The one-sided feud between Oasis and Keane
Blur proved to be the perfect rival for Oasis, and both bands regularly sold papers by spreading vitriol about each other. However, once Blur disbanded, there was nobody for the Gallagher brothers to spar against in the press, but that didn’t prevent them from trying to initiate a feud with soft-rockers Keane.
The music industry was incredibly less feisty in the 2000s compared with the height of Britpop, and Oasis were surviving relics from a bygone era. While Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes were welcomed arrivals, many bands in the same mould as Coldplay and Snow Patrol were still thriving. Many groups looked like, and presented themselves, as rock bands without having the music to support their image.
Oasis were not fans of Keane from the offset, and Liam Gallagher took joy in kicking singer Tom Chaplin when he was already down in 2006 after he checked into rehab for drug addiction. Pete Doherty had also recently gone to The Priory to get clean, and Liam called the pair “posh lightweights”, which he believed epitomised the music industry.
He brutally told a newspaper: “None of us have ever been in The Priory, like all these little idiots today. They have one little line, they have one burn, and they’re all in rehab. That Pete Doherty is cabbaged already. And it’s like, ‘How old are you? Priory at 27 years of age? You idiot.’ Posh boys can’t take drugs, man. They’re lightweights.”
Two years later, it was his brother Noel’s turn to poke fun at Keane’s expense. Following the band revealed they planned to get experimental on their third album, Perfect Symmetry, and challenge themselves musically. However, all Noel Gallagher heard was meaningless jargon, and he held no qualms about expressing his opinion.
Noel said in 2008: “(Tom Chaplin) He’s going on and on about being taken out of his comfort zone when making his new album. What the fuck does that mean?. Why would you want to be uncomfortable when making an album? No matter what direction Keane take, it doesn’t matter – they’ll still be shit.”
Despite Oasis’s string of vitriolic comments towards Keane, they never tried to fight back, which was likely because they knew it was a losing battle. After Oasis split and pulled out of V Festival in 2009, Keane even paid tribute to the band in their set by covering ‘Cast No Shadow’. In response, Liam tweeted: “Respect to those bands who covered Oasis last night. Even though I might of given some of you shit in the past”.
Additionally, after their set, Chaplin told NME: “We are both bands of the people. It would be great for Noel to produce us – I offer the olive branch. We’re huge fans.” Unsurprisingly, Noel has never taken the group up on their offer of working as their producer.
