The Smiley Smile Message Board

Geesh, this is a bit harsh, to say the least.

https://etcanada.com/news/276030/noel-gallagher-targets-the-beach-boys-overrated-brian-wilson-i-hate-brian-wilson/

Well,the rest of the world hates Noel Gallagher, so there's that.

If it makes Noel Gallagher feel any better, I have a suspicious Brian Wilson has no idea who he is.

Keep in mind it was *20 years ago* that Liam Gallagher challenged George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards to a simultaneous fight. As I remember one person telling me back then, I'm pretty sure Keith Richards alone could have ripped his head off and feasted on the organs inside.

I think several infamously "eccentric" rock stars have run into a wall when it comes to Brian Wilson. The stars that get off on being more eccentric than anyone else get frustrated when it comes to Brian, because Brian is more eccentric than all of them put together without even trying.

Well, I guess he's entitled to his opinion, but it seems like yet another case of one of the Gallaghers trying to find a way to get their names in the press loooooong after their expiration date.  

But, I really don't need any other reasons to dislike Oasis.

That's a hell of a visual :lol

They were trolls even back in the 90s. Case in point: Paul McCartney, Mr. Thumbs Aloft himself, who rarely (at least publically in an interview) talks s**t about much of anyone, got so sick of the Oasis thing in the late 90s that even he was pretty blunt in eventually noting: "They're derivative and they think too much of themselves. They mean nothing to me."

That's the McCartney equivalent of telling some F-you and trashing their hotel room.

I always get the feeling Noel is at the windup when it comes to Brian.  He's a big Beatles fan and a few of his own idols/mates Weller and John Squier love Brian.

He's right about Jeremy Corbyn, though, although he left out Corbyn's support for terrorists.

Brendan Flowers said something similar about 10 or so years ago. Brian's response was something like "who in the hell is Brendan Flowers?"

If that SOB wants to go after anyone, why in the hell would it be Brian of all people? I could see him dumping on myKe luHv, but Brian??? ??? ??? ???

If he went after Mike no one would bat an eye....half the people would say “Mike who?” and the other half would say “I hate him too” This is about getting attention in the media and nothing more.

I love them both. And I like Corbyn too.

And I was just listening to "Don't Look Back in Anger" on the radio this morning (and loving it too). Despite the fact that Noel and his bro are utter tools, those 1st two Oasis albums are brilliant.

Noel Gallagher is an overrated wanker anyway.....

Noel has been saying things like that for years. One of his staples is that the only reason the Beach Boys were popular was because they were beside the Beatles in the record stores. I think though that the Beach Boys, at least in the US were selling records before The Beatles. He has also said Brian has something like 7 great songs and Good Vibrations is brilliant.

I'll always have some sort of affection for the oasis music I grew up with.

What I've found odd is Noel criticising Brian for not "even" writing his own lyrics or words to that effect; my immediate response to that is did Noel "even" produce his own classic recordings?

SMiLE Brian hates Noel Gallagher >:D

A lot of them he did, yes.

I was under the impression that he was only ever a "co producer", during the classic oasis era at least.

I like Oasis and even Noel’s recent solo music, and still will continue to. But it’s funny that Noel criticizes Brian about lyrics - at least Brian recognized that lyrics weren’t his strongpoint. I can’t stand Noel’s/Oasis lyrics (but love their sound), just my opinion.

I'm not a violent man, but I've long had a fantasy of repeatedly stamping on Noel Gallaghers head with a pair of steel toe capped Doc Martins on.

He's a talentless little sh*t weasel who should be hung, drawn and quartered for crimes against music.

Gallagher is a bad mannered, underachiever. No more than half a dozen decent tunes in his catalogue, he is barely competent to pass an opinion.

Yes. Which means he produced those songs.

He is a plageurist pure and simple. He hasn't written an original melody in his whole career.  He won't even realise he is doing it because he is a talentless little wankstain who should be boiled alive in his own excrement.

Absurd. He's probably lifted fewer melodies than Bob Dylan has.

Can’t say I’m all that surprised.... gotta at least respect him though for not beating around the bush and being genuine about himself and his views.... however much I strongly disagree with him on Brian as well as Corbyn.

Well, I was trying to give him some credit for surviving in the business and having a few hits. No way it compares to Brian's lifelong career and huge catalogue of songs

Great artists hate other great artists. That's nothing new.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/writers-throwing-shade?utm_term=.fcx91X0qgl#.vebw9G4Yk5

Noel has repeatedly trashed Brian Wilson for a while now. He's a Beatle fanatic who despises anyone who would dare to say The Beach Boys should be held in the same esteem. It's got nothing to do with critical thinking. He has the mind of a child.



   

I wonder if he's been talking to Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols lately....another Brian basher.  >:(

It kind of reminds me of Phil Spector, who has put down Brian Wilson as well. I think in Noel's case - as well as Phil's - it has everything to do with their own self esteem and narcissism, feeling threatened and not being able to handle someone other than themselves being heaped praise upon. It feels like Noel is doing his best Beavis Cornholio impression:

"are you threatening me? I am the great Noel-holio!"

I doubt it, really. Noel has great respect for people who have had tremendous praise and respect. Is it so hard to accept that he just doesn't like The Beach Boys? Two of my favourite writers are Shakespeare and Tolstoy. Tolstoy didn't like Shakespeare and for a reason that I don't think is particularly supportable. Doesn't bother me in the slightest nor does it take away from the greatness of Tolstoy's work.

(http://i63.tinypic.com/121pvvd.jpg)

Not buying it. Sorry.

Seems like you are trying to invent a reason for him other than him just not liking the music.

I get that people are entitled to their opinion, but that said... it's obvious these guys hold themselves in super high esteem, comparing themselves to The Beatles, etc. Nobody who's not out of their mind on an ego trip would ever do that kind of comparison. Wouldn't you agree? That's not an irrelevant thing to consider in this equation.

The only reason to brutally tear down someone as great as Brian Wilson, in the manner that Noel is doing it, is out of some sort of misplaced anger, jealousy, or resentment. I can't buy that someone who has as much actual talent as Noel (he does have it) would actually logically think that the music of Brian Wilson is truly garbage, deserving of putting it down in the way he does. He's as threatened by Brian's widely perceived greatness as Mike is. The Great Noelholio (t-shirt revised):  

(http://i64.tinypic.com/2apxg8.jpg)

Nor is it irrelevant to consider that they were a reaction against conservative Thatcher rule in the 1980s which saw a huge demonization of the working class. The Oasis ethos was about being proud and unapologetic of your working class roots; it was a reaction against being told for a decade that your sort of people were less-than-human garbage. When Oasis told people they were "better than" this or "as good" as that, it was a purposeful affront to people who looked upon this culture with contempt.

Moreover, when they were saying these things, they had made one album which was, at the time, the fastest selling debut in UK history and went on to be voted by readers in the #1 music magazine over ten years later as the greatest album of all time. Their second album was one of the biggest selling albums of all time, went on to become the UK's fifth best selling album of all time, and was recently named by the most significant British music awards as the greatest British album since 1980.

They headlines the largest outdoor concerts in UK history. Two and a half million people applied for tickets for their two shows. In the UK, they had eight #1 singles and every album they made went to #1 in the charts.

As good as The Beatles? Of course not. But what they managed to achieve in the 90s was not achieved by many other bands and their cultural importance was vast.

The difference here is that if Noel had maturity and class he would say something like "I've never personally liked Brian Wilson's music but it's obvious that it's had a great effect of many people and they love it, but it's just not for me". That's essentially what you just did in your previous comment about Shakespeare and Tolstoy and yet you're defending a guy with such juvenile sensibilities that he would probably tell you you're an idiot to your face for being here.

If Noel was 19 years old I'd give him a pass, but at his venerable age he should have some level of decorum. It comes with maturity.

+1. It is NEVER, and I mean never, and artist's place to compare themselves to another great artist, let alone arguably THE most highly-regarded band of the last century. Anybody who does that is out of their minds, and has some serious self-esteem issues. To do so is ridiculous on every level.  It's ONLY the place of critics, historians, and fans to make any such comparison. Period. End of story.

Also, despite the fact that I think the Oasis brothers are immature and narcissistic yutzes as people, I absolutely think their 1st two albums are super, duper good. They are fantastic albums and I won't let the brothers' deficiencies as people negate my appreciation for their genuinely fine music. Ditto with Phil Spector's music. Sick and/or insecure dudes (in different ways of course), but they made great music.

I'm not sure if you read the website I linked to but it contains quotes by some of the most sophisticated and important writers in Western history saying things like the following:

"[Ulysses] is a revolting record of a disgusting phase of civilisation" - George Bernard Shaw

"[Ulysses is] the work of a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples." - Viriginia Woolf

"I am reading Proust for the first time. Very poor stuff. I think he was mentally defective." - Evelyn Waugh

And on and on and on.

I'm sorry that you don't particularly care for the rhetoric and that's fine but the reality is that Noel is simply joining the pantheon of some of the greatest and most sophisticated writers of all time by deploying language the way he is. Personally, I don't think Shaw, Woolf, and Waugh are idiots but they themselves were not above using phrasing like that about their colleagues.

100% agreed

It's not *just* Noel's putting down of arguably the greatest composer of the 20th century, but coupled with the fact that Noel personally propped himself up to be held in similar regard to The Beatles, that's a one-two punch of a character flaw that shows he is really warped with ego. It's a double whammy.

Again, he can choose to say/think anything he wants to.  But he's shown his true colors, and honestly it's mighty hard to take anyone who has said BOTH of those things (putting down others AND propping himself up to the level he has) seriously without realizing that the only people who generally do those two things are people who are coming from a deeply insecure place. Even if they (Noel in this case) are indeed mighty talented.

I can't take The Great Noelholio's opinion of Brian any more seriously than I can Phil Spector's opinion of Brian.

Yes, and Viriginia Woolf put down what is arguably the greatest novel of all time. And Leo Tolstoy put down a writer who was arguably the greatest playwright of all time. ANd so on...


I explained the posturing above. I know that you don't really follow the band, but Noel clearly does not hold himself to up be held in similar regard to The Beatles in terms of their skill. He does say what's perfectly true that Oasis are amongst the most successful and popular bands in the history of England. He also says all the time how hey appropriates other music and how he's severely limited in terms of his writing and musical skills.

I will say that I definitely don't follow Oasis to the level that you do, and I humbly appreciate that I'm out of my league in trying to argue or grasp specifics of their history in the manner that you know their history. (No sarcasm intended in that sentence, by the way - it might come off sarcastic in just typed words, but not my intention).

I guess I have a problem with artists (and people in general) posturing to this type of level, and no amount of explaining their history, IMHO, will make me take their opinion (in a manner/situation such as this) too terribly seriously as a result. The two brothers seem to have a history of acting like jerks and saying things just to grab attention.

Even if Noel won't hold himself up to the level of The Beatles on all levels, and might admit limitations - it's still much like with Mike Love, where he has a way overblown sense of self-importance, yet nevertheless has a smidgen of self-awareness where he fortunately still won't compare his own talents to Brian's in terms of certain talents that UNARGUABLY he cannot compete with Brian on...   still, Noel's got an overblown ego at the end of the day, and only someone who is warped in that way would talk so crudely about Brian Wilson without any sense of manners.

Poor argument. "Hey, these other greats did it too so Noel is joining this illustrious pantheon...!" Ugh.







  

The only thing this argument proves is that there are/have been a lot of rude narcissists with self-esteem issues in the arts. Even if they are/were very talented themselves. No big news flash there.

Well, your quote happens to be exactly true. These other great did do it. They constitute an illustrious pantheon. And Noel does join them in that respect.

I'm not making any argument other than to say that he doesn't like Brian's music. I'm sorry that you don't like the way he expresses that.

And I suppose OSD joins them too?

It's not necessarily something to be proud of. A lot of "greats" have done truly despicable things. Hardly what I would call an illustrious pantheon. More like a Rogue's Gallery.

Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and Evelyn Waugh are a rogue's gallery?

Would you seriously call this despicable?

I may believe that OSD goes way too far sometimes, but he is not a contemporary artist of Mike, so the context is completely different. Noel, as a talented but narcissistic artist, is constantly seeking praise for his own work. OSD isn’t saying “Mike sucks, and my art, conversely, is worthy of much praise”.

 Furthermore, OSD harps on about Mike as a person based on Mike’s actions over decades, unlike Noel who strictly was hammering Brian for not making music Noel deems worthy of praise. Apples and oranges.

OSD is a good guy who is nice as hell in person! :)

Nor were any of the authors I listed above whom you cast as "rude narcissists" constantly seeking praise for their own work as far as I understand it.


Let me get this straight before I start using the search function: you are arguing that OSD has never commented on Mike's strengths as a creative artist?

OSD is a legend! ;D

I think OSD's posts are amusing personally. I've always found Noel Gallagher amusing too. Both have rubbed people the wrong way. Two peas in a pod they are!

Noel didn’t talk about how great he was in the same interview as he was putting down Brian. But being as he has a history of doing the former, it shows something about his thought process. He long ago established himself as somebody who would puff himself up in an egotistical fashion.

The fact that he puts down somebody as great as Brian isn’t particularly surprising considering how self-praisingly he acted about his own art in the past.  Those are not unrelated things; if you can’t see that, I don’t know what I can do to convince you.

And I have always advocated and encouraged that everybody, including OSD, give praise to Mike for things he should inarguably be praised for, such as lyrics on some phenomenal songs from Today. Many people, from OSD to Noel are capable of having skewed opinions that likely come from resentment, or in Noel’s case, IMO, narcissistic jealousy of how utterly loved Brian widely is as an artist, in a way that Noel will in a million years never be.

Don’t look back in anger.... ;)

Ironically, that’s the very Oasis song I heard on the radio this morning that I was seriously vibing out to! I wish Noel didn’t ruin my enjoyment of his music by being such an ass. Noel should listen to his own lyrics.

...Look back with Love!

Billy made a funny! :lol

Again, you referred to Viriginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and Evelyn Waugh as rude narcissists when there was no evidence of them talking about how they thought of themselves. Do you genuinely mean to refer to them as "rude narcissists" or is something different to refer to an author as "mentally defective" if you haven't previously compared yourself to another great author? Or is it rude narcissism either way? And if it is, is referring to someone's work as "fertilizer" also rude narcissism?


In my opinion, I think you are creating this reason why he's making the comments about Brian Wilson. If he doesn't like Brian because of his "narcissistic jealousy" then why is he constantly heaping praise on John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend and others?

I'm torn on this one. I'm a big fan of Noel Gallagher, more for that amazing run with Oasis across the timespan of their first 3 albums and the related singles. I'm in the US, so keep in mind the US was mostly clueless on them until "Wonderwall" hit MTV. But I knew friends who traveled to the UK early on in Oasis' career and said there was something really big about this band that was going to break, similar to the Beatles in November 1963 when With The Beatles broke all sorts of UK records up to that point, and people in the US were clueless about the Beatles until 1964.

So it was people like us picking up imports of the "Whatever" single at Tower for 25 bucks, really digging that song and "Half The World Away", wondering who this guy was writing such amazing tunes, and trying to follow the UK news about them. And wondering as I'm sure people in late '63 who saw "Beatlemania" in the UK and not even a glimpse of it in the US why the hell the US isn't on this ride since the music is so good, and it's basically changing the game in the UK as far as pop/rock music.

So yes, I'm torn...but Noel has been crafting this image as a rock and roll curmudgeon for years now. He likes what he likes, and everything else is bollocks. I think reporters even look forward to or expect him to launch into diatribes about artists other than The Jam, Lennon, Bowie, etc...because it's kind of who he became or how he crafted himself especially after Oasis stopped making good records.

I guess I'm saying Noel was always positioned as kind of a heel, maybe even an outright dick - Nowhere near the levels of his estranged brother who seriously thinks he's John Lennon in spirit, but as someone who gets press for shooting off at the mouth.

I agree, it's not cool.

But in this case...it's very odd because Noel is a HUGE fan of Burt Bacharach, and has openly praised Burt and called This Guys In Love With You the greatest song ever written. When Oasis first got signed, Noel received a lavish Burt Bacharach box set that was only passed around inside the label structure, and put a poster of Burt prominently on the Definitely Maybe cover photographed at his flat at the time.

And Burt in turn invited Noel to meet personally, and called his personal and very expensive private doctor to his place when Noel showed up once with a bad cold.

Yet, Burt and Brian Wilson are pretty much regarded as contemporaries, with Brian also openly praising Burt Bacharach and calling his music a prime influence on his own writing, arranging, and production.

So I see where Noel in his persona would do this, but it doesn't take away my enjoyment of his music (more the earlier stuff), while it does come off as a guy talking out of his ass for the sake of doing so and getting press.

Oasis did change the music game in the UK, no doubt. Few modern bands had that much effect and influence as Oasis, as CSM pointed out above. No denying that, no matter how much they talk smack.

Absolutely agree. And I'll go a step further. Around 2005, Noel became obsessed with The Left Banke and, at the time, said he wanted to do a solo record called "Noel Gallagher Sings The Left Banke." Recently, he has been on about Phil Spector as being amazing.

So, I suppose my thinking is, saying you love The Beatles, The Left Banke, and Phil Spector but hate Brian Wilson just doesn't make any sense.

Here's the song off his new album that I'm sure drew the comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjwiwepvS1o

I cannot speak to the specific actions of those specific people you mentioned… I’m just saying as a general rule, if you have an artist who talks in a comically self-aggrandizing way about themselves, and then puts down somebody else in a highly rude way, this is a personality trait that resembles narcissism.  I believe that to be true in a general sense, but I will not pretend to be familiar with the people you have mentioned in terms of their careers or personalities. But as a general rule I believe what I said is mostly true.

Do you believe Phil Spector to be a narcissist?  I think that’s a no-brainer there. Most of us on this board are pretty familiar with him, which is why I bring him up. Yet I am certain that Phil has said many great things about various other non-Brian musicians. *Being a narcissist doesn’t mean you are incapable of praising anybody else.* It just might mean that some artists are more of a threat to you than others.   Perhaps because of the level of praise those people get is on par with what they want for themselves.

A particularly notable thing about Brian is that people love him not just for his music, but for the triumph over adversity story that his life has encompassed. I think somebody would have to be somewhat heartless to not have that pull their heartstrings somewhat and positively affect their listening experience of Brian’s music. But maybe Noel fits that bill a bit, I dunno.  It just seems like he likes attention in the media, no matter how he gets it. That’s a pretty detestable trait in my opinion.

I sense you're a fellow traveler with Oasis in those glory years. I wasn't even in the UK, but it's hard to describe just how good it felt to hear a new song like Half The World Away or when the Morning Glory album came out, and to know there was a songwriter making music that sounded that way. It's hard to put into words, but it inspired a lot of young musicians to write songs and make music.

I do think Noel ran out of ideas. After the original "Masterplan" run of those three albums and those singles, he started rehashing and reusing those same chord structures and doing different melodies on top. It no longer sounded fresh. Some of it was good, sure, but it felt like I'd heard it before with different lyrics. Although i still think "Let There Be Love" is a brilliant song and a crowning achievement from those later years.

Sounds like Noel is into Spector. That sounds like the production on "This Could Be The Night" or something. But that blues harmonica solo...doesn't fit at all.

If Noel slags off on Brian, his music and his influence via Bacharach seems to disprove whatever reasoning he's using to make those comments now.

I'd also suggest based on the reality of the situations and history that Brian had what none of the others had in that he was a truly self-contained artist when he was cutting those classic Beach Boys records from 63-67. He wrote, performed, produced, AND arranged those records. All of them. None of the others including Bacharach can stake such a claim. Bacharach couldn't and didn't sing. Spector hired Jack Nitschke to arrange the charts which gave them that signature sound with all those instruments packed together, as well as relying on hired gun writers like Barry and Greenwich. Lennon couldn't produce or arrange and had George Martin to do that work. George Martin didn't write pop songs or sing. The list goes on and on.

I wonder if there is or has been any artist in that era who had the success of Brian Wilson especially in the Capitol years who wore all those hats and did all those roles in making the records. If Noel realized that, maybe he'd rethink the comments unless as I suggested he's just playing up his persona as a grumpy curmudgeon commentator akin to the Andy Rooney of the rock world or something.

I concur. Noel seems to be going the Billy Corgan route.

I'm guessing alcohol was involved.

I have despised Gallagher and Oasis since I first heard them twenty + years ago.  I don't think their music is good; it sounds awful to me and literally pains my ears and brain.  His voice...just urgh.  Awful.  And obviously he's the biggest ass in the history of asses. 

However, I get the feeling that the comment in this article was just him being stupid and not necessarily meaning it.  Bottom line, he's a complete jackass so this comment is consistent with past behaviour. 

I read an interview with him in the early 90s before they broke big where he slagged off the Beach Boys. Hated him ever since. Never got the fuss. Their music is boring and derivative. My 11 year old could write a better song in 5 minutes than anything that talentless little spunk-bubble has even imagined. No exaggeration.

Words cannot express how much I hate this man.

I read about this the other day. it did make me laugh for being so ironic. Noel Gallagher is one of the most overrated people today...

I was lucky enough to go to Brian Wilson and Noel Gallagher gigs last year, I like both for very different reasons and I enjoy listening to both!  But Brian Wilson overrated?! come on now...

My bet is he only says inflammatory stuff like that to stay in the press and keep his records/concerts mentioned...

Probably, although he has slated the Beach Boys in the past

Which is what Noel himself said!

Noel Gallagher is the Kanye West of rock

Billy is the righteous bald dude of EDM...

I recall watching a clip some years ago where he talked about the Beach Boys as the most overrated music. To him that might be the case, but to others it is the opposite. Such is the subjectivity of qualitatively rating music.

He does however come across as very crude individual in the way he targets other artists, quite needlessly I might add.

8)

:hug

I can't bring myself to dislike Noel Gallagher. He's been putting down the Beach Boys, along with a bunch of other bands, for years. Decades. But in this case, he counted himself as overrated, along with Brian.

If you've ever seen him interviewed, he's never speaking with anger or bitterness-- at least not as far as I can tell. He's very dry. He knows people love asking him, "What's your opinion of so-and-so" because he always gives a blunt, and sometimes hilarious, answer. To me, his dislike of Brian is the same as other people's. We all know people who think the Beach Boys are corny surfing music and don't listen enough to really hear the complexity or explore the deep cuts. Noel is probably one of those. But he's also more broad minded than his brother, who seems to love straight up rock and roll and nothing else. Noel likes Bacharach. I bet if someone sat him down and played him some of Brian's late 60s/early 70s stuff, he'd admit that it's good, if not great.

By the way, the Gallagher brothers' rivalry is more entertaining than Brian and Mike's. Liam called Noel a "potato," which is hilarious, for some reason. Noel has said Liam is "a man with a fork in a world full of soup."

Good points. Like I said in my earlier comments, I think this is the role Noel has been playing with the press (and for the press) because it's become almost a character kind of thing where they expect him to slag off on something. They could ask him about vanilla ice cream, Parliament, Red Stripe, and the Beach Boys and he'd probably give similar answers because that's what he seems to have adopted as a media figure.

I still love the music, the original run from the first few years of Oasis. Nothing will change that. Not a fan of Liam, though.

The Gallagher brothers rivalry was so entertaining that a recording of them arguing during a press interview was pressed as a CD release and actually charted in the UK when Oasis was massively popular. It was called "Wibbling Rivalry", and I'd be hard pressed to find another example of two brothers or even bandmates arguing that got made into an official album release and hit the charts alongside actual albums with music.

If they'd killed each other during the argument,  I'd have purchased it.

Worn out several copies I'd imagine.

No, and that's not what I wrote.

As I said, I don't applaud or think it's wonderful that Woolf, Shaw and Waugh mouthed off like that either (and I sure as hell wouldn't put Noel in their class as an artist!).

My idea of despicable is someone like Richard Wagner who composed brilliant music and yet had some pretty sorry ideas about race. Just because he was a great artist doesn't give him a free pass. Witness the still-linegering reactions to Mike's HOF speech. Would you put him in the same class as Woolf, Shaw and Waugh? Using your argument, I guess so.  

I expect someone in the public eye to try and have a little class when speaking in a public forum about their peers. Is that so hard to understand?

And just for the record, I'm not equating Noel Gallagher with Richard Wagner lest anyone try to play that card.

Good, I love Wagner!

He is a tricky one though. Best not to view him through a modern lens.

My friend studies at music university in Bristol. He recently had a guest speaker who was something to do with promotion at one of the major record labels (I forget exactly what he did).

I had mentioned to my friend a couple of years back that Noel always seems to crawl out of the woodwork and start relentlessly and rather pathetically slagging people off just as his album is about to drop. Not just any people though, it always seems to be the really big stars (remember the beef he had with Ed Sheeran when good old Ed sold about about 30 nights at Wembley or something ridiculous).

Anyway, my friend went to this talk, and he told me afterwards that there was actually something too this. The guy doing the talk told them that Noel has a list of names given to him by his promoter whenever he has a new album coming out. These names are the top 10 biggest artists at that time. He puts the list on his fridge, and ticks them off every time he slags them off on Twitter or whatever.

Sounds almost too bizarre to not be true. Insecure and pathetic. We can take comfort in the fact that despite having an incredible amount of great gossip and potential juicy dirty details Brian could use as a means of selling his records, he has never stopped that low in 50 years, and I’m sure he never will, because he has class. Even when he was 20 stone, trying to give cocaine to his kids, he still had more class than Noel ever has or will have.

But anyway, just thought that was an interesting point to share with you all!

And finally enough, I actually like Oasis! (well...at least the first three records) and I consider Noel the "smart one". I'd expect Liam to still behave like a child at this late stage in the game but I expect better of Noel.

This is obviously complete nonsense.

True. Same with Richard Strauss, I suppose. But tricky, as you say.  8)

Guitarfool does a far better job of expressing what I was trying to get at:

I've never been that big into anything Noel has done, minus a few Oasis songs but I was enjoying his new album because it does have a Beach Boys (amongst others) feel to it.

Needles to say his comments have turned me right off.

This is just pathetic... And, it's actually funny, since he always stated that he repudiates people who benefit from "scandalous news" to sell records. It's quite the point and probably true, but a long time ago he already said he thought The Beach Boys is the most overrated band of all time... So, I believe he brought it up now just to get some kind of buzz over his new album, but truly thinks Brian Wilson's work is rubbish.

If Noel Gallagher could just hold Brian's toilet paper, would probably be the closest he'll ever get to something truly good.

This guy has a pretty mediocre career, to say the least. You could save just a few Oasis songs now and then, but that's all. Haven't heard his new album yet, but I'm not sure I want to. He needs to have some classes on how to behave in public and respect other people's work.

Will never happen, sadly.