The best song of the 1990s, according to Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher’s pen soundtracked the airwaves throughout the 1990s, a decade now intrinsically tied to Oasis. It was a hopeful, optimistic time when the world seemed on a positive path, making Oasis’ bright, soaring songbook the perfect soundtrack.
Gallagher’s life changed more than most during the 1990s, rising from the bottom to the top of the music industry. At the start of the decade, he was a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, touring the world from the sidelines. Just a few years later, he was selling out Maine Road and Knebworth—no longer watching from the wings, but commanding the stage.
Their journey is the stuff of dreams for bands, as they climbed from toilet venues in forgotten towns to headline Glastonbury in only two years. Now, they are set to write another chapter to their story on their upcoming reunion tour, which saw more than nine million people scramble to secure tickets for the UK leg.
While Oasis became the band of their generation, Gallagher believes that moniker could have gone to The La’s. Led by the elusive singer Lee Mavers, the Liverpudlian group only released one eponymous album in 1990 before the frontman left the music industry behind. The La’s have reunited occasionally, most recently in 2011, on several occasions, but have never released further new material, much to Gallagher’s disappointment.
If Mavers had the same level of prolific output as Gallagher, there’s every chance that The La’s would have been the band to define the decade rather than Oasis. Gallagher even once went as far as saying, “Oasis want to finish what The La’s started”.
The former Oasis man is forever indebted to their influence. He is under no illusion that the decade’s cultural fabric may have looked staggeringly different if Mavers had decided to stay in the public eye. While he adores the entirety of their self-titled record, ‘There She Goes’ is his favourite from the band and the song he considers the greatest of the entire decade.
Gallagher made the revelation about ‘There She Goes’ when Absolute Radio asked him to name his favourite track of every decade from the ’60s until now. Explaining his decision, Gallagher said: “He (Lee Mavers) only made one album, but if you’re only going to make one album in your life, make that album. He’s an amazing songwriter, lazy bollocks, but we’ll put that to one side,” he half-joked.
“The La’s are one of my favourite bands and still are,” he added.
Noel’s positive view of The La’s is shared by his brother Liam, who once said of their vital influence on Oasis: “The La’s were as important to me as The Stones Roses, without a doubt,” he said. “Those two to me are like The Beatles and The Stones of my generation. Just as a frontman for me, and his look, Lee Mavers is up there with Ian Brown”.
The enigmatic frontman added: “Amazing songwriter, but he was a proper, proper frontman as well. He’s got a Marley thing, I think. I met him a few times, he’s always a bit spikey and that, but I’m still intrigued by him, which is the most beautiful thing”.
If The La’s had carried on, they might have blocked Oasis’ rise—or faded after one album. There are no guarantees in music. But the mystery surrounding their frontman, and the question of what could have been, makes them one of British music’s most intriguing stories. This summer, their bassist John Power will support the Gallaghers across all UK dates with Cast—a fitting nod from Oasis to the band that helped inspire their world domination.
