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how fucking cool is gem archer? and how much does he look like elliott smith … weird, no?

i always thought this was one of those tracks that needed liam … on the record, his voice during the chorus is pure tube mic molestation of the warmest kind. dirty. but, shit … what a lovely song. put some years on it, listen to it filtered through the guy who wrote it … beautiful. one of those moments that makes getting older seem like high art …

i missed the oasis thing when it happened stateside. i don’t know … it was the mid-90s. i was indie rock. no tv. out of it in many ways. i remember talking with this guy ned who was in the little music scene that was going on at the time in sf one night. we were standing on 16th street in front of maya taqueria waiting for the bus. somebody brought up oasis, and ned said something like, ‘oh my god, will somebody please kill that band!’ that was basically all i knew about oasis during their heyday. ned hated them. sorted.

about six years later, i’m in new zealand. i own a diahatsu three cylinder car. the stereo system consists of a cd player and two one and a half inch battery powered speakers tossed up on the dash. somewhere on the south island, somebody had a copy of ‘(what’s the story) morning glory?’ that i burned. the next day, i remember coming out on the other side of this massive two-lane tunnel and seeing a sea of epic waterfalls and snow capped mountains while listening to cast no shadow and thinking, ‘this is the greatest music i have ever heard. period.’ i found a copy of ‘the masterplan’ somewhere else and – along with the copy of ‘revolver’ i brought with me – listened to a steady rotation of oasisbeatlesoasisoasisbeatlesoasisoasis for the next six weeks.

when i got home, i went to amoeba and bought everything i could find with the word ‘oasis’ on it. singles, videos, albums, you name it. i drove my roomate nuts with the oasis. it was weird … nobody else got it. we all shared musical tastes back then but for some reason, this oasis thing i was on was my own trip. it was a minor obsession. and it went beyond the music itself. they just embodied cool to me. like when you’re a kid and you first feel what rock and roll feels like and you just want to eat it up. the clothes, the attitude, the language … fucking mega, mate. it was another shot at 16. falling in love again … shit like that.

but above all, the gallaghers were brilliantly hysterical. down to earth billionaire rock stars with a working class aesthetic. the mancunian schtick is all about taking the piss and not taking yourself seriously, but delivering it all as serious as a heart attack. americans failed to get this. oasis offended contemporary american sensibilities … primarily because they were honest. and they didn’t flinch. or apologize. and i loved that.

i only saw them once, in 2001 in nyc with the black crowes. radio city music hall. epic. they were a wall of sound, and nearing the height of their live prowess with gem and andy and andy. they barely moved. as a lifelong fan of the black crowes, oasis – the opening act – blew them off the stage that night. no questions asked. wasn’t even a fair fight.

noel will linger, hopefully. and as that clip above can attest to, the guy probably needs to cut the big cumbersome lumbering beast loose and stretch out a bit. and i’m into it … small stateside club gigs. more experimental songwriting. sorted. let’s get intimate, noel. you’re easy to love.

but somewhere in my heart of hearts, i just kinda want to know that somewhere liam gallagher – lead singer from oasis – is in jail after beating the shit out of a bouncer outside of an awards show where he was thrown out for repeatedly calling robbie williams ‘queer’ from the stage. childish, destructive, unnecessary, but … i don’t know.

it feels right.

that was now. this is then.

Tags:   oasis2 Comments