Welcome back to Tales from the Turntable! Before writing about the infamous rivalry between Stephen Malkmus and Billy Corgan, I never realized the sheer amount of bitter rivalries that often arise in music. Really, I could start up another column just about these rivalries.
Even hundreds of years ago, musicians couldn’t help but become consumed by meaningless squabbles — take Mozart’s feud with composer Antonio Salieri in the late 1700s, for example. The two often wrote pieces in attempts to “one-up” each other, though Salieri has largely been forgotten in the shadow of Mozart, with his story being relegated only to films like “Amadeus.” World class musicians that are lauded as some of the greatest artistic minds in modern history can’t escape petty drama.
Though there is a never-ending supply of drama in the musical world, this week I’ll be focusing on one of the more explosive feuds in recent memory, a fight that’s been raging since 2009 between two brothers who set out for nothing less than being the biggest band on Earth.
A small band called The Rain spawned out of Manchester, England. Due to issues with their singer, the band quickly opted for a lineup change, switching out their vocalist for Liam Gallagher. Gallagher’s first action as new lead singer was a name change; inspired by a concert venue in Swindon, England, the singer insisted the band be renamed Oasis. With this newfound identity, the group found their first gig playing for an underwhelmed audience.
Somewhere in the crowd was Gallagher’s older brother, Noel, a guitarist and songwriter in his own right. While Noel didn’t particularly like how the band sounded, he approached the group with several of his song ideas, offering his talents as lead guitarist and songwriter.
With a stable lineup, Oasis quickly climbed the ranks of the British underground scene, eventually being scouted by a record executive for Creation Records and offered a record deal. Their debut effort, “Definitely Maybe,” climbed to number 31 on album charts in the U.K. Their sophomore album, however, would explode the band’s popularity.
“What’s the Story? (Morning Glory)” was released in late 1995, spawning several hit songs like “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova.” The record would go on to become one of the best selling albums of all time and would cause significant changes within the band.
Throughout the Gallagher brothers’ lives, they had been known for their short tempers and large egos. Unsurprisingly, sudden and newfound fame only went to their heads, further inflating both their egos to the point of no return. Infamously, fellow Britpop band Blur had outsold Oasis in August of 1995, causing the Oasis camp to spew a litany of excuses for their shortcoming in sales. Noel later stated publicly that he wished members of Blur would “catch AIDS and die.”
The band showed no signs of slowing down going forward through the 1990s and 2000s. However, the group would never again reach the height of success and critical praise that “What’s the Story? (Morning Glory)” would get. Cracks began to form shortly after the turn of the decade, with arguments between Liam and Noel becoming more frequent. Though many arguments were eventually patched up between the two, Noel stated he and his brother “never hung out outside of Oasis, ever.”
The squabbling came to a head in August of 2009. Oasis was scheduled to play a show in Paris, but the group suddenly canceled the performance. Noel announced his departure from the group on their website a few hours later, saying he “could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
The brothers went on to trade insults publicly through X (formerly Twitter) and British press, while millions of Oasis fans patiently waited for the two to patch things up and reform the band. Liam announced in December of 2017 that he and Noel had finally reconciled, however he would quickly rescind the comment as something he made up after a night of drinking.
Almost 15 years on, Liam and Noel are still not on speaking terms and the possibility of an Oasis reunion seems further and further with each passing day. Both have entertained the idea of a reunion time and time again, but every mention always ends with an insult from one to the other, and nothing more than that. Though the future may look bleak, fans continue to hold out hope that one day Oasis will tour again.