The band Liam Gallagher called “miles better” than Oasis
Few people are prouder to be an Oasis fan than Liam Gallagher. Whereas most bands may have tried for years to be the greatest rock band in the world, Gallagher knew that he was in one of the best groups that rock and roll had ever seen before he had even moved out of Manchester for the first time. For all of the special blends of punk rock enthusiasm and Beatle-esque melodies that his brother Noel could write, Liam admitted that The Real People had their sound down better than they could.
Compared to the other British bands arriving in the wake of The Stone Roses, The Real People would become integral in shaping the Britpop sound without realising it. Though they had started making their rootsy attempt at rock and roll throughout the late 1980s, they eventually became friendly with a band called The Rain, which featured Liam on vocals and future Oasis rhythm guitarist Bonehead on lead guitar.
Although Noel was busy working as a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, he knew that he could add something to The Rain when he got home, eventually working out the beginnings of Oasis. While Noel would have his name plastered on every one of the band’s writing credits, The Real People probably deserved a proper credit on the final mix of many of Oasis’ classic songs.
While there’s the myth about Noel being the true mastermind behind the band who wrote all the songs, Chris and Tony Griffiths would help him write the first album. Before Noel had gotten involved, the band had started working on an instrumental jam, which The Real People suggested they turn into a song. Even though The Griffiths Brothers wrote the lion’s share of the lyrics along with Lia, Noel slapped his name on the track, which would later become ‘Columbia’ on Definitely Maybe.
Despite the sting that comes with not being credited on one of the most celebrated albums of the 1990s, The Real People were always there to help the band. Before they had secured a deal with Creation Records or landed a proper recording date, The Griffiths would help the band put together their now-famous Union Jack swirl demo tape, containing early versions of songs like ‘Bring It On Down’.
When Oasis were cutting teeth, Liam would even suggest that The Real People were far more accomplished than what Oasis were doing, recalling in Supersonic, “They were out there, man, they were top, top musicians definitely. They were miles better than us, they were great players, and they were great songwriters”.
By the time Oasis started to gain traction, Noel figured that he could write songs by himself, only digging into The Real People’s well every now and then. Despite appearing as the main songwriter in the credits of every album, Noel still took some of his friends’ melodies taken later in his career, using their songs as a basis for tracks like ‘Don’t Go Away’ off of Be Here Now.
Those early Real People songs practically served as an education for Noel, eventually restructuring his own melodies to create amazing songs like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Live Forever’. In a fair world, The Real People should have been on the same level as Oasis, but it sometimes comes down to the combination of the songs and the attitude to get bands into the limelight.
