The guitarist that changed Noel Gallagher’s life: “My first guitar hero”
Guitar heroes existed long before the game of the same name hit shops in the mid-2000s. The 1960s and 1970s produced boatloads of them, from the fuzzy, distorted playing of Jimi Hendrix to the riff-making talents of Jimmy Page. The leading guitarists of this era would inspire countless players for decades to come with their unique, innovative approaches to the instrument, and Noel Gallagher was no exception.
Even the most esteemed guitarists have their own heroes of the instrument. Long before Gallagher earned the title of rock ‘n’ roll star, he looked up to the playing of his predecessors. But it wasn’t a classic rocker like Page, from whom Gallagher took inspiration, nor a more psychedelic player like Hendrix. Rather, it was the blistering punk stylings of the Sex Pistols.
While speaking with beloved guitar manufacturer Gibson, the former Oasis guitarist named the punk band’s guitarist, Steve Jones, as his “first guitar hero”. He also added that Jones still maintained his place as one of his favourite guitarists decades later.
It makes sense that Gallagher was particularly attracted to the gritty stylings of Jones as a young, budding guitarist. The future Oasis star spent his teen years cutting classes and participating in football hooliganism, but somewhere along the way, he picked up a guitar for the first time. Like Jones, he taught himself, and the rebellion of his social life clearly leaked into his music taste, as he came to term the Sex Pistols guitarist as his “hero”.
While Gallagher was rebelling at school, the Sex Pistols were rebelling in their music. On punk classics like ‘Anarchy in the UK’ and ‘God Save The Queen’, they took direct aim at the establishment. Over Jones’ riotously rocking riffs, Johnny Rotten sang of anarchy and the antichrist, of the fascist regime and our figurehead, of rebellion. It was any defiant teen’s dream.
When Gallagher grew up and formed Oasis with his brother, they sang of rock and roll stardom, champagne supernovas and eternal life rather than tackling anarchy, but the influence of Jones could be heard in his guitar playing. But Jones wasn’t the only guitarist who had a formative impact on Gallagher in those early years.
The Oasis songwriter went on to credit fellow Mancunian Johnny Marr as his second influence. Marr spent the 1980s penning impossibly jangly riffs to offset the melancholy of Morrissey’s lyricism for The Smiths, earning his own place as a guitar hero to many. From the iconic opening riff to ‘This Charming Man’ to the tremolo effect on ‘How Soon Is Now?’, Marr completely made the instrument his own.
Predating his own first steps into the music industry by barely a decade, walking the same Manchester streets as him while reinventing the sound of the guitar, it’s easy to see why Gallagher was inspired by The Smiths guitarist. Decades later, he is still one of the most referenced guitarists in alternative music, but now Gallagher has joined him in the ranks.
Just as a young Gallagher looked up to the playing styles of Jones and Marr, the Oasis guitarist has now become a guitar hero to many others. Each time a newcomer to the instrument Googles the tab for ‘Wonderwall’, his place as a guitar hero is only further proven.
