Amazing Photographs of Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis Taken by Kevin Cummins in 1994

In 1994, legendary British music photographer Kevin Cummins captured a series of raw, intimate, and now-iconic photographs of Liam and Noel Gallagher. Taken just before and during the release of Oasis’s groundbreaking debut album, Definitely Maybe, these photos defined the visual mythos of the Gallagher brothers and the rise of Britpop. Rather than highlighting their infamous sibling rivalry, Cummins’s early archive emphasizes an unguarded brotherly bond, humor, and a shared, defiant confidence.

“I thought it would ne a nice idea to do their first year, which gives it a good narrative flow,” said Cummins, “I was commissioned by Creation to see how their visual identity would work best, but by the end of the year they were the property of the tabloids.

“Creation thought there wouldn’t be any antagonism if they brought in a photographer who was from Manchester and supported City.”

Shot in their hometown of Manchester right around the time Definitely Maybe hit the shelves, these street portraits capture the duo against everyday urban backdrops. Notable locations included standing outside the historic Peveril of the Peak pub and posing directly on Portland Street.

In one of the most culturally resonant shoots of the era, the Gallagher brothers proudly leaned into their Manchester roots by posing together wearing the official Manchester City 1993/1994 football kits.

“We did some shots inside in the studio, with one behind the other so that you’d have brother reading above theirs heads on the shirt. Then we did some other shots where Liam jumped on Noel's back as if we'd just scored a goal, which is quite rare in these days.

“Then we went outside and they played football in the street and then kicked the ball at Noel. Noel kicked it back at him and they tried to punch each other. We just waited for that to finish and then carried on doing pictures.

“I think it’s an era-defining session that because football wasn't fashionable at the time. Here’s these lads playing football and linking themselves to Man City with brother all over the shirt... everything fell into place really with that session and that picture where Liam is on Noel's back has been on about 200 magazine covers.”

Kevin Cummins (born 1953) is one of Britain’s most celebrated music and portrait photographers. He is best known for creating the definitive visual record of the Manchester music scene and the rise of Britpop. Over a career spanning five decades, his bleak, cinematic, and raw style helped establish the mythos of some of the world's biggest rock bands.

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Hugh Grant Rocking Umbro at a Charity Football Match in London, 1994

In June 1994, directly following his breakout global stardom in Four Weddings and a Funeral (released earlier that spring), Hugh Grant participated in a high-profile celebrity charity football match held in London. Photographs from the match gained cult status over the years due to his quintessential mid-90s kit, a long-sleeved, collared, blue striped Umbro football shirt paired with classic retro short running shorts and his signature floppy hair.

Fresh off the box-office success of Four Weddings, Grant was one of the most photographed figures in British pop culture during the summer of 1994. While known primarily for his acting, he is an avid football fan who supports Fulham F.C. and even worked briefly as an assistant groundsman at Craven Cottage before his career took off.

Events like these were popular fixtures in 1990s London, bringing together actors, musicians, and television personalities alongside former professional footballers to raise funds for local and national UK charities.

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30 Amazing Photos of Airplanes Flying Over the Twin Towers, Before Their Destruction on September 11, 2001

Before September 11, 2001, commercial airliners and civil aircraft regularly shared the skyline with the World Trade Center towers. Because Lower Manhattan sits in close proximity to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), aircraft banking over the Hudson and East Rivers were a standard visual feature of the New York metropolitan airspace throughout the late 20th century.

The Twin Towers stood at 1,368 feet (North Tower) and 1,362 feet (South Tower). Flights departing or approaching Newark and LaGuardia frequently traversed corridors over the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay, placing incoming and outgoing air traffic within clear visual range of Lower Manhattan.

During the design phase in the mid-1960s, lead structural engineer Leslie Robertson and the Port Authority designed the towers to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707, the largest commercial jetliner in service at the time, assuming a lost aircraft searching for a landing site in heavy fog.

Air France and British Airways Concordes flying in or out of JFK were frequently photographed climbing past the Manhattan skyline with the towers framed in the background. Local sightseeing helicopters, police aircraft, and small private planes operated routinely in the low-altitude Hudson River VFR (Visual Flight Rules) corridor adjacent to the complex.

Following the tragedy, airspace rules over Manhattan were permanently altered, heavily restricting low-altitude civilian flights over the city.

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26 Photos of Salma Hayek as Carolina on the Set of “Desperado” (1995)

On the set of the 1995 action film Desperado, Salma Hayek’s experience playing Carolina was both a grueling, emotionally intense journey and the ultimate breakout milestone for her Hollywood career. While the role established her as a major star, behind the scenes she faced immense pressure, casting hurdles, and a highly challenging filming process.

Before filming even began, Hayek had to fight hard for the role of Carolina. Columbia Pictures originally pushed to cast bigger, non-Latina names like Cameron Diaz. Studio executives hesitated to hire Hayek, reportedly fearing her name sounded “too Mexican” for American audiences. Director Robert Rodriguez fiercely advocated for her, making her audition repeatedly until she secured the part.

Hayek has openly shared that shooting the iconic love scene with co-star Antonio Banderas was one of her most difficult moments on set. The intimate scene was not in the original script and was only added after production began. Because Rodriguez was a close friend and his wife was her best friend, Hayek agreed to film on a strictly closed set of just four people. However, when it came time to shoot, she became overwhelmed by fear and began to sob.

Hayek recalled being unable to let go of her towel and crying repeatedly. She praised Banderas and Rodriguez for being absolute gentlemen who tried to make her laugh and never pressured her. To accommodate her discomfort, the final scene had to be heavily chopped up in editing because she could not stay in character for long stretches.

Despite the grueling nature of the shoot, the environment fostered an iconic cinematic partnership. The tranquil, romantic scenes between Carolina and El Mariachi provided emotional grounding against the movie’s explosive action. Hayek’s fierce energy and charisma on set cemented a lifelong creative partnership with Rodriguez, leading directly to her legendary appearance in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and reprising her role as Carolina in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).

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Young Keanu Reeves Photographed by Ken Nahoum, 1990

The iconic 1990 photo session of a young Keanu Reeves, captured by celebrity photographer Ken Nahoum, showcases the actor just as he was rising to global fame. Taken shortly after his breakout role in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), the photoshoot captures his signature laid-back, early ‘90s grunge aesthetic.

The shoot features Reeves styled in relaxed, oversized button-down shirts, standard denim, a distinct black fedora hat, and rugged boots. Ken Nahoum utilized a minimalist studio setup, heavily featuring a single metal grid chair that Reeves interacts with playfully—leaning over it, sitting backward, and posing dynamically.

The images lean into a raw, candid energy, contrasting soft studio lighting with Reeves’s naturally expressive and brooding features right before Point Break (1991) cemented him as a Hollywood heartthrob.

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28 Snapshots of People Posing With the Original World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City Prior to September 11, 2001

Before September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were among the most photographed landmarks in the world. Millions of tourists, New York residents, office workers, and construction personnel posed against the backdrop of the 110-story complex between its opening in 1973 and September 2001.

Tourists and local families frequently posed for snapshots in front of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, capturing everyday memories against the iconic backdrop of the soaring steel-and-glass skyscrapers. They stood in the bustling Austin J. Tobin Plaza between the towers, trying to tilt their film cameras upward to capture the full height of the buildings.

Tourists rode the high-speed elevators to the South Tower open-air roof or the North Tower observation area to take pictures posing high above the New York City skyline. People also posed from across the Hudson River in New Jersey, or from nearby parks and ferries, to get both themselves and the full silhouette of the towers into a single frame.

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A British Punk and a Young Boy Paying Respects Following the Death of Princess Diana in London in September 1997

In the late summer of 1997, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, sent shockwaves through the world, and nowhere was the grief more visceral than outside Buckingham Palace. Mourners gathered by the thousands, laying down a sea of flowers, letters, and candles that carpeted the gates and spilled into the streets. Among the crowd was a figure not everyone expected: a young punk, leather-jacketed and mohawked, standing silently among sobbing pensioners and schoolchildren. The rawness of his expression cut through any stereotype; tears streaked his pierced face as he placed a single red rose at the palace gates.

This unlikely mourner became a symbol of the broad, unifying reach of Diana’s humanity. She had touched people from every walk of life, not just royalty-watchers or charity donors, but also those often overlooked or marginalized. Diana’s advocacy for AIDS patients, her bold stance on landmines, and her evident compassion for the forgotten had resonated with many who typically felt alienated from the pomp of monarchy. For punks and rebels who’d grown up sceptical of the establishment, Diana stood out as someone who’d broken rank and dared to be emotionally honest, publicly flawed, and deeply human.

That day in 1997, the scene outside Buckingham Palace quietly rewrote the narrative of British identity. Grief blurred class lines, fashion statements, and ideologies. The punk wasn’t alone, he was shoulder to shoulder with nannies, war veterans, and tourists, each person bound not by politics but by a shared sense of loss. Diana’s death didn’t just mark the end of a royal chapter, it exposed a deep hunger in the public for authenticity, vulnerability, and connection. And in that moment, even a punk’s silence spoke volumes.

30 Snapshots of River Phoenix Posing With His Fans in the Late 1980s and Early 1990s

River Phoenix (August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor and musician. The older brother of actor Joaquin Phoenix, he was known as a teen actor before taking on leading roles in critically acclaimed films, becoming one of the preeminent acting talents of his generation.

During his rise to stardom in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Phoenix was widely celebrated for his grounded, generous, and incredibly warm interactions with fans. Unlike many insulated Hollywood teen idols of the era, he frequently bypassed security barriers to talk, sign autographs, and take casual photographs with the people who supported his films and his band, Aleka’s Attic.

Following the massive success of Stand by Me (1986) and his Oscar-nominated role in Running on Empty (1988), Phoenix became an instant heartthrob featured heavily in magazines like Bop and Seventeen. Fans frequently sought him out at red carpets, press tours, and film sets.

Outside of film sets, Phoenix was often approached by fans while performing or touring with his band, Aleka’s Attic. Fans often recalled him hanging out around venue entrances or outside independent record shops in Gainesville, Florida, stopping to chat about music and animal rights rather than movie fame.

Contemporaries, co-stars, and fans frequently noted that Phoenix was quiet and soft-spoken in personal encounters. Rather than rushing past crowds, he often signed autographs, posed for polaroids, and engaged in genuine conversations, particularly if fans brought up causes he cared about, such as veganism, PETA, or environmentalism.

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Before 9/11: Bomb Exploded Under the World Trade Center in 1993

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when terrorists detonated a massive truck bomb in the underground parking garage beneath the North Tower in New York City. The attack killed six people, including a pregnant woman, injured over 1,000 others, and forced the evacuation of roughly 50,000 workers from the complex.

Mastermind Ramzi Yousef packed a rented Ryder van with roughly 1,200 to 1,500 pounds of urea nitrate explosives enhanced with hydrogen gas. His goal was to compromise the North Tower’s foundation so violently that it would collapse into the South Tower, potentially killing up to 250,000 civilians.

The explosion detonated at 12:18 p.m., tearing a crater roughly 100 to 150 feet wide and several stories deep into the basement parking structure. While the structural integrity of the buildings held, heavy smoke rushed up the elevator shafts and stairwells, trapping thousands in darkness during a grueling multi-hour rescue effort. The six casualties were local workers and Port Authority employees: John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, Wilfredo Mercado, Monica Rodriguez Smith (who was pregnant), and William Macko. They are honored at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Investigators sifted through thousands of tons of rubble to locate a blown-apart piece of wreckage containing a vehicle identification number (VIN). The VIN was traced to a van reported stolen by Mohammed Salameh. The FBI arrested Salameh when he foolishly returned to a Jersey City rental agency to try and reclaim his $400 cash rental deposit. Ramzi Yousef fled the country but was tracked down by federal agents in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1995. Yousef and five other co-conspirators, including the van driver Eyad Ismoil, Mahmud Abouhalima, Ahmad Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad, and Mohammed Salameh, were captured, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. One suspect, Abdul Rahman Yasin, remains at large.

The 1993 bombing serves as a historic precursor to the catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001. Ramzi Yousef's uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would later become the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, executing his nephew’s original objective of bringing down the Twin Towers using commercial airplanes instead of a truck bomb.

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The Collaboration Between Michael Jackson and Guns N’ Roses Guitarist Slash in the 1990s

During the 1990s, Michael Jackson and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash formed one of the most iconic pop-rock partnerships in music history. Driven by Jackson’s desire for a more aggressive, hard-rock edge, their work seamlessly blended high-energy pop with blistering guitar solos.

Their connection originated in 1990 when Jackson reached out through his manager to see if Slash would play on his upcoming album, Dangerous. At the time, Guns N’ Roses was the biggest hard rock band in the world, while Jackson was the indisputable King of Pop. Despite their radically different public images, Slash accepted out of sheer curiosity and admiration for Jackson’s artistry.

What struck Slash most about Jackson was his approach in the studio. Rather than micromanaging or dictating exact notes, Jackson gave Slash total creative autonomy. “He just said, ’Play whatever you feel like playing,’” Slash recalled. “He didn’t try to direct me. He just let me do my thing... which was amazing because most pop artists of that caliber want to control every single note.”

During sessions for “Give In to Me,” Jackson simply cheered him on, encouraging his raw, heavy tone. This deep trust created an instant bond, making Slash one of Jackson’s go-to guest performers for over a decade. While often mistakenly credited for the main riff in “Black or White” (which was played by Tim Pierce), Slash officially performed the intro guitar tracking, specifically the skit where a kid blasts rock music to annoy his father.

Slash returned to provide heavy, driving rock riffs for the aggressive protest track “D.S.” found on Jackson’s HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I album. He contributed his signature, biting guitar work to the dark, industrial-rock track “Morphine” from the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix.

On stage, the contrast was electric, Jackson’s sharp, synchronized choreography paired with Slash’s loose, improvisational shredding. One of their most iconic running gags occurred live at the 1995 MTV VMAs. During a fiery guitar solo, Jackson would act frustrated that Slash was “stealing the spotlight” and refusing to stop playing, sending security guards to mock-restrain him before transitioning smoothly into the next beat. Slash periodically flew out to make guest appearances during Jackson’s HIStory World Tour , elevating tracks like “Black or White” and “Beat It” with live solos.

Away from the cameras, Slash often spoke about Jackson’s surprisingly quiet, polite demeanor offstage. Behind the massive celebrity persona, Slash saw a remarkably dedicated musician who treated everyone around him with kindness and respect. Jackson appreciated having someone around who interacted with him like a normal peer rather than an unreachable icon.

Their working relationship occasionally caused tension within Guns N’ Roses, most notably between Slash and frontman Axl Rose, but Slash remained steadfast in his loyalty to Jackson as a musician and friend.

Following Jackson’s passing in 2009, Slash frequently reflected on his talent and impact, calling him “one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever had the honor to work with.” He highlighted Jackson’s incredible sense of rhythm, noting that even without instruments, Jackson could convey precisely how a guitar line should groove just by beatboxing and moving.

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Hiroyuki Sanada and Laure Marsac Photographed by Lyu Hanabusa in Paris, 1992

In 1992, Hiroyuki Sanada and Laure Marsac were photographed by renowned Japanese photographer Lyu Hanabusa, capturing a moment in the early stages of both actors’ international recognition. The artistic shots originally debuted in the 1992 pictorial book “a man,” which was later expanded and re-released in 2000 under the title “L'Homme.” This was not a real-life relationship, but a highly stylized, cross-cultural editorial photoshoot. It captures the duo sharing intimate, cinematic moments across Parisian streets, cafes, and indoor settings.

Hiroyuki Sanada, born in 1960 in Tokyo, had already established a formidable reputation in Japan as a versatile actor, adept in both traditional samurai roles and contemporary cinema. By the early 1990s, he was expanding his work into international productions, bridging the gap between Japanese cinema and global audiences. Laure Marsac, born in 1970 in Paris, France, had similarly begun making a name for herself in European cinema, noted for her performances in French films that showcased her ability to portray complex emotional depth.

These photographs reflect a period when cross-cultural collaboration in film was becoming increasingly prominent, with actors from different continents working together in productions that appealed to wider audiences. The early 1990s marked a transformative era for world cinema, as globalization and co-productions allowed actors like Sanada and Marsac to expand beyond national industries.

Sanada, who had trained extensively in martial arts and classical theater, was gaining roles that highlighted both his physicality and dramatic range, which would later lead to appearances in major Hollywood films. Meanwhile, Marsac’s career in French cinema during this period was characterized by roles in art-house and mainstream films, which emphasized subtlety and sophistication in performance. Their collaboration or joint appearance in 1992 exemplifies the growing trend of actors navigating both domestic and international spheres, contributing to the exchange of cinematic styles and cultural narratives between Europe and Asia.

Lyu Hanabusa’s photography during this period played a key role in documenting emerging talent and capturing the evolving aesthetic of early 1990s film culture. His portraits of Sanada and Marsac not only highlight the individual charisma of each actor but also the growing global dialogue within cinema at the time. By photographing performers from different cultural backgrounds together, Hanabusa’s work emphasized the interconnectedness of international film communities and the rising prominence of actors capable of bridging linguistic and cultural divides.

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