Hear Me Out: Breaking up was the best thing that ever happened to Oasis
I’m sure anyone who forked out hundreds on Oasis reunion tickets tried to forget this when they clicked the payment button, but by the end of their original run, the Manchester duo had become a shadow of their former selves. Things had got really, really bad.
When a group hits legendary status, we allow them all manner of sins. In the history of truly great acts, there is always a low point that everyone turns a blind eye to. There is always something cringe, or poorly made, or weak. In their song ‘Bad Cover Version’, Pulp address this as they pick out “the Stones since the ’80s” as a prime example of a crap take on something that was once great, pointing a finger directly at Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ own rough period.
Oasis’ decline was a little different, though. Some would argue that the band did not so much have a bad period as an extraordinary beginning. Their first two albums were era-defining, setting a standard that was always going to be difficult to maintain. By the time Be Here Now arrived in 1997, the magic was no longer the same. While the record had its moments, none of its songs landed with the same impact as those on the previous two albums. In truth, most of Oasis’ defining hits were written within their first five years as a band.
But by the 2000s, as Britpop faded and their feud with Blur lost its relevance, the Gallagher brothers seemed to have lost some of their spark. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants failed to win over even the critics who had once championed Oasis as the future of rock music. After that, a pattern emerged. The albums always felt as though something was missing. They could still produce the occasional hit, such as ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ in 2002 or ‘The Importance of Being Idle’ in 2005, but they no longer felt untouchable. The sense that they were rock and roll’s defining force had faded.
Part of it was undoubtedly a sign of the times, as the music world moved on and tastes changed. But a large part of the problem also came down to the brothers themselves. The Gallaghers could never keep things together long enough to evolve or improve. By the turn of the millennium, the musical chemistry that had once made Oasis so exciting seemed to have disappeared. The only spark left between them was in their arguments.
That’s eventually what their split in 2009 would be chalked up to, as Noel’s statement read, “It is with some sadness and great relief… I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.” In actuality, that might have just been the best and smartest day in their history.
Legacy is a complicated thing. People can forgive the occasional bad album or rough patch, but that goodwill only stretches so far. If Oasis had carried on in the state they were in, with the quality continuing to decline and the relationship between the brothers growing ever more toxic, there is a real chance they could have seriously damaged their reputation.
Eventually, it would have all stopped being funny or interesting. No one would have cared about their spats if they kept on going and kept cancelling shows and releasing rubbish tunes because of it. If they kept on playing gigs, eventually the crowds would have shrunk. But instead, their smartest move was becoming a mystery as the looming question of ‘will they ever reunite’ kept their legend alive.
There were always the rumours. Plenty of people argued that the brothers actually made up years ago, with various random fans claiming to have seen them hanging out or drinking at the pub together. To them, many woudl argue, this was all just a money-making scheme in which the years they refused to perform directly correlated to the amount of money they’d get paid when they eventually did. But whether real or fake, their split and seeming complete disconnection made the idea of their comeback so mythical that people would pay whatever price tag necessary to make a fantasy a reality.
Need proof? Look at the madness when it eventually became real.
