WI: No Oasis?

How would the 90's be affected if Oasis had never formed? Maybe Noel falls out with Liam earlier and goes solo or forms a new band?

How would this affect Britpop and the other bands who formed/changed their style (Lush, Ocean Colour Scene, Ride) to accommodate the new music scene?

Bonus points if:

• Blur remain as a Shoegazing band
• None of the lame piano bands of the early 00's exist
• You can detail how Grunge is affected

Romantic Nihilist said:

How would the 90's be affected if Oasis had never formed? Maybe Noel falls out with Liam earlier and goes solo or forms a new band?

How would this affect Britpop and the other bands who formed/changed their style (Lush, Ocean Colour Scene, Ride) to accommodate the new music scene?

Bonus points if:

• Blur remain as a Shoegazing band
• None of the lame piano bands of the early 00's exist
• You can detail how Grunge is affected

Click to expand...

It's worth considering that some big early 1990s madchester/shoegaze bands had already released transitional albums before Oasis put their first single out - Blur's 'Modern Life is Rubbish' & The Charlatans 'Up to our hips' were key signs that the smarter bands were looking to reconnect with classic British rock & pop.

Even a heavy shoegaze band like Ride was doing it - their 1992 album 'Going Blank Again' was very pop-influenced.

Then you have bands like the Stone Roses & Happy Mondays who were basically sabotaging their own careers well before Oasis landed in the charts. It's too late to save the Mondays, but it's possible that with no Oasis the Stone Roses make a better impact on their return.

Another possibility is that another band leads Britpop that draws key inspiration from a different 1960s band. We already have a Kinks-influenced Blur well under development by 1994, but there's also Ocean Colour Scene moving away from indie-dance and towards late-Small Faces/Traffic r'n'b,

Also, the Stairs recorded an album heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones (Their single 'Weed Bus' was a remarkable blend of Stones & The Who)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlBeSlDLxlA but they pretty much faded back into obscurity & broke up not long after.

One last idea is that if Blur get a different producer - lets say the label insists on Mick Jones from The Clash/Big Audio Dynamite or Tina Weymouth/Chris Frantz back out of producing that Happy Mondays album, and end up working with Blur instead - then you potentially get more hip-hop influences in there earlier.. (think Gorillaz, or the 13 & Think Tank albums by Blur) which could make for some success in the USA post-grunge. You might get more creative tension between Damon & Graham, though.

Without Oasis, I'd have 3 less songs on my IPod.


Chris

This is my sort of thread.

I'd say:

almost certainly a different New Labour (assuming John Smith still dies)

a stronger left-leaning subculture in British music and pop culture generally

possibly quite a few people more successful on their own level, though obviously nothing like Oasis' level IOTL (early 90s hippie/crusty types, Credit to the Nation, Senser, the NWONW)

it probably takes longer for British pop/rock culture to be fully integrated into the establishment, and/or it takes a different form. I'm not sure how this would have affected the success of British "urban" pop - it might not have crossed over as much during its two strongest periods (and low ebbs for guitar bands) because it isn't the only "non-establishment" form remaining so doesn't become the default option for rebellion. OTOH without Oasis you don't have the same power structure pushing guitar bands as The Only True British Music, you don't have the same criteria by which they can dominate the mainstream again because they hadn't done so in the first place in the 90s, so the period between the two-step/So Solid era and Dizzee/Tinchy/Tinie etc. crossing over (i.e. roughly 2003 to 2008, what will unfortunately go down as the stereotypical / "core" 00s) might not be so guitar band-led and ghettoisation might not be as strong as IOTL.

patriotism and flag-waving might be less rehabilitated and less accepted in left-leaning circles in England than IOTL post-1994 (related to my earlier points)

Suede kickstarted Britpop. The whole patriotic furor began with their infamous Sounds cover bearing the headline 'Yanks Go Home!'. Britpop would still exist though without its leading player (think Grunge without Nirvana or Post Punk without Joy Division).

However, what of Ride? Andy Bell ruined his career by wasting his songwriting talent because of copying Oasis (he even joined them after the almost-tribute Hurricane #1). Maybe he delves into his talents to save Ride and possibly give Shoegazing a second wind? My Bloody Valentine are dead and buried but Lush and Slowdive are still going strong.

Noel Gallagher can still make it as a solo songwriter. He WAS Oasis. Liam? I doubt he'd have a band with more success than one such as Angelfish.