(What's the Story) Morning Glory?

Untitled

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the second album by the English rock band Oasis. Released on 2 October 1995 in the UK, the album was Oasis' most enduring commercial success, charting at number one in the UK (staying there for 10 weeks) and number four in the U.S.. The album sold 347 thousand copies in its first week in the UK and has so far sold over 23 million copies worldwide. It is the third biggest-selling album in UK chart history (with 4.3 million copies sold), behind Queen's Greatest Hits and The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band respectively. The album has gone 4x platinum in the United States (4 million+ sales).

Album singles "Some Might Say", "Roll with It", " Wonderwall", and "Don't Look Back in Anger" were hits in the UK, with "Some Might Say" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" both reaching the number one spot in the UK singles chart. "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" went gold in the United States. The cover photo was taken on Berwick Street in Soho, London, a London street known for its independent record shops. The two men on the cover are Sean Rowley and Owen Morris.

History

See also: The Battle of Britpop

The success of Morning Glory catapulted Oasis from being a successful Britpop band to being one of the biggest bands in Britain, with substantial international fame, and considerable press coverage in the mainstream and music press. The band played several large open air concerts in the UK during 1996, including two nights at Knebworth in front of a combined audience of 250,000 people (125,000 each night); at the time, they were the biggest gigs ever held for a single band on UK soil. Over 2.6 million people had applied to buy tickets, meaning theoretically Oasis could have played 20 consecutive sold out nights at Knebworth. Noel reflected that it wouldn't be possible to top this. "For a six-week period building up to that gig we were the biggest band in the world," he said "We were bigger than, dare I say it, fucking God."

Reception

Upon its release, Morning Glory received mixed reviews from music critics due to its softer sound compared to its predecessor Definitely Maybe. NME gave the album 7/10, whilst Q gave it 3 stars out of 5. Despite a negative response from the music press, the success of its two lead singles "Some Might Say" and "Roll With It" – reaching number one and two in the UK singles charts, respectively – helped the album debut at #1 in the British album charts, staying there for a total of 10 weeks, and staying in the top ten for a total of 66 weeks.

In 1997, Morning Glory was named the fifth greatest album of all time in the "Music of the Millennium" poll, conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998, Q magazine readers placed it at number 8, and in 2000 it achieved the same position in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums Ever" list. In 1999, the editors of Q declared it the "album of the decade". The readers of Q placed it eighth again on the 2006 top 100 greatest albums of all time list. Template:RS500 In 2008, a poll conducted by Q magazine and HMV to find the best ever British album put the album in second place behind Definitely Maybe. "Wonderwall" ranked #35 on VH1's Top 100 Songs of the 1990s.

Track listing

All tracks written by Noel Gallagher, except where stated.

1. "Hello" (Gallagher, Mike Leander) – 3:23
2. "Roll with It" – 4:00
3. "Wonderwall" – 4:19
4. "Don't Look Back in Anger" – 4:48
5. "Hey Now!" – 5:42
6. Untitled (aka "The Swamp Song - Excerpt 1") – 0:45
7. "Some Might Say" – 5:29
8. "Cast No Shadow" – 4:52
9. "She's Electric" – 3:41
10. "Morning Glory" – 5:04
11. Untitled (aka "The Swamp Song - Excerpt 2") – 0:40
12. "Champagne Supernova" – 7:30

Notes

• Tracks 6 and 11 are officially untitled. The track listing displays no title for these songs, merely a blank space (although in the Mexican edition of the album they both appear as "The Swamp Song"). The excerpts from "The Swamp Song" are parts of the instrumental B-side to the "Wonderwall" single.
• The vinyl LP edition of the album features a bonus track, "Bonehead's Bank Holiday". This song appears as the seventh track on the album, immediately after the 43-second untitled track.
• "Step Out" had to be removed from the album at the last minute. The song, sung by Noel, was intended to have been the original track 8 (after "Some Might Say" and before "Cast No Shadow"), but was removed because the chorus was similar to that of Stevie Wonder's 1965 track "Uptight (Everything's Alright)". The track was eventually released as a B-side on Oasis' 1996 single "Don't Look Back in Anger", with an amended song writing credit of "Gallagher/Wonder/Cosby/Moy", and was included on the live album Familiar to Millions.

Personnel

Performance

• Liam Gallagher – vocals
• Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, vocals, piano, co-producer, mellotron, E-bow
• Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs – rhythm guitar, mellotron, piano
• Paul McGuigan – bass guitar
• Alan White – drums, percussion

Production

• Brian Cannon – director, design
• Neil Dorfsman – mixing
• Michael Spencer Jones – photography
• Vlado Meller – mastering engineer
• Owen Morris – producer
• Mathew Sankey – assistant, design assistant
• David Swope – mixing assistant

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Peak
1995	UK Albums Chart	1
1995	The Billboard 200	4
1996	Australian ARIA Albums Chart	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak
1995	"Morning Glory"
		Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	24
1995	"Some Might Say"
		UK Singles Chart	1
1995	"Wonderwall"
		Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	9
		Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	1
1996	"Champagne Supernova"
		Billboard Adult Top 40	33
		Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	8
		Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	1
		Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	10
1996	"Don't Look Back in Anger"
		Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	10
		The Billboard Hot 100	55
		Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	33
		UK Singles Chart	1
1996	"Wonderwall"
		Billboard Adult Top 40	30
		Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	17
		The Billboard Hot 100	8
		Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	10
		UK Singles Chart	2

Certifications

• United Kingdom (BPI): 14x Platinum (24 September 2004)
• United States (RIAA): 4x Platinum (8 November 1996)
• Canada (CRIA): 8x Platinum
• Germany (IFPI): Gold
• Netherlands (NVPI): Gold (1996)

Release history

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? was released in various countries in October 1995.

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalogue numbers
United Kingdom	2 October 1995	Creation Records	CD	CRECD 189
			LP	CRELP 189
United States	3 October 1995	Epic Records	CD	EK 67351
United Kingdom	14 August 2000	Big Brother	CD (reissue)	RKIDCD007
			LP (reissue)	RKIDLP007