Chapter 14: Gin & Tonic
Dazed & Confused, 1994
After a lengthy hiatus spent boozing with his mam in Burnage, Noel Gallagher has finally been put back in touch with his muse. Since his mam found it in a bucket under the kitchen sink last Easter, the gnarly Northerner has been writing melodious pop chestnuts by the score.
"I'm the only man in rock who can go on the piss with his mam, so shut it," he spits sardonically. "We get shitfaced on gin and tonic and sit around crying."
—Feeling Supersonic: From Madchester to Britpop by Simon Spence, Backstage Books 2024
OASIS and general-1990s-pop-music books I have read - grouped in a way that makes sense I swear
First, the 1990s and/or music biz overview books:
Pandamonium! How Not to Run a Record Label by Simon Williams
Written by the excellent guy who wrote Those Windows are Saying 'Throw a Chair Through Me!' for NME in 1994. Highly recommended - great overview of the indie times of the '90s in the UK. Oh, and he's the guy who got together with fellow NME journalist John Harris and released Wibbling Rivalry on his label Fierce Panda Records in 1995, soooo he tells that story with entertaining aplomb
I'm Not With the Band: A Writer's Life Lost In Music by Sylvia Patterson
Another excellent writer - she of the NME September 12th 2001 interview with Oasis as the most memorable - but she was around nearly from the beginning [1997] [2002] [2002 fulltext] [2006] Definitely one of the better journalists when it comes to Oasis - she isn't taken in by much (unlike a writer we'll hear about later who had a lot of access to Oasis but not a lot of actual understanding, Paolo Hewitt) She starts out at Smash Hits magazine in the '80s so she was right there for the new music of the '90s when everything started to change and change again. Oh, and for a while she was roommates with an Abbot brother out of Creation Records, although she has too much integrity to spill anything too salacious, sadly.
The Last Party: Britpop, Blair, and the Demise of English Rock by John Harris
John Harris did the interview with Oasis that was later issued as Wibbling Rivalry by Fierce Panda Records: Bruise Brothers NME April 1994. John Harris was also a staff writer on NME during Oasis' glory years. Great overview of the britpop years.
Honarary mention to the books of two '90s bands who interacted with Oasis and a DJ who interviewed Oasis:
Sing Backwards and Weep by Mark Lanegan (of the band Screaming Trees) and In the Jingle Jangle Jungle by Joel Gion (of the band Brian Jonestown Massacre)
Grouped here because both were bands that played with Oasis, and both authors don't care for the Gallagher bros much. I enjoy a hater who plays guitar, what can I say. Mark, way into heroin in those years, enjoys dragging the Brits for being complete lightweights, which, given how much they talked about their beloved cocaine lines, is ironic, and he also talks about interacting with Noel and Liam on tour. Brian Jonestown Massacre, interestingly, opened for Oasis on a night of the doomed USA 1994 tour, taking credit for handing Liam the crystal meth that ultimately caused the Whiskey-a-Go-Go debacle that ended in Noel fleeing the band and LA entirely.
Going Deaf For a Living: A DJ's Story by Steve Lamacq
"Onstage, I just want him." "Bed-friendly?!" "We’re on this really, like, big loved up expedition, right."
Just flip to the chapter [Chapter 22] covering this 1997 joint interview Steve did with, unexpectedly, both Noel and Liam. It's a gem. Jo Whiley, his compatriot DJ at the station, knows Oasis much better (I mean, Steve even mentions the Newcastle Riverside bust-up for which Jo was present - and he mixes up Noel and Liam in the story) but unfortunately she doesn't dish as much in her book, I've heard.
Okay, fine! Let's get to the books specifically about Oasis -
Live Forever: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Oasis by John Robb
Opens with a description of the night before the supposed cricket bat incident. Not to be missed. However, John Robb admitted in an interview that he put this book together quickly - and it shows. There's basically nothing worth reading in this book post-1996, unless you want to read album reviews. Up until that point, though, the book is a banger: well-researched and has a lot of original interviews. John was there then and he's an excellent rock journalist. so this book is still very worth reading. Oh, and he's the guy who did this interview: "If songs were drinks, right, then mine is half a Guinness on a Tuesday. Liam's is ten shots of tequila on a fucking Friday night." with Noel in 2024.
Take Me There: Oasis The Story by Paul Mathur
Published 1997. An excellent romp though Oasis and their history, and their 1994-1997 years. Some stories about the making of Definitely Maybe, and Paul and photogragher Tom Sheehan are there when they record Some Might Say. Highly recommended!
Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis and Forever The People: Six Months On The Road With Oasis by Paolo Hewitt
Paolo Hewitt is absolutely star-struck by Oasis (specifically Noel) in the first book roughly 1995-1996 during the Morning Glory years. He's basically a journalist embedded with the tour so he has a close-up view. Then in the second book, during Sept 1997-March 1998 of the Be Here Now tour, the shine kind of comes off. Entertaining. Some very good anecdotes. Required reading for Oasis fans.
Supersonic: the complete, authorised, and uncut interviews by Mat Whitecross
Published in tandem with the associated documentary, so very very authorized. The interviews are great, but they suffer a little because they were done in 2015 and 2016, when Oasis was nonexistent and Noel and Liam were on the outs. The myth-making happening is obvious. I prefer the earlier-published books because I think there's more truth in them, frankly. Still! It's something to see how they like to mythologize themselves. And sometimes they still let drop an actual personal anecdote. Peggy Gallagher is interviewed in this one, too.
Oasis: what's the story?: Life on tour with Liam and Noel Gallagher
by Iain Robertson
Their former bodyguard/tour manager weighs in. He means well, but he's unfortunately emotionally clueless and summarily punched and then fired by Liam in Paris in September 1995. I think he was hired shortly after the Newcastle Riverside assault in 1994, so he barely lasted a year. Interesting book, but not particularly insightful. He's also prone to very dramatic poetry-esque side missions labeled as chapters.
Oasis: The Illustrated Story by Paul Lester for Melody Maker
A delightful introduction to Oasis, published in early 1995, not too long after Definitely Maybe and even before cricket bat became a story from the Morning Glory sessions.
The Kennedy Chronicles: The Golden Age of MTV Through Rose-Colored Glasses by Kennedy
I loved Kennedy as an MTV VJ in the '90s - but the only chapter in the book worth reading is the one where she recounts putting Noel in a 'friendly' headlock in Aspen, Colorado the night before their performance in Mt MTV Dec 12, 1995. (the offense Oasis committed was showing up at a party and removing The Beastie Boys' album from the stereo and making the partygoers listen to The White Album by the Beatles. oh, and the chapter incidentally is named Rock Stars Who Used Me For Drugs.)
Oasis: The Truth: My Life as Oasis's Drummer by Tony McCarroll
Required reading if you want to hear about the early years and Guigsy! and Bonehead! Oh, and way, way too much hero worship for 'BigUn', Paul Ashbee, who ALSO sued Oasis in 1999, not to be outdone by Tony. He talks about the formation of the band and how he met each member around the neighborhood. Unfortunately due to Noel and his, uh, continual problems with drummers, he hates Noel SO MUCH and isn't over it by the time this book was written. I would actually prefer to hear what Tony has to say about the experience now, but this is all you get, in book terms. Recommended especially for the funny story of Noel getting sold flour at a drug deal instead of cocaine.
Books I haven't finished yet:
Brothers: from childhood to Oasis: the real story by Paul Gallagher
Written by Noel and Liam's big brother, assisted by Terry Christian. Paul's attempt to cash in. I'm struggling to finish this one because his author's voice really betrays what an unpleasant dude he is. No wonder he was literally left behind when Liam and Noel and Oasis left to drive to King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow to perform and then get signed by Alan McGee and Creation Records. And yes, that story of being left behind Paul indeed recounts in his book. Also this book is the source of the photos of the surprisingly intimate photos of Noel with Inspiral Carpets, presumably because Paul really wanted to publish those in 1997. Paul wasn't at all part of Oasis and never was, so this is mostly worth reading if you want to hear about their pre-Oasis lives.
Feeling Supersonic: From Madchester to Britpop by Simon Spence
"I'm the only man in rock who can go on the piss with his mam, so shut it," [Noel] spits sardonically. "We get shitfaced on gin and tonic and sit around crying."
