Episode 44: Oasis part 1

Jay dives into the story of Oasis, starting with the mother of Liam and Noel Gallagher, who was born into poverty, in Ireland. After moving to England, the boys were born in Manchester. Growing up with a loving mother but with an abusive father, the boys discovered music as an escape. As they got older, Noel became a roadie for The Inspiral Carpets and Liam started a Beatles influenced band called Rain. Listen and find out how the brothers come together to form one of the best rock bands ever. 

Contact the show: jaysrockandrollstories@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome. Hello, rock and roll. Welcome back to Jay's Rock and Roll Stories. I'm your host, Jay. We're talking about Oasis, man. Oasis, getting back together, the boys, the brothers. Wow. You're gonna go? I'm not gonna go. It's like a thousand freaking dollars or more to go. Anyway, so um, yeah, just pick up this book on Oasis. Uh Oasis called Getting High by the author is um Paolo Hewitt. Paolo Hewitt, if you don't know who that is, he was the uh he wrote a lot of books. He he did the liner notes for the band The Style Council, Paul Paul Weller. Um he I read a book by him. He read um he wrote a book about Steve Marriott, uh lead singer, Small Faces Humble Pie. That was a great freaking book. So I just I just started this book and I'm just uh think about Oasis. And um their mom, the the the boys, the brothers, Neil and Liam, their mother was like just fucking from poverty, man. Like she lived in Ireland, and um it was like fucking pray and starve. That's what you do. You you you go to church and you go home, and there's nothing, you know, in a house full of like 10 kids or something like that. She would go to school. It's nice. She seems like a nice lady, nice, nice kid. She really likes to read. She found like an escape at went reading and then walking back home, her fucking stomach's cramping because he's so freaking hungry. Poor kid, you know. We got old, she got older and would uh she would um you know go to England for work so she would stay with some family in England. Um I'm just rambling here. Um, just listen to that song, She's Electric. Fantastic fucking song. And uh if you if you've never heard that song by Ways of She's Electric, listen to it. It's nice because uh they're through the the chorus has some major seventh chords in there, and the song ends on a very Beatles-esque like little little ditty. You you gotta hear it. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, that album is great. It also has the Champagne Supernova uh song on the album. This podcast stuff. Um when I was a kid growing up, I was really into that whole uh the Brit Pop uh you choose a battle side, either Blur or Oasis. And I and I was Blur was my band. I was really I was like, no, I uh Oasis was was was so arrogant and they're assholes, and I I just found Blur to be much more artistically uh expressive. They have so they but that's the thing, is um Blur had had songs that were just really all over the place, and and Oasis more of harnessed a more of like let's fucking like do coke and play rock and roll music. You know what I mean? So it was kind of like for the pedestrian uh random everyday person, you're gonna go with Oasis because you you you hear it on the radio, and like, oh, this sounds like rock and roll. You hear a random song by Blur, and you're like, oh wow, these guys are very British, you know. So I think that's why uh you could say uh who won Oasis or Blur with uh with uh the the king of the Brit Pop. I would say Oasis won. Why? There's a documentary about that too, and it talks about how even Blur suggests that like, yeah, they had they had more of a harness on like their audience. Like they knew what they were doing. They it was more uh I guess you can say harnessed or or like uh perfected, where just this is the sound. Uh I guess that's why I liked Blur more because it was just um they really covered all kinds of grounds. Any any kind of genre they did, you know. But Oasis was more of uh just rock and roll. And when I was a I was a teenager when all this was the Brit Pops thing was camping, and I really didn't appreciate these guys saying we're better than the Beatles. And and listening to listen, I was just listening to Oasis Now, and um I get it. I get I get why. Imagine okay, your head's full of fucking cocaine and you're drunk and you're in the studio putting together the champagne supernova or or you know, she's electric or roll with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're better than the Beatles. I get it. I get what the fuck they're talking about. Um I guess the tour is gonna be 2025 all over the world. Uh the prices are outrageous. I don't know. Wouldn't that be cool to go? I I'll watch it from home, right? No, I'm not gonna go to that, but I don't even know if they're coming over here. Anyway, a little a a little intro to Oasis. So what's their story? Well the book the book starts the book starts off a lot about um uh Noel's uh early life. So Peggy, that's their mom. Um the father uh shit, forgot his stupid name. Uh Peggy is the mom, Noel is uh the second son, and the first son is Paul. So Noel, um he's like uh for some reason he's like picked on the most by the dad. The dad is the father is such an asshole. I don't even fucking remember his name. Who cares? He's a dick. So there's a story in the book where uh Noel is sitting with his dad, he's like six, and um so the father is like smoking on a like a cigarette with uh with a filterless cigarette, right? And I don't know if you've ever smoked before, but with a filterless cigarette, you get little pieces of tobacco in your mouth, you know, and you gotta kind of spit it out. So he's like spitting, like having a having a taking a little drag, spitting out tobacco. And Noel goes like, Dad, why are you keep why are you doing that? And he's like, Well, that's tobacco I gotta spit out. He's like, Well, then why don't you just smoke the filter tobaccos and you won't have to spit out tobacco? And the and then his dad's like, Oh, so you know a lot about smoking, huh? Oh, you're smoking? Oh, hey, the boy's smoking! You know? The mom's like, no, he's not smoking. What the hell are you talking about? He's six years old. Look at his fingers. His fingers are f- Well, he's probably wearing gloves. He wears gloves when he smokes cigarettes. And then he gets up and storms out. And then Noel just stands up and looks at his mom and goes up the stairs to his room, like great, another night with dad. That was fun. So that's he's kind of an asshole, and uh that that never ends. Uh, there's there is one time when um there is one time when uh the father well he buys a guitar, he doesn't buy it for Noel, but he buys a guitar and he can't fucking do anything with it, and then so Noel takes a guitar. Anyway, so we'll get to that. So um Noel is uh he he goes to school and he's kind of like he kind of has uh friends who are like thieves, they they they really enjoy sniffing glue. They get high, like this is like from age, you know, you know, pre-pubescent, like uh early teenage years. They they get high from sniffing glue. They do uh they break into people's houses and steal shit, but like the the glue is like he was talking about how the glue is great. He's like, it's like feels good, you laugh, you have a you have a good time. He got a couple run-ins, he get he gets uh arrested a couple times. He gets sent to like a juvie little place. Um one time he uh he and his buddies uh stole a fucking milk truck. Like the milkman is doing the rounds, and then their their plan was the milkman is gonna get out of his truck on a Monday, buy a newspaper, go into this public bathroom, have a shit, look at this newspaper. We're gonna go in there, get his money, and blah blah blah. But anyway, they get so high on the fucking glue that they they just fuck it up and they're just like, let's just steal the truck, and then you know they're driving the truck, and then the glue wears off, and they're like, Oh, we just stole a fucking truck with mill. What the fuck do we do? So they try to escape, but they're too fucking high, and they can't run away, and the uh cops grab them. And there's another another funny story when um Noel was in um middle school, and because his name is Noel Gallagher, and there was uh another kid named David Gallagher, and I guess their papers got mixed up. And Noel Gallagher, he would be, I mean, I'm not gonna say the dummies, but I'm gonna say in like the you know the regular, the rascals, right? The class with the rascals, right? And then this David David Gallagher kid was in like the you know, the small kids with the and Noel talks about how they they had glasses and briefcases, and so they you know they they got in the wrong classes. So Noel was going to class with these with these these Smarty Pants kids with you know, hello teacher, and hi with the hands raised up and with the glasses in the briefcases, and he said, Who the fuck are these kids? And then this David Gallagher kid is going with the class with the rascals, right, and getting his ass kicked. So, and then this David Gallagher's parents were coming and complaining for like, well, how come he's always getting beaten up? And they didn't figure it out for a whole year. So for a whole freaking year that they were swapped, like, no, has no idea what the fuck the class is talking about. I thought that was kind of funny. That that's like those movies, you know, it's like that's like a stupid comedy movie for like the 90s or something. I like that. Anyway, um Noel Gallagher, as I said, his father buys a guitar, uh, can't play it. He didn't buy it for Noel, he just bought it because, you know, can't do shit with it. Um and Noel took it. So he starts he starts strumming on the guitar. The father's an asshole. The father uh beats up the mom, beats the shit out of Noel. Uh the mom gets a job, the mom gets get a job at like a like a cookie factory or some shit like that, and you know, she's busting her ass, and and uh, you know, she the the father's you know borrowing money from the mom and and she has to leave the kids at home. Like, I got because she goes to work at like four in the morning and is done at like at nine and then comes back and the kids go to school. So she's calling, calling the house on breaks, like, are you guys okay? Yeah, just watching TV. Okay, fucking Jesus Christ. And she'll like tell tell the the the father, like, hey, listen, I gotta go to work at four. Can you just be there? Like, can you be there? Because he's always going out and like sleeping with other ladies and stuff. Anyway, so uh fast forward, so um Noel gets like what a lot of the book is just talking about Noel, it jumps around. It's an interesting book. It's the uh Paolo Hewitt book, and it this would make a good uh like a like a bio on on uh Oasis if this if this were a film because it jumps from you know Noel as a kid with his ma his poor mom and his dad as an asshole, then it'll jump around to Oasis been 1996 when you know he's writing all the songs and his his brother Liam is just like fucking around. I mean right now in in the book it's just kind it's Liam Liam just that doesn't really I don't know he he's like he has a lot of swagger, you know, he has a lot of he has a lot of clout and he's got a lot of persona, he has a lot of uh you know stage presence, you know. He he'll he'll stare at the audience like what do you got? Come on, let's do it. So it's like energy. Um Noel Gallagher, this is uh around high school years where he gets into music, he likes punk rock, he gets into like um the skinhead look. Well, when we say skinhead, and that's that that's a tricky word because in the United States, when you say skinhead, it means like like Nazi, like shaved head, like beat up, you know, gay people and and and immigrants. Well, the original word skinhead is just like working class kids in England who really like Jamaican music and dance was danced to ska and like you know came from working-class families, had nothing to do with racism. So you gotta you gotta put that in perspective. So Noel's into that scene. Um, his brother Paul, uh, he's core kind of more into a mod scene. Um the book talks about how Noel Gallagher uh he started playing what's called Gaelic football. Like football isn't soccer, American, right? Gaelic football, it's like a mixture of rugby and soccer, and there was a location in Manchester. This is all happening in Manchester, England, where um it was like no holds barred, man. It was just like just knocking the shit out of everyone, just having a good time, and it was kind of cool. And um he meets some buddies who are like these hippies who just kind of hang out on the hill and smoke pa and play guitar, and he brings his guitar, like I play guitar, I play guitar too, and so he meets a buddy named Flo who teaches him how to play guitar. Um, it also talks about when he was a kid, um, Noel Gallagher would go back to to Ireland uh in the countryside and visit his mom's family, and this is where he really found that that uh geez, that spiritual sound of music, you know, because he would be he'd live on a farm and there's no there there's no running water. There's there's a there's a well, you gotta go outside and take a shit in the you know the the bathroom like in the the cement thing, and then you know that you they would take him to the pub and he'd play music with like locals with traditional Irish music and he talks about how you know the family would sit around and just like talk shit to each other, like, hey, remember that one time you fell out of the tree, that was so fucking you know, just like talking crap, and it just kind of opened him up as a person, uh, versus when his father would just shut him down, you know what I mean? It's like the abuse of his father, and the whole time when you know the dad would be home watching TV and the father, you know, Noel's asking him questions, and you know, just trying to communicate, and okay, fine, the kids want kid wants to watch cartoons, fuck that. Let me watch my TV. So the the father doesn't communicate at all. Um so going back to finding music, this this uh solidified foundation in in Ireland is where he got like this, you know, this roots of music. Finding um, you know, punk rock, uh ska, uh skinhead music, as I said before, don't forget. Um so it it jumps around in Oasis. I always thought it was interesting that uh they would end their shows. They wouldn't do encores, they would end their shows with I am the walrus. I always thought that was interesting. So um there's a there's a point in in uh the book like like this this episode is gonna jump around because the book jumps around. I'm just gonna go with the flow, okay? There's this point in the book when the mom talks about how um not the mom talks about, but when she was in Ireland, when she was like suffering, she had this like vision, maybe like she she had this had this idea. She could see the she could see a light, she could see a harmony, she could see something beautiful, spiritual about having kids and how and that they are bringing music. So let's fast forward a little bit to the late 80s. Umel Gallagher uh is playing guitar, he's getting better at it, he's obsessed with the Beatles, he's obsessed with the Rolling Stones, and he starts writing tunes, he starts writing his own songs, and he um has a friend and they record together, but they usually get too stoned to to you know really record quality stuff. And he gets a job as a roadie for the band The Inspiral Carpets in in uh in Manchester. So we gotta look at the music scene in the late 80s in in London and Manchester was fascinating because you have this mixture of like uh early hip-hop, you have um like that house music, like electronic house music, and you also have these other bands that um came from the inspiration of uh let's say the Smiths or or the Jam. You have like the Stone Roses, you have the Inspiral Carpets, you have Happy Mondays who are who are playing this sort of psychedelic music. And it's interesting because that's this is the late 80s. At the same time, you know, a few years before in LA, they had the um the Paisley Underground movement with, for example, uh like Rain Parade, um uh what was the other one? I think when like the Bengals when they first began. So there's like this uh this going back to like this early jangly uh psychedelic sound. It's very similar. I I was listening to I've never really I've never heard of the I mean I've heard of the Inspiral Carpets on on you know on paper and reading and shit, but I never listened to it. It's really good, good band. So he was doing roadie work for the band, and he had this buddy that um was a good drummer, and they would uh before either either before or after when the band does the show, they they would jam. They he uh Noel play guitar, the guy would play drums. So he's getting his chops up. And um at the same time, so this is um getting closer to like '91. I didn't know this. Oasis already exists with uh Liam Gallagher uh on vocals and his and a couple other buddies, and but that that's Liam's band, and Noel says, Hey, can I be in your band? And that and that's that's where the band, that's where the band started. But I want to stick around a little bit for uh the late 80s, right, right before it started, right? And uh I want to talk about the drug scene for a second. So it's it's ecstasy that everyone's doing. So if you don't if you're not familiar with ecstasy, it's usually pill or powder form, and it just uh just r releases all of that dopamine so fast that it just kind of like um it makes it let's say it's it it makes a shy guy really want to dance. Oh, I feel great, you know. So it's it's it's pretty pure at the time, and um it's it's nothing but like good party drug. It's not adult uh adulterated or anything, it's it's pure. And so Noel Noel gives it a shot. He goes down to the clubs, the hacienda, and there's a couple other clubs where it's gonna be and there's there's places that are playing rock and roll, like um YouTube, they're also playing hip-hop, they're also playing uh you know um house music, but it just just people just having a great time, and you you just feel a s a sense of well-being towards yourself and other people. So you're like, oh man, you're my best friend, oh you're my best friend. So no gives it a shot. When it comes to Liam, he's like, fuck that. I'm not gonna go anywhere with someone saying you're my fucking best friend. No, forget it. I thought that was kind of funny. Nope, I'm not doing it. And if if and if I really if I really think about his uh reaction about that, um the book was talking about how when his mother Peggy was um always getting abused by uh Thomas, the father, and Liam was the little one. So, and she was he was always with Peggy, hand in hand. So he saw all the fucking beatings. He saw when his own father beat the crap out of his mom. He saw when his own father beating the crap out of his own brother. So this guy, yeah, that's uh rattle rattled his head a little bit, I'm sure. Um I just want to go back and talk about the that the band that uh Noel was the roadie for, the Inspiral Carpets. Really, really good band. And I'm always excited when I find a band that I I enjoy, and now I have like an entire discography to go through. Because I've just I've I've just been listening to like a playlist on Spotify or whatever, but now I get to go through the entire thing. You know, great, fantastic music. Put that on. We haven't even got to The music of Oasis yet. I'm just saying bam right there 1989. Give it a shot in spiral carpets. I think it's fucking good stuff. Anyway, so 1991 Oasis. There's the beginning of the Gallagher Brothers. Alright? What about the other guys in the band? Okay. So um there's there's this one guy named Paul McGuigan. I hope I'm pronouncing that correct. Paul McGuigan, aka uh Gigsy. Paul McGeigan, Gigsy, right? Uh Gigsy, okay, all everyone is in Manchester, right? We're all in Manchester, right? Um Gigsy was really dedicated to becoming a footballer, and he was really good. And he was trying out for all these fucking teams, and he was like, dude, he was gonna be a badass. And he gets fucked. He gets like uh the you know, one of those like injuries when in any fucking sport where the ball goes this way and you go that way, and it's like up and bam and smash on your back. He's done. So um he makes friends with a guy uh called uh Paul Arthur. Uh Paul Arthur, aka Bonehead, and uh they get together and Bonehead, we're that that's his name. He's the guy in the pictures, he is he's fucking bald, right? He plays guitar, he plays rhythm guitar, he he's a funny guy. Everyone thinks he's a funny guy, and he's uh he's deciding to help um Gigsy uh learn how to play bass. Um Bonehead um with a with another friend, they go on this um biking trip to Europe. This is 1990, and um he quits his job, he's like telling his boss to fuck off, and the boss says, What the f- What are you the f what are you gonna do? I'm gonna fucking tour Europe. Oh, really? Yeah, fuck you. And as he's leaving, as he's leaving with his buddy to go to Europe, tour Europe, um, he runs into Noel Gallagher. Noel Gallagher is has like a guitar case in his hand because he's dedicated to rock and roll, right? And this is all this is all local. That's the cool thing about this band. It's all local, it's on the it's all in the fucking neighborhood, you know? That's why it's pretty pure. It's it's it's pure, it it's it's it's to the heart. Um anyway, Noel's like, what the fuck you doing? Like, it's like those relationships where it's just like the same motherfucker you see every day in the neighborhood, you don't know really know his name, but you know his stupid face. Hey buddy, what's going on? You know, you know, you see the game, like that kind of thing. So uh he's like, Where are you guys fucking going? He's like, Oh, we're gonna go fucking uh ride bikes around Europe. What the fuck? You're crazy. So anyway, uh they go tour Europe, um Bonehead and his buddy, and they come back and um Bonehead buys when he comes back he buys his little van. It's a really fucked up van, dude. It's like you need a screwdriver, it's like one of those cars where you know it costs like 800 bucks to buy, you need a screwdriver to start it, you know. There's a shirt like a secret way to open the door, only you know how. Like a junker like that. He buys his van and um he's teaching Gigsy how to play bass. Gigsy paints it up. Gigsy paints the van all psychedelic style and shit. And um the the reason why he wants a van is that he he's gonna do like plastering, he's gonna do construction, that's like a business he's gonna do. But they get in that van, him and Gigsi and some other friends, and they go see um Stone Roses. So this is that's the music of the time, right? Late 80s, early 90s. But anyway, so um they start a band, like so uh Gigsy learning to play bass, and Bonehead's playing guitar, they got a buddy drummer, and Liam Gallagher, neighborhood kid, is gonna do vocals, and the band's called Rain, right? Uh eventually Noel Gallagher joins the band. Liam Liam Gallagher changes the name of the band to Oasis. And they get uh a practice space at a hotel, like from like, you know, like from friends and shit, and they and they get get kicked out because um constant like too much weed smoking. In the book, there they always say spliff, too much spliff smoking. But in the United States, a spliff a spliff is when you take the a cigar and you kick out all the tobacco and you use like the you know the you know the wall and put the weed in. But I guess like in you you English buddies, you guys split is just joints, right? Anyway, too much spliff smoking. And so um to get another place to practice. Anyway, this this is Oasis. This is 1990, 1991. That's the band right there. Spliff smoking motherfuckers who I believed that they uh named the band Rain because of that Beatles song Rain. That was the um the B side of uh paperback rider. Beautiful song. We're gonna stop right here. Um that's it. That's that's the birth, that's the beginning of Oasis. Uh this is exciting! Oasis 2025, they're touring. Not gonna be there, you know? It's gonna be like thousands of dollars to do it. But it's still cool. All that drama, the brother drama. I always love brother bands, you know. I love Oasis, the Meat Puppets. Not a big Van Halen fan, but still I appreciate them. Anyway, if you like this episode, if you like this uh podcast, give me five stars, give me a comment. You can write me, you can text me or email me at uh Jays Rock and Roll Stories at uh Proton dot ME. We're gonna come back and do uh Oasis Part two. Part due. Will you be electric too? See you later, baby.