The hit Oasis song Liam Gallagher didn’t like at first: “I thought it was a little funky”
Liam Gallagher has always been applauded as the main rock star behind Oasis. While his brother Noel was more than happy to lay in the back and write every one of their signature hits, Liam was the one bringing them to the masses, singing in a signature raspy tone that combined the tunefulness of John Lennon with the signature snarl of John Lydon. Although Liam was used to singing anything Noel would throw at him, one of the band’s signature tunes wasn’t something he was enamoured with at first.
When going through the group’s early days, Noel, being the primary songwriter, wasn’t exactly set in stone. Although the band had written a handful of tunes without Noel in the fold, it became clear that Liam’s brother had some magic behind him when he started coming up with tunes like ‘Slide Away’ and ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’.
After hyping themselves up as one of the biggest rock bands in the world, Definitely Maybe took the country by storm, announcing Oasis as one of the biggest indie bands the world had ever seen. Rather than spend time thinking about what their next move would be, Noel thought their best course of action was to go back into the studio and pump out another collection of tunes.
While most critics were sceptical about Oasis’s rise to fame, they would go on to prove every one of their detractors wrong on What’s the Story Morning Glory. Rocketing up the charts, the songs on the album boasted different pieces of rock grandeur, from the sing-along chorus of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ to the massive psychedelic haze that coats the eight-minute epic ‘Champagne Supernova’.
When deciding which songs to choose for the album, Liam was given a choice by his brother: either he would sing the song ‘Wonderwall’ or ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’. While he would end up choosing the former, Liam wasn’t wholly sold when he heard the acoustic staple for the very first time.
Rather than the smooth love ballad everyone knows today, Liam thought that the song had too much emphasis on rhythm, recalling, “I didn’t like it at first, I thought it was a little funky.” His outlook on the song would also be echoed by rhythm guitarist Bonehead, who would say, “It sounded like a reggae song to me. The first time [Noel] came in, I was like, ‘What the hell’s that?”.
Despite their hang-ups about the rhythm, Noel eventually paired the song down to its now-iconic barebones structure, which created a perfect bed for Liam to sing the ode to the person who would one day come and save him from himself. While Liam loved the idea of being in a huge band at the time, he quickly came to sour on his signature tune.
In later years, Liam said that he can’t stand singing the song these days, remarking that whenever he opens his mouth to sing the song, he wants to gag. Even with the touch of resentment towards the tune these days, Liam’s interpretation of Noel’s “reggae” song has touched the hearts of millions across the world.
