No Rock And Roll Fun

CATCH THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL: And while their fifth number one album might give Oasis something to shout about, the underlying trend of their first week sales is still downwards - Heathen Chemistry managed just 230,000, comapred with Standing on the Shoulder of Giants' 311,000; 345,000 for What's the Story and an remarkable 813,000 in the first seven days by Be Here Now. In fact, only Definitely Maybe's first week sale was lower - 86,000 - and that was when the band had yet to break. Away from studio albums, Familiar To Millions has finally after seventeen months managed to squeeze past the 200,000 sales mark, but only thanks to Woolworths virtually giving away copies to people buying the new album. However you stack the figures, Oasis don't even count as reliable warhorses any more.