In the rush to commemorate anniversaries and the forgotten days of our youth, it seems that everything and anything is worthy of recall and acknowledgement. Twenty years on from 1994, there are a range of moments that people can remember as if they took place yesterday. Roberto Baggio's penalty kick may still be in orbit while Loaded magazine has long since bitten the dust but one thing stands out bigger and stronger than the rest of the memories of the years combined. 1994 was the year Oasis burst into public view and their debut album 'Definitely Maybe' is still lauded as one of the greatest debut albums, and indeed guitar albums, of all time. The stories of the battling brothers from Burnage in Manchester may have grabbed the headlines but it was the songs and tunes that grabbed the hearts and minds of the fans who followed on behind the Gallaghers and the rest of the group. Andy Reilly was just one the millions who were swept up in the crescendo of Oasis becoming the biggest band in Britain. This book is the story of where we were at the start of the ride that would take on us further ups and downs either side of the millennium. The Oasis story was a long one, and one that may not have reached its natural conclusion, but 1994 was the year that it all started coming together as they grabbed hold of new followers on a daily basis. 1993 saw unemployment figures in the UK crash through the 3 million barrier and many were of the opinion that it wasn't worth the aggravation to find a job when there was nothing worth working for. The UK chart music scene was as soul-destroying as the job market. The book looks at how Oasis found themselves in the right place at the right time, exactly who they were railing against, and what the band meant to their adoring public. In the story of Oasis, 1994 deserves to be told in its own right.
About the Author: Andy Reilly has had a love of music and a love of writing for as long back as he can remember. Sometimes this means the previous week but over the years, he has been to more gigs, listened to more albums and put down more withering reviews of acts that were operating at a higher level than they really should have been than most sane people would think was good for them. Of course, as a Glaswegian, Andy believes that doing what is good for you is an optional extra in life. No matter what else has been going on in his life, music has been a constant companion, usually a friend, sometimes an enemy but never a waste of time. However, within the sometimes cynical front he commonly offers to the world lies the wide-eyed wonder of the child who first heard The Beatles or who went to his first gig. Like anyone dealing with an addiction, there is a desire to experience a song or gig as pure as the first time, which is a large part of the reason why Andy hasn't given this all up as a bad joke...not yet anyway. With a wide range of online and magazine based music journalism behind him, with time spent dabbling in football writing as well, Andy has published a short story book which combines his love of the Velvet Underground and his hometown, an influence which lays heavy on his mind and work. His second piece looks back at the wonderful year of 1994 and the debut album of Oasis. The group and Andy may have gone their separate ways at times over the years but it's a relationship you can never truly quit. Andy hopes to release further books in the future and is thankful that "musical differences" is an affliction that rarely imposes itself on writers.