Interesting news comes out of a BBC 6 Radio interview with Oasis upon the release of Dig Out Your Soul. The album topped the U.K. Charts over the weekend, and Oasis remains wildly popular in England, even if the band's appeal to critics has waned. Still, imagine what would be the case if you erased the last 10 years of Oasis's history. According to guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher, that very nearly may have happened, as the band almost broke up a decade ago.

 

"We had a serious discussion after Bonehead and Guigsy left: 'Should we fold this now and just go under a different name?'" The songwriter tells BBC 6 Music.

"We were seriously thinking about it," adds Gallagher.

Eventually,when Gem Archer and Andy Bell joined Oasis members for a potential new group in 1999, it was determined that there was too much caché to the name "Oasis" to give it up: "When Gem and Andy joined they were like: 'F*** that, we want to be in 'Oasis'! We don't want to be in 'Sweaty Bogeys' or anything like that...!' And it was like: 'You've got a point!'"

One can't help but woner what would have happened if the members of Oasis had gone on to different projects. Damon Albarn, from Oasis' chief Britpop rival Blur, made some compelling music with Gorillaz an The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. Some would argue that Johnny Rotten's career as John Lydon with Public Image Ltd. was even better than his work with the Sex Pistols. Oasis, however, has continued to be rock solid, if not as universally stunning as the band seemed in the Definitely Maybe/What's the Story (Morning Glory) era. Something tells me, however, that Oasis or no Oasis, Noel Gallagher would still have found a way to let his mouth run wild.

[AngryApe]