Liam Gallagher’s issues with the legacies of Chuck Berry and Little Richard
Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there are still people who really do believe that white men don’t have a much easier ride in rock ‘n’ roll music than anyone else. That despite nearly the entire industry being made up of people exactly like them, that white men don’t have a support network that allows them to put much less effort into their work than anyone else and get far more credit for it.
If you’re one of these people, then there’s absolutely nothing I can do to change your mind, but I’d still say look no further than Liam Gallagher.
The Oasis frontman has been utterly unremarkable for the past 30 years and still has this chokehold over English pop culture that not even the people who like him can explain. It’s all “aura”, as the kids would say. Personally, I think it’s three things. First, that once upon a time he had a great voice before he lost it by never, ever taking care of it. Second, that he was very, very hot when Oasis broke through. Third, and most importantly, he makes a whole generation of English men remember a time when they felt young and carefree.
Thus, the man can basically do anything he wants and make a career out of it. At least, nearly anything. As Beady Eye showed, even he can’t have a career in music without his brother’s songwriting. This would all be a lot easier to stand if he had the decency not to say stupid things about the divinity he’s convinced he’s achieved, but he’s a Gallagher. Running your mouth about stupid shit very much runs in the family.
While Noel at the very least has some wit to him, Liam has the turn of phrase of someone who was hit on the head with a hammer at a very formative age. Possibly because he was hit on the head with a hammer at a very formative age. I cannot imagine any other reason that you’d start talking trash about the kind of legends he started slagging off in an interview with Rock Cellar in 2017, when he was still a solo artist.
Which legends did Liam Gallagher slag off?
Now, the Gallaghers slagging off other musicians is nothing new. They had to do something to keep them relevant when the best songs they could put out were, like, ‘Lyla’. For most part though, they were at least slagging off greenhorns like Keane and Starsailor, bands that were learning all the wrong lessons from Oasis and Radiohead. That’s fair enough, they were only doing what all of us were doing at the time and in Noel’s case, doing it well. Then you get this crock of utter shite.
When talking about the live shows he performed as a solo act, Liam Gallagher said, “I remember years ago reading interviews with Chuck Berry and Little Richard and shit like that, saying, ‘Listen man, if you’re not sweating on that stage and giving it all, they’re gonna fucking boo you.’ So all these geezers weren’t doing it and had to pour water over their heads to make it look like they were sweating. But that ain’t me. I’m sweating up there and I’m giving it as much as I fucking can, know what I mean?”
I legitimately didn’t think I could be shocked at the gall of a Gallagher brother but, more fool me I guess. It’s one thing to call Tom Chaplin a Tory, but to say that Chuck fucking Berry and Little fucking Richard don’t have shit on you? As a live act no less?! To specifically say that two of the most infamously intense and entertaining live acts in rock don’t put in the same kind of effort as some halfwit in a kagoule with a funny walk? Who’s famous for quite literally standing stock still on stage and occasionally waving a tambourine when he really wants to spice things up?
But I know I’m being part of the problem here. There are two things that make people care about the Gallagher brothers: Oasis songs and talking shit. Liam’s solo career didn’t take off until he added the former to his solo act and he basically saved himself from alimony assisted bankruptcy with the latter when his career was really in the toilet. I’m just buying into the cult of Liam Gallagher. Whatever you say about them, they win. A fact of life with most white men in this world.
