Oasis to share new ‘Listen Up’ video as National Album Day celebrates the ’90s
Oasis have teamed up with National Album Day to share a new lyric video for ‘Listen Up’ to celebrate the ’90s.
National Album Day, which occurs tomorrow (October 14), will commemorate albums released in the 1990s. Oasis achieved the first and second most streamed albums of the decade, with ‘What’s The Story (Morning Glory)‘ (1995) taking first place and ‘Definitely Maybe‘ (1994) coming in second.
To celebrate, the band will release the lyric video for ‘Listen Up’ on the National Album Day website, where fans will be able to watch it exclusively for 24 hours. ‘Listen Up’ originally appeared on the B-side of ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, the last single from ‘Definitely Maybe’.
Noel Gallagher said of the accolade: “I’m thrilled, but I wouldn’t say I was that surprised that ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ has been voted the most streamed album of the 90s – I still do have my faith in the taste of people in this country. I mean if you’ve got Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger on an album, you’re gonna be all right aren’t ya…”
He continued: “For certain people, it’ll be bringing back memories of their youth in the 90s and that brilliantly amazing decade we all lived through and then for the young people coming to it now, the songs deal with just the universal truths of life, and they will always be timeless… You know, of love and loss and heartbreak and friendship and the weather. All the universal things that we that we live through on a day-to-day basis that we don’t really notice. So thanks to everybody.”
A spokesperson for National Album Day said of Oasis’ achievement: “It’s no surprise that ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ and ‘Definitely Maybe’ are the two most streamed albums of the 1990s according to the Official Charts. For many, Oasis’ music was era-defining, but it also remains as relevant and contemporary as ever, finding new audiences as the next generation of fans discover and enjoy their now classic songs.”
For National Album Day, an analysis of 1990s albums was also conducted, concluding that nearly two-thirds of Britain’s Number One albums were made by acts outside of London. The research was carried out by National Album Day organisers the BPI, the voice of the UK’s record labels and music companies, and ERA, the UK’s digital entertainment and retail association.
An event celebrating and promoting the art of the album will also take place tomorrow in association with audio partner Bowers & Wilkins and broadcast partner BBC Sounds.
109 albums from 1990 were analysed, all of them having reached Number One. It was found that 63 per cent were made by acts or bands from outside of London. Acts from the North West represented one fifth of the Number One albums from the 1990s. Alongside Oasis, these included New Order (‘Republic’), Chemical Brothers (‘Dig Your Own Hole’) and Take That (‘Everything Changes’).
There was also strong showing from Yorkshire and the Humber, who most famously saw Sheffield band Pulp‘s ‘Different Class’ and ‘This Is Hardcore’ reach Number One. Other albums produced from the region include Hull’s Beautiful South (‘Blue Is The Colour’) and Sheffield’s Def Leppard (‘Adrenalize’).
Outside England, Scottish and Welsh artists also saw multiple albums hit Number One. Texas, Annie Lennox and Wet Wet Wet scored the region seven total Number Ones. Wales, meanwhile, had five acts that topped the charts including Tom Jones, Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics.
Blur, meanwhile, scored four Number One albums during their reign, making them the only artists from the 1990s to score more than three chart toppers.
Dr. Jo Twist OBE, Chief Executive BPI, and Kim Bayley, Chief Executive ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association, the organisations behind National Album Day, said jointly: “The 1990s have long been celebrated as a truly golden era for British music, but our new research reveals the extent to which this success came down to the chart-topping talents of artists drawn from across the entire UK.
This pattern mirrors the story of today when a new generation of artists both musically and geographically as diverse is now helping to shape what we hope will be the next great era of British music.”
In recent Oasis news, it was announced Liam Gallagher was the surprise voice behind Manchester’s tram announcements this week. This was in support of Beyond The Music Festival, a conference held in Manchester this week discussing new music, grass roots venues and developing talent and infrastructure support for the city and beyond.
A spokesperson for Liam said: “Liam’s doing his bit to get behind the festival and encourage people to get into the city and support new up and coming talent.
“When the request was first made by Bee Network champion Andy Burnham, Liam loved the idea of surprising tram users by doing the announcements and he was given the chance to choose his favourite line. You’ll have to get onto a tram into the city to find out which it is!”
Liam also announced he was making plans to perform ‘Definitely Maybe’ in full to mark the album’s 30th anniversary.
On X/Twitter, he wrote: “As it’s 30 years since [‘Definitely Maybe’] was released nxt year I’m gonna be playing the album from start to finish in its original order at a few BIBLICAL venues.” The singer also revealed he would be playing some “naughty” B-sides from the album on the tour.
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Alex Rigotti
NME
