Noel Gallagher

Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born May 29, 1967 in Longsight, Manchester) is the lead songwriter and guitarist with the British rock band Oasis. He is the older brother of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and the two are often pigeon-holed as squabbling siblings.

Brotherly love

The Gallagher brothers famously share a turbulent relationship. Their arguments have achieved a status as something of Rock Legend. One of their arguments was even released on a bootleg single entitled Wibbling Rivalry. The arguments seem to pit Noel's calm, complacent wit, logic and canniness against Liam's arrogance, tendency to fly off the handle, penchant for psychedelic non sequiturs (he once ended an on-stage argument by appealing to the crowd for biscuits) and his vocal dedication to any stand-point, no matter how incorrect or easy to dispel it is. Although Noel often ends up making Liam appear quite stupid in these exchanges, Liam's tendency to shout and swear his brother down appears an equally effective tactic. There are only a handful of known incidents where the two have actually come to blows. During their first American tour in 1994, Liam took to changing the words of the songs so that they were offensive to both Americans and Noel. A confrontation after the show led to a chair being thrown and Noel leaving the tour and heading for Las Vegas, claiming he had "visions of Fear and Loathing flashing in eyes". He was eventually tracked down and returned to the tour before he could live out his dream of disappearing and buying a bar on a beach somewhere. Whilst on tour in Barcelona in 2000, Oasis were forced to cancel a gig when Alan White's arm seized up, the band spent the night drinking instead. Liam made a derogatory comment about Noel's then wife Meg Mathews and Noel punched him, knocking him down. Following this, Noel declared he was quitting touring overseas altogether, and Oasis were forced to finish the tour without him. He has since repented on his promise to quit touring overseas. In a 2004 interview, Noel mockingly described Liam as a great singer, but, in terms of the band "He is Abbott to my Costello, he is Cannon to my Ball, he is Little to my Large". However, all jokes and teasing aside, Noel maintains that they are now good friends, and rarely fall out.

Related Topics:
Bootleg - Wibbling Rivalry - Biscuit - 1994 - Las Vegas - Fear and Loathing - Barcelona - 2000 - Alan White's - 2004 - Abbott - Costello - Cannon - Ball - Little - Large

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Wibbling Rivalry (Q Interview - April 7, 1994)

An excerpt of the argument released on the Wibbling Rivalry single:

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Noel: Do you know John Lennon?

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Liam: Do you know him?

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Noel: I don't, but do you?

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Liam: Yeah.

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Noel: Well, you must be pretty old. How old are you? 21?

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Liam: No. About fuckin' thousand and five fuckin' one.

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Noel: You're 22.

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Liam: No, I'm 21.

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Noel: Right. And remember, I watched you being born...

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Liam: Right.

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Noel: ...and I don't even know John Lennon.

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Liam: Right.

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Noel: Right, then, so shut the fuck up about knowing John Lennon.

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Noel Outsmarts Liam Again - December 1998

Noel: (Oasis) is not my band.

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Liam: Whose band is it?

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Noel: Your band.

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Liam: Did you hear that?! It's my band!

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Are you recording this Mr Journalist?

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It's My Band!

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Noel: It's your band.

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Liam: Hang on a minute... It's not my band

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now that we're sh*t and no-one likes us!

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Noel: It's your band.

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Liam: It was my band when we were popular!

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You sneaky bastard!

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Steve Lamacq Show - November 1997

Noel: .

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Liam: Evan is very cool he used to live in Burnage yer know?

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Noel: I will admit it. Hes pretty kool

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Liam: Yeah.

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Noel: So is bradley

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Lamacq: Huh?

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Liam: Yeah.

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(Liam storms out)

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