Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars? Industry Experts on the Resurgence of Oasis
We hope you’ve been buying up stocks in bucket hats and cheap lager, because Oasis are back and, by all accounts, mad fer it. The news that the Gallagher brothers had somehow buried their well-used hatchets has sparked wall-to-(wonder)wall coverage, as many fans were left ticketless thanks to a combination of champagne supernova prices and supersonic demand.
Little by little, the drip feed of Oasis-themed news has continued to lead the cultural conversation. For some, news of the reunion harkens back to a simpler, better time – one where guitar bands ruled the airwaves and the hope and angst of a generation lives forever through Noel’s words in Liam’s Mancunian drawl. But for others, the breathless reaction to Oasis’ revival is symptomatic of a culture stuck firmly in a past that’s half a world away – doomed to replay the hits for eternity whilst new music slides away.
Well, don’t go away, because LBB’s Adam Bennett caught up with leading voices from music and sound companies across the industry to get their take on the Oasis masterplan. Is the industry looking back in anger, or is it time for the naysayers to stop crying their hearts out? Read on to find out…
James Bargent, head of music at RASCAL
It seems rare to have cultural moments that get everyone talking. As I’ve heard others say, ‘not caring’ is now itself an opinion worth expressing.
Aside from the Oasis reunion, the other unignorable phenomena in music is Taylor Swift, who continues to smash all previous measures of success. Sure, nostalgia plays a part in the former, but the common theme between the two is the music itself. They write optimistic anthems featuring catchy, sing-along melodies that possess the immense power to transcend arenas of fans into a deep sense of belonging. There’s an almost-religious fervour around these acts and their performances are the communion. Through a backdrop of endless pessimism in the news and politics, it’s not hard to see why audiences are drawn to what these artists offer. There’s clearly a gargantuan demand for hope and genuine human connection in the world, and music is ready to supply it.
The Oasis comeback is an opportunity for songwriters, fans and the industry alike to remember the irreplaceable function music plays in ordinary lives. Ticket sales don’t lie.
Lars Makie, producer/music supervisor at Yessian Music
To paraphrase the late, great Rick James, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Even nostalgia for an unremembered past can be quite addictive. The recently-announced Oasis reunion tour has definitely (maybe) piqued a high level of interest.
The hype machine feels like it’s kicked into overdrive, and part of me wishes I was as excited as everyone else seems to be. But as someone who was around in the '90s buying import issues of Select and NME, I guess I was always more on the Blur side of the debate. Does this feel like a cash grab? Yeah sure, most reunion tours do, but if people are excited and willing to crash Ticketmaster for tickets, who am I to argue.
While I’m not typically one for reunion tours, it’s easy to see how they can be appealing. Whether you loved and saw them the first go-round or you never had the chance, here’s your opportunity. The irony of it all is not lost on me that I’m about to travel to go see Pulp play in Chicago.
I don’t know if there will be a seismic (or even subtle) shift in popular music with Oasis’ return, but I’d love to think that there will be people attending the shows who weren’t born during their first run that will take what they hear, put it through the prism of their contemporary musical mind-set and come up with something unique.
Rob Dunham, EP at A-MNEMONIC Music
I think Oasis’s return is generating a whole mix of reactions in the music world. For some people, it’s a nostalgic trip back to the Britpop era where guitar-driven anthems ruled the charts.
Other people might see this reunion as a sign that the music industry is clinging to the past instead of taking chances on new, innovative artists. It could also be viewed as them just trying to make a load of money (look at the ticket prices!) rather than about creating new and meaningful music. There’s been a bit of a trend with reunion tours that seem to be driven by profit rather than passion, and I feel the nostalgia might overshadow emerging artists who are trying to bring fresh ideas to the table.
However, as a positive, their comeback could help bring guitar music back into the spotlight, offering a refreshing change in today’s pop-heavy music scene. Given how influential Oasis has been, their return might inspire a new wave of musicians who’ve grown up admiring their sound!
Malte Hagemeister, producer, composer, and co-founder of California Music
According to Google, “In the first half of the '80s, there were 146 weeks with bands at number one. But in the first half of this decade, there have been only three weeks with bands at number one (and one of those was The Beatles)”.
As someone who’s played in bands since the '90s, I’m stoked that Oasis is back, but not just for nostalgia. I always joked that being in a band is like a marriage – but with more members, meaning more egos, emotions, and chaos. No wonder Metallica needed therapy just to stay together!
So it’s not so much about bringing back the '90s guitar sound. Whether it’s guitars, synths, or laptops, I think music needs that edge. It’s that feeling you get when a band is on the verge of falling apart – but holds it together to create something bigger than themselves.
The magic of bands like Oasis comes from the creative tension of clashing personalities. The Gallagher brothers’ constant bickering was a ticking time bomb, but that clash is what made their music so iconic.
It’s the same story with The Police and Sting’s dominance, or The Fugees whose dysfunctional dynamic only lasted one (epic) album. And the ups and downs of The Chili Peppers, or even The Beatles with John and Paul’s rivalry. The glorious chaos of band dynamics!
I miss that raw energy that comes from multiple egos colliding in one room. Oasis’ return could inspire new bands to tap into that chaotic, unpredictable energy, proving that the best music often comes from the creative conflict of multiple voices.
Hey – and Oasis’ return finally justifies my '90s UK haircut!
Owen Ingram, head of music at SoStereo
Isn’t it the best news? Not just if you like Oasis (that’s obviously huge to their fan base) but if you like rock music in general… to sell out a tour in minutes, yes, the ‘Uber Surge’ ticket-pricing has really touched a nerve but overall, especially with the mass decline on bands being featured at festivals recently, it’s a huge move forward. It’s not only reinvigorated a whole generation of armchair fans, but it's also spiked the interest of generation alpha, maybe the new Noel and Liam will actually step forward and pick up a guitar or grab a mic… Only time will tell.
Business wise, it had to happen at some point. Without doubt, the tour will be extremely lucrative, more dates will follow and maybe they’ll take a trip across the pond to see us admirers Stateside. In addition to ticket sales, there'll be a huge bump in merchandise and I would just love to see their current spike in streaming stats!
All in all, it's great for the industry to have a substantial live band reform. Having seen them play a couple of times, I can only imagine the euphoria of the people that got tickets to the first shows and it kinda makes you proud to be British – the rock band swagger is back!
Steph Altman, creative director and partner at Mophonics
I was a freshman at Manchester Uni in 1995, so Oasis hung in the sweet wet northern air with the smell of warm beer and terrible weed. Oasis wasn’t my go-to music choice, but they were an undeniably strong force (though they shone bright and flamed out pretty quick).
Pop culture has forever fawned over the previous generation’s art: the 1920s saw a cultural fascination with the 1890s; '50s Rock ‘n’ Roll drew heavily on '20s and '30s blues, jazz and swing; the 1970s saw an Art Deco revival; we grew up in the '80s with ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Happy Days’ romanticising the '50s. So a late '90s revival of Oasis – themselves a facsimile of late '60s rock and roll! – is right on time.
I do think the music industry has plenty of new juice. So much talent is finding its way into a hyper-fragmented market. Legacy acts like Oasis will inevitably get even more diluted into bland ubiquity (Sirius XM channel incoming), but these guys earned the right to come back to scoop up the cash (FIVE nights at Wembley?!!)
Gabe McDonough, EP at MAS (Music and Strategy)
One of the most interesting elements of the feverish excitement around Oasis’ return is that it’s come from both old and young fans. Nostalgia is powerful, but rock music is even more powerful, and I have to believe that some of the excitement around their return is that there hasn’t been a young rock band to capture the public imagination in such a mainstream way since their break-up.
I started managing the band Pleasure Pill through MAS a couple of years back for this exact reason. As a company, our bread and butter is negotiating music and creating music, but we are always trying new things, and our secret sauce is knowing what’s ‘next’. When we came across Pleasure Pill, a young, ambitious guitar band, writing big songs and shooting for the moon a few years back, they couldn’t have been more out of step with what was happening in pop culture. But that made us realise that there was a wide open lane in rock music for the right, cool, young rock band. Sure enough, they’re headlining a five week residency in NYC right now, with a live album just released and a studio album forthcoming. The Oasis reunion fever has shown that rock music can fill stadiums, and there’s a huge opportunity for a young band like Pleasure Pill to step onto those stages and carry the torch forward.
Stefan van der Wielen, licensing & artist partnership manager at MassiveMusic
Back in the 1990s, certain ‘taste-making’ critics accused Oasis of being nothing more than a nostalgic Beatles meets the Sex Pistols rip-off... For that reason, Oasis’ music wasn’t supposed to have a lasting influence over pop culture and was to be forgotten by future generations... Boy, were these critics wrong!
Just like the 1990s took inspiration from the 1960s/1970s, we are now inspired again by music from the 1990s. I personally can’t wait for a brand new wave of supposedly 1990s nostalgia-driven guitar bands to prove again that critics are usually wrong. Trust me, in the 2050s we’ll look back on the 2020s and say: “the 2020s really spawned some of the most influential guitar bands of all time.”
Eric David Johnson (aka DJ Bunny Ears), creative director at MassiveMusic North America
The return of Oasis has sparked mixed reactions, reflecting tensions in the music industry. For many fans, a reunion is an exciting prospect, tapping into deep nostalgia and the band's iconic role in 90’s rock and Britpop. Their comeback could even revitalise interest in guitar-driven rock.
However, critics view the hype as a symptom of the industry's over-reliance on nostalgia, prioritising past glories over innovation. A reunion risks Oasis being seen as a cultural relic, out of step with current trends. Whether it’s positive depends on whether they bring something fresh or simply relive the past. Personally, I’m mad fer it.
Sean Mahoney, sound engineer at Jungle
Oasis was the band that got me into music when I was a kid, so I couldn’t help but get overly excited when they announced they would be reforming for a run of shows. I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who spent an entire day on my phone trying to get tickets.
I must admit I'm not expecting the show to be great, as I feel like everyone will be going, having already decided it’s going to be good for nostalgia’s sake. While it’s exciting to see Oasis back, it feels like part of a larger trend where the music industry leans heavily on nostalgia. There’s clearly a massive market for this, with people wanting to relive their youth and go to see a band they listened to when they were younger. That’s obviously great, but it does raise some questions about the current state of the music industry.
Personally, I’m not too worried that bands aren’t dominating the charts like they were in the 90’s – music inevitably evolves. However, I do wish there was more of a push for innovative acts rather than constantly reviving old favourites.
