #timstwitterlisteningparty @BoneheadsPage
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Sharing commentary for each, Cummins recalled the time Liam “chucked all the furniture in the pool” at a hotel in Portsmouth and the “had to fish it all out so as we could sit down and have a drink.”
When we got back to Pompey hotel, the pool was next to the bar. Liam chucked all thefurniture in the pool. ‘You daft bastard, where are we going to sit. Get it out.’ he had to fish it all out so as we could sit down and have a drink -crowd shot at gig #timstwitterlisteningparty
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See more of Cummins photos below.
The following month we did a range of photos around London for Creation just to get them used to being photographed. Liam was exhausting … he kept jumping on the back of buses and I was having to chase after him #timstwitterlisteningparty @BoneheadsPage
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a lot of pointing went on then there was a erm sibling scuffle – then everything went back to normal #timstwitterlisteningparty @BoneheadsPage
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The morning after the TJ’s gig, I was waiting in the hotel lobby, finally Liam turned up & said ‘hello’. I looked up, saw the sign above his head & told him not to move and grabbed my camera and took this pic, which was the cover shot for our NME piece #timstwitterlisteningparty
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Then for this band shot I took them to a passageway near the Phoenix Theatre off Charing Cross Road – it was on Flitcroft Street. We only did the pics there because we had a player called Gary Flitcroft #ManCity and thought it’d be a good reference point in future years
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To see the full Oasis ‘Definitely Maybe’ listening party threads, visit the Twitter accounts of Bonehead, Tim Burgess, Brian Cannon and Kevin Cummins.
Liam said on Twitter that he’s “sick of pleading begging etc” for the band to get back together, and that he’s demanding that Noel agrees to reunite to raise money for the NHS.
“Rite sick of pleading begging etc no more olive branches I DEMAND an oasis reunion after this is all over all money going to NHS c’mon you know,” he said.
