The Oasis songs that inspired Alex Turner and Arctic Monkeys
Alex Turner breathed new life into the Sheffield music scene in the early 2000s with his indie group Arctic Monkeys. Beckoning a new era for rock ‘n’ roll, the youngsters became one of the earliest and most prominent acts to benefit from the internet. With the help of Myspace and MP3 downloads, Turner’s voice swept the UK, building tension before Arctic Monkeys’ seminal debut of 2006, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
When it comes to musical influences, Turner and his bandmates benefit from a vast and varied pool, from Neil Young to David Bowie. However, in the early years, Turner’s cocky stage presence and anthemic energetic delivery were inspired most significantly by the Gallagher brothers.
In a 2016 interview with Face Culture alongside The Last Shadow Puppets bandmate Miles Kane, Turner was asked what his first album was. Kane answered, “Oooh, I think the first album was probably an Oasis album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”
As the question was repeated to Turner, the Arctic Monkeys frontman said: “Yep, it’s probably an Oasis record as well, the same one, in fact. Or perhaps even the one after that, Be Here Now.”
Later, the pair were asked if Oasis’ second and third albums still had the same impact on them as they did in the 1990s. “We’re still singing in the hairbrush to that one. Who doesn’t?”
This wasn’t the first time the Arctic Monkeys frontman had mentioned the crucial impact of Oasis’ early material. Speaking to Pitchfork in 2012, the singer revealed that he and drummer Matt Helders once turned up to school dressed up like the Gallagher brothers to perform during assembly.
“In the UK, you go from primary school to secondary school at age 11,” he told Pitchfork. “And when we left primary school, all the kids would form groups and do a performance, like the girls would do a dance to the Spice Girls or whatever”.
“So me and Matt and some of our friends put on ‘Morning Glory’ – we ‘played’ some tennis racquets and pretended to be Oasis,” he continued. “Matt was Liam Gallagher; he had the bucket hat on. I was the bass player. We were just standing there, doing what Oasis did onstage, which was not a great deal. I don’t think we got as good a reaction as the Spice Girls.”
Continuing, Turner discussed the influence of Oasis’ 1995 sophomore album. “With Oasis, it’s just that attitude, like it’s resistant against everything else that’s going on in music. I don’t know if you can fully understand that, it’s like an impulse, isn’t it? Especially at that age, you don’t rationalise; you’re just like, ‘That looks cool’.”
“And I feel like that’s the fucking way it should be now, in a way. Guitar music or rock’n’roll or whatever you want to call it sort of goes away with trends, but it’ll never go away completely. It can’t die because it’s so fundamentally attractive”.
He added: “We still listen to ‘Morning Glory’ in our dressing room sometimes, and also ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’ – the really long one with the fucking helicopter sound. It’s so cocky, but it’s boss. It’s funny to hear Noel talk about that tune now, about how the first time they played it to the radio booker, the guy’s like, ‘Do you think it’s a bit long?’ And he was like, ‘What are you talking about? It’s not long enough!’ Classic Noel.”
Listen to Oasis’ 1995 classic ‘Morning Glory’ below.
