The most “arrogant” rock star Noel Gallagher ever saw
Noel Gallagher really doesn’t need to be given an education on rockstar ego. He has played up his reputation as one of the greatest gifts to music for years now, but even he understands that while it can be a touch arrogant for anyone to talk themselves up like that, sometimes the people are blowing their own trumpet for a good reason.
And it’s not like Noel doesn’t have a good reason to shout the praises of Oasis every single time he plays. The band may have been either amazing or insufferable based on your personal taste for rock and roll excess back in the mid-1990s, but no one could deny that he wrote fantastic songs that were going to last for generations to come. The old guard of rock and roll may have been a bit wary of them, but ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ have etched themselves into history the same way that the icons from the 1970s have.
But Noel wasn’t looking to pilfer through his personal collection of classic records to get to the top of the charts. He wanted to go down in history like a Paul McCartney or a Steve Marriott half the time, but his heart was in the indie scene when he first started, and that involved him devouring anything that he heard from bands like The Jam. As much as Paul Weller is a legend in his own right, he was the perfect bridge between classic rock and indie rock for Noel, but something changed in his DNA when he heard The Smiths.
For a decade that was about nothing more than neon colours and some of the most peppy music imaginable, The Smiths brought everything back down to Earth in the 1980s across their four albums. Whether it was listening to the obscure B-sides from them or the deep album cuts, Morrissey’s voice shook with emotion every time one of Johnny Marr’s fantastic guitar riffs came in on their classics, and that was enough to work their music into the hearts of people like Noel.
If we’re talking about Morrissey, though, there comes a point where his offstage behaviour gets in the way of things. He can sing some of the most beautiful passages in the rock canon, but unfortunately, the man also speaks his mind, and looking at his stances on everything from veganism to politics, it’s no surprise that many people have had a problem with him being so demeaning over the years.
It was far from the best role model, but Noel felt that ‘The Moz’s talent evened the playing field, saying, “The Smiths had a swagger, even if it was a feminine swagger. They were quite cocky and confident. Fuckin’ hell, Morrissey is as arrogant as they come! Even to this day, he thinks we’re all beneath him.” But Noel can also credit Marr for helping him get his foot in the door in the industry.
Marr was always an avid fan of music, and after hearing the basic tracks of what an early version of Noel could sound like, he was one of the adoptive older brothers behind the scenes for ‘The Chief’. And while Morrissey may have become a tertiary figure in Noel’s life that he still met up with in passing as he got older, there’s a reason why he still covered songs like ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’.
Because for anyone who has ever felt heartache in their life, Morrissey’s voice encapsulates every one of those feelings within the space of a few notes. It may be hard to balance that with his lifestyle and the fact that so many people hate him, but looking at the great music he delivered in his prime, it’s a small price to pay.
