(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Released on 2 October 1995

Recording and Production
Sessions for Morning Glory? took place at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Wales, between May and June 1995. These fifteen-day sessions—remarkably swift at roughly one song per day—ushered in drummer Alan White (replacing Tony McCarroll) and featured contributions from guest musicians such as Paul Weller on guitar and backing vocals for “Champagne Supernova.” Noel Gallagher and Morris co-produced the album, employing brick-wall mastering techniques that some critics later pointed to as a catalyst for the so-called “loudness war”

A Track by Track Guide to the Album described by Noel is here

Cover Art
The iconic sleeve captures two men passing each other on Berwick Street in London: DJ Sean Rowley and designer Brian Cannon, with Owen Morris holding the master tape in the background. This candid street-scene photograph, shot outside a Selectadisc store, underscored Oasis’s working-class roots and the urban grit at the heart of Britpop culture.

Release and Chart Performance
Upon its release, Morning Glory? shattered UK first-week sales records, moving 345,000 copies and debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart, where it remained for ten non-consecutive weeks. In the United States, it became Oasis’s breakthrough LP, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 and earning a 4× platinum certification from the RIAA.

Singles
The album spawned six singles, four of which reached the UK top two:

“Some Might Say” (April 1995) – Oasis’s first UK number-one single

“Roll with It” (August 1995) – peaked at number two

“Wonderwall” (October 1995) – number two, spending 30 consecutive weeks on the chart

“Don’t Look Back in Anger” (February 1996) – number one
“Champagne Supernova” and “Wonderwall” also topped Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart in the US

Critical Reception
Although many mainstream critics initially judged Morning Glory? to be inferior to Definitely Maybe—citing uneven songwriting and over-compressed production—reviews warmed significantly over the ensuing months. At the 1996 Brit Awards, the album was honored as Best British Album, cementing its status despite early skepticism.

Today, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? stands as one of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 22 million copies sold worldwide and an 18× platinum certification from the BPI (5.4 million UK sales as of July 2025). It has been lauded as a defining record of the Britpop era, later named the greatest British album since 1980 at the 2010 Brit Awards, and continues to influence generations of rock acts and fans alike.

Noel Gallagher Reflects on the Album

In interviews marking its landmark anniversaries, Noel Gallagher has often cast a thoughtful eye back over the whirlwind creation of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. In a 2024 feature for Sunday Times Culture, he admitted, “We went directly from the last night of the Definitely Maybe tour to record Morning Glory?, and then spent the following 29 years — and counting — trying to live up to both albums”

To commemorate the record’s 25th anniversary in 2020, Gallagher returned to Rockfield Studios for an in-depth conversation, describing the sessions as “pure chaos and inspiration,” and praising producer Owen Morris’s aggressive “brick-wall” approach for forging the album’s seismic sound. He also confessed with a wry grin that, “in hindsight, some of the songs could’ve done with a bit more warmth in the mix,” underscoring both the album’s raw power and its place in the so-called “loudness war