Brits abroad: The Caribbean night that started a feud between Phil Collins and Noel Gallagher
Britpop pioneers, bickering brothers, and brutal Tweeters, Oasis have garnered a truly singular reputation in music.
Their guitar-driven sound called back to the soft, melodic pop of the 1960s, bringing the influence of Beatles and the Kinks into the modern day with football chant-style choruses. But their public personalities were anything but soft, with both Liam and Noel Gallagher taking hits at one another just about as frequently as they bashed their peers.
Few artists have been able to escape the wrath of the Gallagher brothers. From alt-rockers Radiohead to fellow Britpoppers Blur, the driving Oasis duo have hit out at many of their peers and predecessors, and Phil Collins is no exception. In fact, it’s amazing that they didn’t turn their ire to him sooner.
After all, poor old Collins was even brandished “the ugliest man since George Orwell” by a press that is supposed to be impartial and above such petty insults, prompting Collins himself to ask, “What’s that got to do with the music? And, by the way, how ugly was George Orwell?” So, it’s little surprise that Oasis got in on the act.
The Genesis singer-turned-solo artist has had a rocky relationship with Noel Gallagher in particular, who has often shared his dislike for the prog-rocker. In fact, his hatred for the ‘Another Day in Paradise’ singer even prompted him to briefly become political.
Gallagher once implored people to vote for Labour so that Collins kept his distance. “I’ll be voting Labour because I think it’s morally right,” he told The Guardian in the mid-2000s, “Another reason to vote Labour is if the Conservatives get in, Phil Collins is threatening to come back and live here. And let’s face it, none of us want that.”
Between public jokes at Collins’ expense and implications that he was a Conservative, Collins began to dislike Gallagher and his brother just as much as they disliked him. Despite appreciating elements of their music, the band’s brash personalities completely turned him off, and a feud began to brew. Fortunately, the two artists existed in completely different realms, and their paths would never cross in person, right?
Unfortunately for Collins, he once ran into Gallagher in the most unexpected of places: Mustique Island. As Collins recalled in his autobiography, Not Dead Yet, the former Genesis singer was there with his wife, Orianne Cevey, and the pair developed a particular love for a small bar and its owners. On one night, Collins suggested recruiting some live musicians to play an impromptu gig at the bar, to which the owner eagerly responded, “I’ll get the musicians if you’ll play drums.”
Collins approved of the arrangement and prepared to play a set at the bar one night with two musicians who had arrived from another island nearby. But when they arrived at the bar for their show, Collins was met with an unwanted face, or two, in the audience. “Sitting in the corner of this tiny bar are Noel, his wife, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, and a Labour MP,” Collins recalled. Notably, when it came to the MP, he said, “I don’t know which one.”
The prog-rocker decided to break the ice and approached Gallagher, even suggesting that he got up on stage with the newly formed trio for a “knockabout”. His suggestion was quickly refuted by Gallagher, while the Oasis rock ‘n’ roll star’s wife made a crack at Collins’ recent attempts to venture into guitar music.
“I retire to the bar feeling not a little embarrassed,” Collins recalled, “Credit to Kate Moss, though. She comes over and apologises for the odd encounter.” But while that might have gotten Moss into his good books, Noel has always remained a touchy topic for the drumming singer.
In truth, that’s perhaps because things got even worse from there. Gallagher’s rejections of Collins didn’t stop there. When he and his band took to the stage in the bar, the group all removed themselves from the establishment. It’s an unbelievable coincidence that the prog-rocker and the Britpopper would meet in a tiny bar on an island. It’s also an incident that would leave most people red in the face, but Collins seems to have taken it on the chin and returned to the stage.
