Some of the finer details escape me; the exact date and quite possibly the correct month but sometime between early to mid 1997 I, as a 12-year-old boy, fell head over heels in love for the first time in my life. I was just a kid from a small country town in Australia but now these songs, that I was soon to find out were created by a man from a suburb across the other side of the world in Manchester, England, that I’d been hearing since late 1995 had awakened something on inside of me. This moment in my life was a genuine turning point; I was never the same again from then. I’d just heard “Live Forever” by Oasis and something in my head just clicked. Oasis had taken over my life and I’d never felt anything like it!

Before this day I wasn’t really into music, which 12 year old kid is? Sure I had a few CDs to play on my CD player I got the Christmas before, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? was even one of very few I had, but at the time it was no more important to me than the self-titled album from The Presidents of the United States Of America (I got both on the same day as birthday presents) or the compilation CD 100% Vol. 17 that contained my favorite song at the time “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan.

I had even played the bass guitar in my primary school band but the thought of one day wanting to play guitar in a rock band never crossed my mind. I was in my first year of secondary school by now and I’d actually stopped playing the guitar because I had no real interest in music, just a liking for whatever was popular on the radio at the time which Oasis was part of in Australia after the singles from “Morning Glory”. At the time, I was more interested in following Leicester City and The Geelong Cats, playing my first season of soccer, playing the Nintendo or games on the computer.

I first heard Oasis like many Australians did at the time when “Wonderwall” hit the top spot on the Aussie charts (strangely the only country it made the #1 position, even with its massive worldwide reputation at the time and now). It was being played everywhere and it seemed whenever the radio was on or when RAGE (Australian music video show) was being played “Wonderwall” was on it. I have no idea how long it was on the charts for but at the time it seemed to be forever. I liked “Wonderwall” a lot; everyone liked “Wonderwall”. The song was catchy and I loved the video. It’s the first music video I actually remember, filmed in black and white and backed with a great song. It was a real cinematic experience. I thought it was perfect.

More singles followed, “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and “Champagne Supernova” came and had their day in the charts, although not reaching as high as “Wonderwall” but still greatly affecting many and by this time I was a fan of the group. I wanted their album and like a lot of people I got it. Again I thought (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? was great and I played it a lot (mainly as I only had about four CDs) but the songs didn’t have the effect on me like they soon would. Far from it.

During this time we had a computer at home but no Internet. In fact I don’t think our town could get the internet anyway so I didn’t really know what the internet was. I lived in a small country town with a population of just over 1000 people. What I’m trying to explain is that I had no idea by late 1996 early 1997 Oasis were the biggest band in England and arguably the world. I had absolutely no inkling just how massive this band was. To me they were just a cool band I liked and my younger cousin Kate must have liked them too because her Mum had just got her the new Oasis album and I asked if I could borrow it. She said yes. I count this as a real “sliding doors moment” in my life. Had she said no I could be sitting here today thinking Montell Jordan was the greatest gift to popular music since well…. I don’t know, The Beatles? They were quite a big deal I guess? (This is obviously what I was thinking at the time!)

I got home with the CD in hand and went straight to my room to play Definitely Maybe the (what I presumed) new album from Oasis. Like I said, I had no idea to check facts, without internet I was virtually cut off from finding out such information. I can picture it like it was yesterday, my CD player was on the floor, slightly off center towards the window of my room. I put the CD in and pressed play. In 15 minutes and 1 second my life would never be the same again.

Big Oasis fans will now know what song changed me from being a kid who liked normal things kids my age do to being a kid who thought this band Oasis was the GREATEST FUCKING THING in the world, in my world and in your world. If there was a world I didn’t know about at the time I still thought Oasis were the greatest thing in it. I had just heard “Live Forever” track 3 off Definitely Maybe and I was grinning from ear to ear. I still feel excited thinking back to that day now nearly 20 years ago. “Live Forever” was the greatest song I’d ever heard. The lyrics didn’t really mean anything to me at the time, I didn’t really care that the singer didn’t care how my garden grows but I was hooked by the drum beat that starts the song, the flow of the tune and the sound of the guitars. It was perfection and I was in love before I had even heard the guitar solo, which to this day I have yet to have heard a more fitting guitar solo to a song. Everything about this track took control of me, got my full attention, and it unlocked something inside of me. I now understood the power of music and what it can do to us on an emotional level. I have since fallen in love a couple of times over the years with fellow humans and let me tell you, listening to “Up In The Sky”, “Columbia”, “Supersonic”, “Bring It On Down”, “Cigarettes & Alcohol”, “Digsys Dinner”, “Slide Away”, “Married With Children” and then “ Rock ’n’ Roll Star” and “Shakermaker” that day because I’m certain I played it through again felt exactly the same to me as when I have fallen for a girl. I was head over heels with whoever was making these tunes yet I knew nothing about them and wanted to know more. I needed to know more. I ended up spending the next 6 years doing exactly that. Honestly, you have no idea.