The 1990s classic Noel Gallagher called “the future of rock”
Every generation usually has that one work of art that turns the world on its axis. Even though the music scene may have been going in one specific direction for years, there are always those few bands that don’t sound like they’re from any one time or place who take up the mantle as the next leaders of music without realising it. While Noel Gallagher may happily claim to be one of those revolutionary artists when he was in Oasis, he credits one album that came before him to be a defining moment in rock history.
When looking at how Oasis rose to the top, things had started to bubble up for a while. After being sick of the slick sounds of pop music permeating the radio and the television, the Manchester scene would birth bold new bands that were making music rooted in reality, like The Stone Roses, focusing on the strength of the songs and the sonic landscape rather than trying to keep the listener’s attention.
While The Roses would eventually get swallowed up by their own legacy on their sophomore effort, Second Coming, Oasis would pick up where they left off, as Gallagher began writing snide takes on classic rock for his brother Liam to sing. The English rock scene may have been booming in the homeland, but something different was happening half a world away.
After being lambasted with one glitter rock outfit after the next in the back half of the 1980s, the start of the 1990s signalled a new guard in rock music once Nirvana hit it big. Instead of catering to the masses, Kurt Cobain made the masses come to him when ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was released, casting out any posers from MTV and bringing authenticity back to rock and roll.
Even though Gallagher was well into listening to various local groups and even massive rock acts like U2, he knew that there was something special when he heard Nirvana for the first time. Although he never got the chance to sit down and talk about music with Cobain, Gallagher admitted that the frontman said everything he needed to say with Nevermind.
At only 12 tracks, the album would become one of the blueprints for modern rock, featuring an in-your-face guitar sound and Cobain reaching deep into his throat to create feral pop hooks on ‘Lithium’ and ‘On a Plain’. As much as the project represented the present, Gallagher thought it was indicative of where music would be going.
When reminiscing on its power, Gallagher thought that he could still see rock’s future when he heard it, saying, “All the great albums like Nevermind the Bollocks and The La’s and Nevermind, they always get greater with time. They start off being ‘Album of the Year’, and then they just never date. And if you listen to Nevermind, it still sounds like the future of rock.”
While fans wouldn’t be able to enjoy Cobain’s songwriting for long after his passing in 1994, Gallagher picked up where he left off, writing the Oasis classic ‘Live Forever’ in response to hearing the Nirvana track ‘I Hate Myself and Want To Die’. Oasis may have led a new musical revolution in England, but he always had a massive respect for what grunge’s spokesman brought to the world.
