Trivia / Be Here Now

---

• Creator Backlash: Noel's made it clear he isn't very fond of this album, though he still liked "D'You Know What I Mean" (which he considered for inclusion on the compilation Stop the Clocks). Liam doesn't feel the same way, but has said that its a bit too long, though he stated it's his favourite Oasis album.
  Noel: It's the sound of ... a bunch of guys, on coke, in the studio, not giving a fuck. There's no bass to it at all; I don't know what happened to that ... And all the songs are really long and all the lyrics are shit and for every millisecond Liam is not saying a word, there's a fuckin' guitar riff in there in a Wayne's World stylie.
• Creator Killer: Though it didn't end the band then and there, as they'd continue for another good 12 years before breaking up, the failure of this album sapped all of the popularity and critical praise Oasis had earned from their first two albums. None of the albums they made afterward managed to fully Win Back the Crowd and for the rest of their career, they were generally regarded as just another 90s band rather than the superstars they'd been before, not helped by the persistant Spinal Tap levels of dysfunction between the Gallagher brothers.
• Cut Song: "Stay Young" was originally included to continue the tradition of light-hearted novelty tracks on their albums, such as "Digsy's Dinner" on Definitely Maybe and "She's Electric" on (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. It was cut from in favor of "Magic Pie", which is ironically often considered the worst song of the lot.
• Genre-Killer:
  • In addition to souring Oasis' reputation, the album was also the beginning of the end for the Britpop trend, as Oasis were the biggest name of the genre and, therefore, pulled down many of their peers on association alone. The same year as Be Here Now, Radiohead's Genre-Busting monster hit OK Computer came out and brought the British rock music scene in a more introspective, experimental tone. This would lead to the next generation of mainstream British rockers like Coldplay, Travis, Muse and Doves taking their musical inspiration from Radiohead rather than Oasis. Other major Britpop groups, like Pulp and Oasis' biggest rival Blur, had moved away from the Britpop style on their respective 1997/98 albums to critical and commercial success.
  • It also signaled the end of "traditional" rock n' roll music. By 1997, Oasis was still bearing the torch of Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll while rap was officially becoming a mainstay of pop music rather than a trend and most of the rock music was of the alternative kind, so seeing Oasis get crushed under their own image only made them look woefully behind the times. Plenty of other acts transitioned into more "pop" rock after Hanson and other teen pop acts began gaining traction. While lo-fi indie rock and, to a lesser extent, Post-Grunge helped it save a little face in the 2000s, by The New '10s, pop, R&B, hip-hop and country pop had completely displaced rock radio and the genre has mainly only existed in niche circles and nostalgia acts since.
• Money, Dear Boy: Nobody really wanted to make a third album, but they did so anyway.
• Testing the Editors: "D'You Know What I Mean" has a long opening and an extended coda leading to a runtime of over seven minutes, that Noel Gallagher later admitted that he expected requests to cut at least two minutes of the song. Given how high their clout was at the time, no one did so.
• Throw It In!: "Don't Go Away" was written about Liam and Noel Gallagher's mother, who was in the hospital due to a cancer scare at the time the song was created. Liam started crying while recording his vocals, which were left in the final product.
• Troubled Production: The production is almost as infamous as the album itself.
  • The band’s popularity exploded following the release of Morning Glory, culminating in a series of sold out outdoor shows in the UK summer of 1996. However, this was followed an ill fated North American tour that had to be cut short due to various fallings-out. In order to try and keep things on an even keel, Noel suggested they record their next album as soon as possible (He’d had the material demo’d prior to their summer 1996 shows and so the songs were ready to go).
  • Producer Owen Morris wanted to try and keep things simple, generally close to the demos with minimal overdubs, whilst Noel wanted a far more elaborate production with multiple overdubs and even an orchestra. As anyone who has listened to the final product will know, Noel won the argument.
  • The original intention to record to the iconic Abbey Road Studios was derailed by press intrusion (not helped by Liam getting busted by the police for drug possession) leading to changes of venue. The album is somewhat infamous for being compromised by the amount of drug use, with Creation boss Alan McGee being appalled at how off the rails the whole thing was. Morris for his part disputes this and argues that Noel’s indifferent songwriting and I Am the Band tendencies coupled to poor relations within the band generally were as much to blame.
  • The album had a lot to live up to- Morning Glory was one of the biggest selling albums in UK history, despite getting So OK, It's Average reviews at first. For Be Here Now the press arguably started Pandering to the Base and gave it five-star reviews initially, which increased hype even more. The album posted impressive first-day and first-week sales, but eventually the inevitable Hype Backlash came, and many of the same reviewers that had initially praised it were now queueing up to stick the boot in.
  • The album was by most objective standards a success, selling nine million copies and there has been a certain backlash against the backlash in recent years- both Liam and Oasis manager Marcus Russell have defended the album, and producer Owen Morris believes the album is Mis-blamed as the Genre-Killer for Britpop. Noel for his part has outright disowned it, almost to the point of Canon Discontinuity (only "Stand by Me" stayed in the band’s live setlist in later years and the retrospective compilation album Stop the Clocks ignored it entirely.)

---