The Manchester band Noel Gallagher called “the most unique”
Noel Gallagher‘s songwriting has soundtracked his home city for 30 years, as was proven when Oasis were welcomed back like kings when they returned to Heaton Park after 16 years away in 2025.
However, Oasis are just one of many acts that have been birthed from Manchester and its surrounding areas that have made it a musical mecca, with a lineage that punches well above its weight in comparison to its size.
Before Oasis, there was The Stone Roses, who had a particular impact on Liam Gallagher and made him believe that being the frontman for a rock ‘n’ roll band was his calling. For Liam’s older brother, Noel, it’s The Smiths that he considers to exist in a league of their own, and believes are not just the “most unique” band to have come out of Manchester, but England as a whole.
Noel has a close relationship with The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, which dates back to when Oasis were just another aspiring band in Manchester.
Marr was in attendance for one of their early shows, and while he was impressed with the songs, he was frustrated that Noel was occupied with tuning his guitar for half of the gig. As Gallagher didn’t have the funds to buy a replacement, he cheekily asked Marr to let him use one from his collection, and to his surprise, The Smiths guitarist lent him a 1960s Gibson Les Paul, which Noel used to write ‘Live Forever’.
While that guitar met its demise shortly after, the friendship between Marr and Gallagher is still burning bright today, just like Noel’s everlasting love of The Smiths.
Growing up, his introduction to The Smiths was a pivotal moment, opening up his ears to a distinctly new brand of guitar music that felt completely fresh and also contained elements that he could implement into his own artistry.
During an appearance on Netflix’s Once In A Lifetime Sessions, Gallagher confessed of his primary influences: “All the music I listened to … the Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Smiths, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order. It was all kind of very big guitar music and I am a sum of my influences. I didn’t invent anything. I was just a lad who listened to music a lot and then eventually ended up being a songwriter.”
On The Smiths specifically, he added: “I never invented anything like The Smiths, who were the most unique band ever to come out of England. So I had an idea of what it should be like, but then when the songs came it was just unbelievable.”
Before the sad death of Andy Rourke in 2023, which eliminated the slim hope that The Smiths would one day even reunite, Gallagher even offered up his services as a second guitarist. He told Apple Music in 2019: “I would love, and it’s never gonna happen, it’s a thing in a parallel universe, if The Smiths got back together. I’m Craig Gannon and I’d go to Johnny [Marr] and say don’t get another guitarist mate – I’m your man.”
The fact that Gallagher would have been willing to drop all of his plans to share a stage with The Smiths on a nightly basis says everything about his love affair with the band. It’s hard to imagine there’s a single other act in history that he’d be willing to do this for, but The Smiths are a different proposition altogether.
Similarly to other Manchester bands such as The Stone Roses and Joy Division, The Smiths reinvented the wheel by being authentically themselves. They didn’t follow what other groups were doing and focused on their own sound. The blend of Marr’s jangly guitar, influenced by a broad mix ranging from the Stooges to Nile Rodgers, and Morrissey’s unique delivery, they stumbled on a sound that separated them from the rest of the pack. While many have tried to replicate them over the last 40 years, their originality can’t be duplicated.
