Oasis’ Bonehead shares some untold stories from ‘Definitely Maybe’ sessions during online listening party

Thought you knew everything about one of Britpop's most celebrated debut albums? Think again...

Oasis guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs took part in an online listening party last night for the band’s debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’ – and he shared a few untold gems about the making of it.

It was part of a series put on by The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, who for the past week has been hosting album listening parties featuring contributions from the brains behind some of Britpop and British indie’s most celebrated records.

At the end of a week that included playbacks of Blur‘s ‘Parklife’, Franz Ferdinand‘s self-titled debut and The Charlatans’ ‘Some Friendly’, last night (March 27) was the turn of Oasis’ 1994 debut.

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While Liam Gallagher was said to possibly be taking part, the listening party was hosted Burgess, Bonehead, Brian Cannon (as Microdot), who was responsible for creating the artwork for ‘Definitely Maybe’, and Kevin Cummins, NME’s chief photographer for much of the ’80s and ’90s, and who shot the band before and after their meteoric rise.

Kicking off the playback with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, Bonehead told fans: “When I think of my guitar sound it’s always this track I look to.”

He then tweeted that he would “try and spend an hour and answer questions after,” adding that fan responses were “going a bit fast here. Total panic.”

Speaking on ‘Live Forever’, Arthurs joked that Noel Gallagher’s guitar solo took him 28 takes and “don’t let him tell you otherwise.”

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Mentioning Coca Cola a couple of times, Bonehead revealed that not only was “the melody for ‘Shakermaker’ was stolen from the Coca Cola advert,” but the song “originally had the words I’d like to buy the world a coke to keep it company, but we had to take them off or else, said Coca Cola.”

Elsewhere, Bonehead revealed that ‘Slide Away’ was the only song that survived the original sessions from when the band recorded at Monnow Valley Studios. He added that in his opinion it’s “the best ever vocal take from Liam.” He joked: “When he sings ‘oh let me be the one’ I’d let him be the one.”

Ending on ‘Married With Children’, the Oasis guitarist mentioned how it was recorded in a bedroom at Mark Coyles house. “I love the guitar sound on this, it was an unplugged electric of Coyleys, miked up in the bedroom. Another great vocal from Liam too,” he said.

Brian Cannon shared some original concepts for the album’s artwork, including how Liam wanted the artwork to be a knife stuck in a lump of butter.

Sharing the original running sheet for ‘Live Forever’, how the album cover was inspired by The Beatles, and also how the Oasis logo was inspired by the Decca Records logo seen on some Rolling Stones album covers, but in a font style that mirrored the Adidas logo, see some of Cannon’s insights below.

Kevin Cummins posted a series of early images of the band during his time covering them around the release of ‘Definitely Maybe’, including his very first shot of the band for NME.

Sharing commentary for each, Cummins recalled the time Liam “chucked all the furniture in the pool” at a hotel in Portsmouth and the “had to fish it all out so as we could sit down and have a drink.”

See more of Cummins photos below.

To see the full Oasis ‘Definitely Maybe’ listening party threads, visit the Twitter accounts of Bonehead, Tim Burgess, Brian Cannon and Kevin Cummins.

Meanwhile, Liam Gallagher has made his strongest efforts yet to entice his brother Noel to reform Oasis once the coronavirus crisis comes to an end.

Liam said on Twitter that he’s “sick of pleading begging etc” for the band to get back together, and that he’s demanding that Noel agrees to reunite to raise money for the NHS.

“Rite sick of pleading begging etc no more olive branches I DEMAND an oasis reunion after this is all over all money going to NHS c’mon you know,” he said.

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