''Standing on the Shoulder of Giants'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBig Brother Recordings. In the year preceding the album's release, Alan McGee closed

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

, and Oasis had lost two founding members ( Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan) and hired new producer Mark "Spike" Stent to replace Owen Morris. The album marked a significant change from the

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

scene to a modern psychedelic record complete with drum loops, samples, electric sitar,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, synthesisers and backward guitars, resulting in an album more experimental with

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and heavy

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

influences. Songs such as " Go Let It Out", the Indian-influenced " Who Feels Love?", and the

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

sounds on "Gas Panic!" departed from the band's earlier style. This album also marked the first time that lead singer

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...

contributed on songwriting ("Little James"), and this process continued for their subsequent albums, instead of relying solely on Noel Gallagher's songwriting as they had for the first three albums. It is the 16th-fastest-selling album in UK

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

history, selling over 310,000 copies in its first week. ''Standing on the Shoulder of Giants'' has been certified double platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

and has sold around 208,000 copies in the US.

Background

The album's title misquotes an expression by

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His book (''Mathe ...

: "If I have seen further, it is by

standing on the shoulders of giants The phrase "standing on the shoulders of giants" is a metaphor which means "using the understanding gained by major thinkers who have gone before in order to make intellectual progress". It is a metaphor of Dwarf (mythology), dwarfs standing on ...

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...

saw the quote on the edge of a

£2 coin The pound sign () is the symbol for the pound unit of sterling – the currency of the United Kingdom and its associated Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories and previously of Great Britain and of the Kingdom of England. The sa ...

while in a pub, and liked it so much he thought it would be a suitable name for Oasis' new album. He then wrote the name on the side of a cigarette packet while drunk, and upon awakening in the morning, he realised he had written "Standing on the ''Shoulder'' of Giants". He had also accidentally written "a bum title" on the packet instead of "album title". Noel decided to drop the equipment used in the three previous albums and instead buy "loads of really weird pedals, old guitars, and small amps" as the lack of a deadline on the album allowed him to "take quite a few days just messing around" and experiment with new musical landscapes. Noel was forced to play nearly all the instruments on the album, aided by some additional musicians; due to the departure of two founding band members (guitarist Bonehead and bassist Guigsy) while the album was still being recorded, their parts were re-recorded for legal reasons. The album features Noel and

alongside drummer Alan White, who are also the only ones depicted on the sleeve of the album. Guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell (Bonehead's and Guigsy replacement respectively) would be officially included in the band shortly after the album's release.

Songs

The album spawned four singles, released between February and July 2000. The lead track, "Fuckin' in the Bushes", features no vocals, but does include sampled quotes from '' Message to Love'', a documentary film of the

Isle of Wight Festival 1970 The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 30 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the islan ...

. The festival's MC, Rikki Farr, is heard berating the crowd: "We put this festival on, you bastards, with a lot of love! We worked for one year for you pigs! And you wanna break our walls down and you wanna destroy it? Well you go to hell!" Two other festival observers in the film are also heard. "Gas Panic!" was inspired by the

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...

was having as he quit drugs in advance of the birth of his daughter Anaïs. "'Gas Panic!' was written while I was just lying in bed sweating, the usual five or six o'clock in the morning, thinking, f—ing hell, you know, is it all worth it?" he said.

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

chose not to sell the album, objecting to "Fuckin' in the Bushes" having profanity in the title.

Album cover

The album's artwork features the photo of the Manhattan skyline taken from the rooftop of 500 Fifth Avenue (5th Ave/W 42nd St). Some famous buildings are visible including the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

in the foreground and the former World Trade Center in the background. To create the cover photo, the photographer captured the same frame every half an hour in 18 hours during the whole day's course; the photos were digitally composited into the final picture. All of the singles released from this album contained artwork that was based on the album artwork; the shot used for " Go Let It Out" can be seen above one of the buildings at the front, which depicts five men playing football. This shot was taken from the roof of a football stadium, and the footballers from the car park were edited onto the rooftop on the final cover. This album was the first Oasis artwork not to be created by Brian Cannon at Microdot.

Reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics. The B-side to "Go Let It Out", "Let's All Make Believe", was featured in ''Qs top 500 lost tracks, who also said that if "Let's All Make Believe" were on the album, "it probably would have carried the album to another star." However, ''Q'' later included the record at number 46 in their list of the 50 worst albums ever made. Despite its lukewarm critical reception, both Liam and Noel Gallagher have praised certain aspects of the record. During a radio interview with Gary Crowley in 2002 Liam said "Some people reckon the album is shit, but I think it's a great album ... it's just a bit different", whilst Noel Gallagher has stated that he regards "Go Let It Out" as "up there with some of the best things that I've done." He also stated in a 2005 interview with Rock Profiles that he thinks "Fuckin' in the Bushes", "Go Let It Out", "Gas Panic!", and "Where Did It All Go Wrong?" are "real pieces of music". Noel has also praised the sounds and production of the record. ''Standing on the Shoulder of Giants'' spent 29 weeks on the UK album chart, the fewest for any Oasis studio album. It was the 26th biggest selling album of 2000 in the UK. ''Standing on the Shoulder of Giants'' debuted at number 24 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the US, selling about 55,000 units in its first week, but sales slumped its second week and fell to No. 84 with a 64% sales drop. The album received a huge sales hike following the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

airing of the group's '' Behind the Music'' in April 2000, jumping from No. 194 to No. 113 on the ''Billboard'' 200 the week following the episode's airing. In March 2000, the

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...

certified Oasis for selling one million units of the album in Europe.

Legacy

In a 2011 interview with '' Grantland'', Noel disowned the album, stating that it should have never been made. He recalled that he "had no reason or desire to make music" and "just wrote songs for the sake of making an album". He also clarified that adding Archer and Bell allowed the band to split songwriting duties, as he felt he "could 'tkeep writing 20 songs every two years". "Fuckin' in the Bushes" was used in the soundtrack for

Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter known primarily for British comedy gangster films and large-scale action-adventure films. Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in e ...

's 2000 crime movie '' Snatch'' starring

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

. The British professional wrestler

Nigel McGuinness Steven Haworth (born 23 January 1972), better known by his ring name Nigel McGuinness, is an English professional wrestling, professional wrestler and commentator. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he serves as a color commentato ...

has also used the song as his entrance theme in

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

and

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

Track listing

Personnel

Oasis

– vocals (2–6, 9, 10) *

– lead and rhythm guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals (7, 8), co-lead vocals (4), production * Alan White – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

* Paul Stacey – keyboards, additional lead guitar (1), backwards guitar (3), bass guitar (3, 6, 9–10), additional acoustic guitar (7) * P. P. Arnold and Linda Lewis – backing vocals (1, 4, 10) * Mark Coyle – electric sitar (4), twelve-string acoustic guitar (5) * Mark Feltham – harmonica (6) * Charlotte Glasson – flute (6)

Production

* Mark Stent – production,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Paul Stacey – engineering * Wayne Wilkins – assistant engineering * Paul "P-Dub" Walton – assistant engineering * Aaron Pratley – assistant engineering * Howie Weinberg – mastering * Jan "Stan" Kybert – programming,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

* Steve "Rambo" Robinson – studio assistant

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

''Standing on the Shoulder of Giants''
at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Standing on the Shoulder of Giants 2000 albums Big Brother Recordings albums Epic Records albums Oasis (band) albums Albums recorded at Wheeler End Studios Albums produced by Spike Stent Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios