On October 2, 1995, Oasis released their second studio album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. As the album celebrates a quarter-century, dive deep with seven facts about it below.

  1. Noel Gallagher and bandmate Owen Morris produced the album. According to Morris, the sessions “were the best, easiest, least fraught, most happily creative time I’ve ever had in a recording studio. I believe people can feel and hear when music is dishonest and motivated by the wrong reasons. Morning Glory, for all its imperfection and flaws, is dripping with love and happiness.”
  2. The band recorded the album in a tight 15 day period, working on one song per day. Noel wrote the last song for the album, “Cast No Shadow” on a train ride back to the studio.
  3. Noel Gallagher describes “Don’t Look Back in Anger” as a mix between David Bowie’s All the Young Dudes and the Beatles. And he admits that he doesn’t know Sally. “I don’t actually know anybody called Sally. It’s just a word that fit, y’know, might as well throw a girl’s name in there.”
  4. According to the band, “Wonderwall” is about “an imaginary friend who’s gonna come and save you from yourself”. Noel admits that he hasn’t “got a clue” what the lyrics actually mean, saying “You know, ‘walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball’ – what the fuck is that all about?”
  5. The album’s cover features London DJ Sean Rowley and album sleeve designer Brian Cannon passing one another on Berwick Street in London. Producer Owen Morris can be seen in the background holding the album’s master tape in front of his face. The location was chosen because it was a popular location for record shops. The cover cost $43,000 CND to create.
  6. When the album was released, it sold a record breaking 345,000 copies in its first week, making it the second-fastest-selling record in British history, behind Michael Jackson’s Bad. The Daily Express reported that the album sold so quickly, that the central London HMV were selling copies of the record at a rate of two per minute.
  7. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is considered a seminal album of the Britpop era. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album #157 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2020. It is certified 15x platinum and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.