Oasis's 1st TV appearance on Red Nose Day 93-lost?

[David Huggins]

In his book The Truth - My Life as Oasis' Drummer Tony McCarroll mentions that the first performance the band recorded for TV was for Granada TV's contribution to Red Nose Day 93, for which Alvin Stardust introduced them playing their pre-Definitely Maybe song Take Me. This proved to be a false start, as the recording was never broadcast.

Does anyone know if this appearance still exists? I guess as un-transmitted material it's less likely to have been kept, but I'm curious about it nonetheless! Thanks for any info people may have on this.

David.

[Joe Haynes]

There is some Proshot footage of the band in 93 for which know one really knows anything about. It looks like a TV show, so its possible that this is the recording mentioned. It doesnt contain the song 'Take Me' .

[David Huggins]

Dec 26, 2011 21:50:02 GMT Joe Haynes said:

There is some Proshot footage of the band in 93 for which know one really knows anything about. It looks like a TV show, so its possible that this is the recording mentioned. It doesnt contain the song 'Take Me' .

Thanks for the info! I didn't know that any Oasis TV performances from 93 were known to exist, so this is good to hear. Neither Tony McCarroll or Paolo Hewitt's book on the band mention any other TV appearances from that year, so I'd agree that he's possibly referring to the recording you mention.

I was wondering if the recording you mention is complete and if it's known which song(s) were performed in it?

In case it's of any help in identifying the footage, I've added a quotation from Tony's book below:

"TV exposure could only be good, even if we were supporting Alvin Housedust. It seemed that Alvin was not Noel's only unlikely musical influence. He also saw Abba as one of the greats.

I told Liam he might have to dress up as Pudsey, the little sick bear, and he stormed out of the room shouting, 'It's never gonna f***** happen!' We all roared with laughter.

We rolled up on the day in the Bonemobile to find that we were to use Alvin's PA and drum kit, which saved a right load of mither. We were also told to mime the track which would be a first. With spirits lifted, we made our way to replica Rovers Return (we were at the Granada Studio Tour location, which had been opened to the paying public) and started on the bar. If we only had to mime, what was the harm?

'Right, this is it. Everyone will be watching,' Noel announced. He was trying to warm us up for the gig. 'It doesn't matter if it's two hundred people in the crowd or two thousand. Just enjoy it.'

We burst onto stage, ready to be amazed. The steel roadside barriers were in place to control the baying mob of fundraisers and Granada staff. All 12 of them. Alvin was still in the back, applying a tub or two of wax to his f****** massive hair and getting ready to coo-ca-choo. Outside, Liam faced the crowd. As usual when nervous, Liam became defensive and was stood staring wildly at them. Even at this early stage he was perfecting his glare. Rather than a stadium of testosterone-fuelled males as an audience, though, he had members of the Salvation Army, St. John's school choir and a handful of technicians. They all looked nervously back at the aggressive singer with the long hair and face like a hooligan, all set to attack. I laughed, as I knew that Liam meant no harm. Not sure if the little girl who was crying at the front did, though.

The cameras began to record as the compere faced the crowed and began, in his big showbiz voice. 'Let us now welcome Oasis who have just flown back to be with us from their tour... OASIS!' He swept his arm around and stood facing us with a cheesy grin. A bead of sweat slowly rolled from his brow and down his forehead as he was met by silence. We all just stared at him.
'We've just come from Burnage, d*******. We ain't on f***** tour,' snapped Liam.

The crowd erupted in laughter, from the school choir to the Sally Army, as we launched into 'Take Me' and Liam stared the compere down off the stage. We performed more than adequately and received as much a response as you'd expect from a mimed performance to a crowd full of kids and ambulance staff.

[ajsmith]

Dec 26, 2011 21:50:02 GMT Joe Haynes said:

There is some Proshot footage of the band in 93 for which know one really knows anything about. It looks like a TV show, so its possible that this is the recording mentioned. It doesnt contain the song 'Take Me' .

Where have you seen this? Doesn't seem to be on Youtube yet.

[Joe Haynes]

Here it is:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G60FpqDmtZM

it says 1994 but i have seen it listed on websites as 1993

[David Huggins]

Dec 27, 2011 16:55:49 GMT Joe Haynes said:

Here it is:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G60FpqDmtZM

it says 1994 but i have seen it listed on websites as 1993

Many thanks for the link Joe. Those performances are from the ITV Granada programme Something for the Weekend, broadcast on 1st July 1994 on Granada. I've cut and pasted the text below from my site:

Something for the Weekend
Originally broadcast 1st July 1994 on ITV Granada
These performances of Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, Supersonic and Shakermaker were broadcast as part of the episode of ITV Granada’s programme Something for the Weekend broadcast on 1st July 1994. They are notable for the fact that they feature live vocals from Liam Gallagher over instrumental backing tracks. The performance of Shakermaker is unusual in that it includes the line ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing/In perfect harmony/I’d like to buy the world a Coke/To keep it company’ that was removed from the single and album version following the legal action taken by the New Seekers detailed in the Recording Studios section of this site. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star is cut down to four minutes here, which was presumably an edit done specially for radio and TV transmission.

There's some more info on Oasis's TV appearances on this page. Hope this may be of interest: www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk/?page_id=455

Regards,
David.

[Joe Haynes]

Thanks for the links and info David!

[David Barron]

Granada TV's contribution to Red Nose Day? Why was an ITV company involved in Red Nose Day, which has always been shown on the BBC, and has been always a network event, with no regional variations.

[Trevor Hilton]

Dec 27, 2011 0:13:17 GMT David Huggins said:

Dec 26, 2011 21:50:02 GMT Joe Haynes said:

There is some Proshot footage of the band in 93 for which know one really knows anything about. It looks like a TV show, so its possible that this is the recording mentioned. It doesnt contain the song 'Take Me' .

Thanks for the info! I didn't know that any Oasis TV performances from 93 were known to exist, so this is good to hear. Neither Tony McCarroll or Paolo Hewitt's book on the band mention any other TV appearances from that year, so I'd agree that he's possibly referring to the recording you mention.

I was wondering if the recording you mention is complete and if it's known which song(s) were performed in it?

In case it's of any help in identifying the footage, I've added a quotation from Tony's book below:

"TV exposure could only be good, even if we were supporting Alvin Housedust. It seemed that Alvin was not Noel's only unlikely musical influence. He also saw Abba as one of the greats.

I told Liam he might have to dress up as Pudsey, the little sick bear, and he stormed out of the room shouting, 'It's never gonna f***** happen!' We all roared with laughter.

We rolled up on the day in the Bonemobile to find that we were to use Alvin's PA and drum kit, which saved a right load of mither. We were also told to mime the track which would be a first. With spirits lifted, we made our way to replica Rovers Return (we were at the Granada Studio Tour location, which had been opened to the paying public) and started on the bar. If we only had to mime, what was the harm?

'Right, this is it. Everyone will be watching,' Noel announced. He was trying to warm us up for the gig. 'It doesn't matter if it's two hundred people in the crowd or two thousand. Just enjoy it.'

We burst onto stage, ready to be amazed. The steel roadside barriers were in place to control the baying mob of fundraisers and Granada staff. All 12 of them. Alvin was still in the back, applying a tub or two of wax to his f****** massive hair and getting ready to coo-ca-choo. Outside, Liam faced the crowd. As usual when nervous, Liam became defensive and was stood staring wildly at them. Even at this early stage he was perfecting his glare. Rather than a stadium of testosterone-fuelled males as an audience, though, he had members of the Salvation Army, St. John's school choir and a handful of technicians. They all looked nervously back at the aggressive singer with the long hair and face like a hooligan, all set to attack. I laughed, as I knew that Liam meant no harm. Not sure if the little girl who was crying at the front did, though.

The cameras began to record as the compere faced the crowed and began, in his big showbiz voice. 'Let us now welcome Oasis who have just flown back to be with us from their tour... OASIS!' He swept his arm around and stood facing us with a cheesy grin. A bead of sweat slowly rolled from his brow and down his forehead as he was met by silence. We all just stared at him.
'We've just come from Burnage, d*******. We ain't on f***** tour,' snapped Liam.

The crowd erupted in laughter, from the school choir to the Sally Army, as we launched into 'Take Me' and Liam stared the compere down off the stage. We performed more than adequately and received as much a response as you'd expect from a mimed performance to a crowd full of kids and ambulance staff.

Just the sort of angry, nasty, sweary, ungracious behaviour one would come to expect from Oasis. What a shame this clip survives at all. A pox on 'em.

[David Huggins]

Dec 28, 2011 0:14:04 GMT David Barron said:

Granada TV's contribution to Red Nose Day? Why was an ITV company involved in Red Nose Day, which has always been shown on the BBC, and has been always a network event, with no regional variations.

Well I must admit that I'm confused by this too. The claim that this un-transmitted performance was for Red Nose Day is made on pp. 69-70 of Tony McCaroll's book, where he quotes Noel Gallagher as having said to him they were going on TV for the first time. Tony asked what on, and Noel is said to have replied: 'Granada. It'd Red Nose Day and we're gonna be supporting Alvin Stardust'.

I guess that the RND part of this is likely to be another of the book's occasional factual errors (elsewhere it's claimed that DVDs were around in 1994, amongst other anachronisms). The only other reference I've found to this performance is in Paul Gallagher's book Brothers from Childhood to Oasis - The Real Story, where, on p. 119, he quotes the same exchange between Alvin Stardust and Liam but says that the gig was for something called The Granada Festival.

Seems more plausible, given the fact you cited above that Red Nose Day was a networked BBC production with no regional variations. Can anyone comment on the archive status of the Granada Festival from that year? Thanks for all the replies so far and in advance for any information people may be able to provide on this.

Regards,
David.

[David Huggins]

Just the sort of angry, nasty, sweary, ungracious behaviour one would come to expect from Oasis. What a shame this clip survives at all. A pox on 'em.

Just to clarify, the clip Joe kindly posted a link to above is not the one thought to be missing.

Regards,
David.

[ajsmith]

I can't find a reference anywhere online to a Granada Festival that isn't in spain!
Have searched the online itv archive but found nothing: www.itnsource.com/searchresults/
Will try and phone Granada in the new year and ask: I'm intriguied by the chance of survival for this footage.

[Robert Belford]

Granada has often contributed to Children In Need, particularly with the cast of Coronation Street, and I expect Red Nose Day is no different?

Dec 28, 2011 0:14:04 GMT David Barron said:

Granada TV's contribution to Red Nose Day? Why was an ITV company involved in Red Nose Day, which has always been shown on the BBC, and has been always a network event, with no regional variations.

[ajsmith]

I just re-read some of McCarroll's book, and I'm wondering if in fact this aborted TV appearance was recorded in spring 1992, not 1993. A few notions lead me to this-

1) after this chapter, the book goes onto describe events for the band from summer 92 onwards. McCarroll seems more likely to have carelessly got the year wrong rather than mixed up the actual sequence of events.

2) Reflecting on the band's spring 1995 US TV apperance, McCarroll says words to the effect of "we'd got from Red Nose Day to this in 3 years" suggesting 1992.

3) they chose the formative pre-Noel Liam/Bonehead song "Take Me" as their featured performance. The likelihood is that they would have singled out a Noel song for performance if the tv appearance was as late as 1993 (compare their pivotal abbreviated set at Glasgow's King Tut from May 93, which resulted in their signing by Creation: for that important showcase performance, they chose 3 Noel originals and a Beatles cover)

If it was 92 and not 93, that definitively rules out the posibility of Red Nose Day as it didn't occur that year.

[David Huggins]

Dec 28, 2011 11:13:06 GMT ajsmith said:

I can't find a reference anywhere online to a Granada Festival that isn't in spain!
Have searched the online itv archive but found nothing: www.itnsource.com/searchresults/
Will try and phone Granada in the new year and ask: I'm intriguied by the chance of survival for this footage.

Thanks for looking into this, it's much appreciated. Will be fascinating to see if there's any more info and/or a recording of this performance out there.

I just re-read some of McCarroll's book, and I'm wondering if in fact this aborted TV appearance was recorded in spring 1992, not 1993. A few notions lead me to this-

1) after this chapter, the book goes onto describe events for the band from summer 92 onwards. McCarroll seems more likely to have carelessly got the year wrong rather than mixed up the actual sequence of events.

2) Reflecting on the band's spring 1995 US TV apperance, McCarroll says words to the effect of "we'd got from Red Nose Day to this in 3 years" suggesting 1992.

3) they chose the formative pre-Noel Liam/Bonehead song "Take Me" as their featured performance. The likelihood is that they would have singled out a Noel song for performance if the tv appearance was as late as 1993 (compare their pivotal abbreviated set at Glasgow's King Tut from May 93, which resulted in their signing by Creation: for that important showcase performance, they chose 3 Noel originals and a Beatles cover)

If it was 92 and not 93, that definitively rules out the posibility of Red Nose Day as it didn't occur that year.

Again, the above helps clarify the timeline a great deal. Thanks. I agree that they would've likely played a Noel song if it was 1993, particularly if the set list of the session they recorded for Radio 5's Hit the North on 11th August 1993 is anything to go by (Bring it on Down, I Will Believe, Digsy's Dinner, Cigarettes and Alcohol, and Rock n Roll Star).

Also it seems to me that if the song was indeed Take Me and that it was mimed then this would have to be after the demo was recorded, which Lee Henshaw says in his book on the band was just before Christmas 1991 at the Abraham Moss studios in Manchester. (Henshaw, p. 13). Paul Gallagher, however, says that the song was demoed at Out of the Blue studios, Manchester in early 1992. Not sure if this helps narrow it down - I guess there may have been two attempts at recording the song.