Understanding the feud between Noel Gallagher and Phil Collins
As the 1990s reached its midpoint, Noel Gallagher had a mission for what his legacy would be. After grunge came and went with the death of Kurt Cobain, Noel wanted to sculpt Oasis into a band big enough to take over England with songs that were more authentic to what was going on in the streets of Manchester. Noel’s mission had a specific agenda, and artists like Phil Collins had no part in it.
In the early days of Oasis, Noel liked to talk about how no other band measured up to his new outfit and singled out Collins as the kind of music that was currently killing the charts. Before Noel even put out a record like Definitely Maybe, he was coming for Collins’ head, mentioning in the documentary Supersonic, “we’re gonna get rid of Phil Collins and Sting — junk food music, McDonald’s music — we’ve got to get in the charts and stamp them out. I want the severed head of Phil Collins in my fridge by the end of this decade. And if I haven’t, I’ll be a failure”.
Having Collins’ head on a stake wasn’t enough, so Noel called him the antichrist during a handful of interviews. When Collins did get word of it, he was less than thrilled about being dragged through the mud by the Britpop icon, saying on television later, “They’re just horrible guys. They’re rude and not as talented as they think they are. They keep having a go at me which I find strange”.
While Collins claimed to like the music, he did say that their attitude is the main turnoff for him, remarking in an interview, “they make good music if you can stomach their behaviour. I like the Beatles and what they’re doing is a nod to that. I liked the music long before I knew what these guys were doing”.
The hostility did eventually smooth over…a little bit
After Oasis’ time in the sun had settled in the 2000s, Noel did seem to have a change of heart. While he did dial back his intensity, he refused to take back anything he said about Collins, telling Zane Lowe: “It was a flippant comment about him being the antichrist. I’ll admit, they look bad in print. I probably gave a balanced view of Phil Collins that day, but what looks good is the bit about him being the antichrist. But Phil Collins knows he can’t say anything about me because I’m the bollocks. And the fact that he’s bald”.
During his solo career, Noel did increasingly get warmer to Collins. When asked on his YouTube channel about a song that he likes by an artist he hates, he singled out ‘In the Air Tonight’, while also branding ‘Another Day in Paradise’ as “fucking shit”. Despite his sour opinion of the man behind the Tarzan soundtrack, Noel did stand up for his love for Genesis, explaining: “I don’t mind the Peter Gabriel-Genesis. They’ve got some good tunes. But when Collins took over, I wasn’t into that”.
Though Collins mentioned a chance meeting with Noel while he was on holiday in his book, there haven’t been any olive branches passed in the past few years. Collins may have had a genuine love for pop music, but Noel’s tolerance for pop was limited, and songs like ‘Sussudio’ fell on the wrong side of that line.
