Everyone has a price, it seems, except for Noel Gallagher. In a new interview with MOJO magazine, former Oasis singer and solo star Liam Gallagher says that his estranged older brother put the kibosh on one of the most anticipated reunions in modern rock history.
After years of rumors, innuendo and testy back-and-forth between the famously battling siblings, Liam told MOJO that he tried to call the band’s songwriter, guitarist and occasional vocalist — well, his people attempted to called Noel’s people — to proffer a major offer to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s landmark August 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe.
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“I did call him! Well, my people called Noel’s management team,” Liam said. “We put an offer on the table for an Oasis thing – because we got offered it – and he said no. It was a big tour, a lot of money. He turned it down. I get it, he’s got a divorce going down. I’ll do the Definitely Maybe thing and have a nice time without him.”
Definitely Maybe is on the Mt. Rushmore of the 1990s Britpop movement thanks to such enduring tracks as “Supersonic,” “Shakermaker” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Cigarettes & Alcohol” and “Live Forever,” which helped the collection become the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history. The band’s signature mix of Beatles reverence, punkish swagger and Liam’s snarling, no f’s given vocal delivery immediately rocketed the Manchester-bred band into the British rock pantheon during what turned out to be a too-short-lived ride due to the near-constant sniping between the brothers and a merry-go-round of rhythm sections and guitarists.
Their run began with a signing to legendary Creation Records in 1993 and included the release of 1995’s equally epic (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? — featuring hits “Some Might Say,” “Roll With It,” “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova” — and five more studio albums before an acrimonious split in 2009. Since then, the Gallaghers have made a sport of denigrating each other in the press and on social media, often blaming one another for a failure to re-launch.
It sounds like the band, who’ve been nominated as part of the 2024 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will not likely reach a détente this year. But Liam suggested that maybe a 2025 Morning Glory? get back could happen. “It’s down to the universe. It’ll happen when it happens, it’s not in our hands anymore,” Liam told MOJO. “Me, I love nostalgia though. I’m doing the lot.”
But in a recent interview, Liam said that he won’t be singing any Oasis or Stone Roses songs on his upcoming joint tour with Roses guitarist John Squire to support their self-titled duo album. “Nah, not doing any of that. It’s gonna be just this album and maybe a few covers that we might get round to doing, but it won’t be our other bands and that, ‘cause that’s naff,” he said. “No, them songs mean too much to me man for me to be howling over.”
At press time a spokesperson for Noel Gallagher had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on Liam’s interview.
