‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’: The Oasis song that Liam Gallagher holds dear
Until the day he dies, Liam Gallagher will always be considered the face of Oasis. While his brother Noel was responsible for coming up with every song, there was a certain magic that came when Liam put his signature brash delivery on top of everything, whether that was the tender sound of ‘Wonderwall’ or the hypnotic groove of ‘Columbia’. Despite singing his brother’s masterpieces throughout his life, Liam still considered ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ to be among the most essential pieces of his career.
Then again, it’s important to note how uncool it was to play up the rockstar angle circa 1994. Sure, there were plenty of rock bands that were topping the charts like Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but they always seemed uncomfortable with their fame, and with the death of Kurt Cobain, many were wondering what was coming next for the genre.
Even though Noel and Liam talk about calling their shot as the greatest band in the world now, the road to Definitely Maybe was bound to be an uphill battle. They were barely hanging on trying to get the right sound when they entered the studio, but once Owen Morris worked on tracks like ‘Live Forever’, it wasn’t just a great tune. It was a shot of life.
Despite Noel refuting the claim, ‘Live Forever’ felt like a direct retort to what Cobain’s moping, but ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ is the best indicator of what Liam was all about. Whereas Noel had a heartfelt sentiment behind every track he sang, Liam was interested in being as brash as possible whenever he stepped up to the microphone, channelling John Lennon in every one of his verses.
And while all Morris had to do was brickwall the backing track, getting Liam to return to the studio to do more vocals was the icing on the cake. He had delivered countless takes before, but hearing that John Lydon-style snarl roar out of the speakers was exactly what fans wanted to hear the minute the record started.
With years removed from Oasis, Liam felt that there was a part of him in that song. When talking about Oasis’ legacy following their breakup, Liam thought that ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ stayed with wherever he went, telling Forbes, “I put my heart and soul into singing them, so I never went at them lightly. It is nice to go back to them and still feel that you can still sing them. I’ve always had the utmost respect for them songs. I like doing Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’. I would never leave home without that one.”
Despite years of being away from the Oasis machine, many of Liam’s finest moments as a solo artist have the same attitude behind them. While they sometimes sound like they are being sung by two completely different frontmen, his debut solo single ‘Wall of Glass’ seemed ready to smash down the doors the same way that he did two decades before when he was a lowly kid in Manchester.
Still, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ isn’t just meant to represent Liam’s power as a frontman. It’s about the entire appeal of Oasis, and when the Gallagher Brothers re-enter each other’s lives, ‘Our Kid’ will be giving his vocal cords a kick in the ass whenever he hits that first line about living his life in the city.
