Latest / DISGRACELAND / Oasis Pt. 1: Hooliganism, Hedonism, Rock Star Anthems and the “Greatest Rock ‘N’ Roll Band on the Planet”

Transcript

Oasis Pt. 1: Hooliganism, Hedonism, Rock Star Anthems and the “Greatest Rock ‘N’ Roll Band on the Planet” · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: The stories about Oasis are insane, and they started riots,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: sank rolls, royces and swimming pools, physically attacked police officers,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: publicly brawled with each other in rival pop stars. They
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: committed to a life of hooliganism and hedonism and vandalized, robbed, stole,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: and drugged their way around the boredom of youth. Raised
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: in Manchester, England's Council Estate's public housing, Oasis' band leader
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Noel Gallagher and his younger brother Liam were determined to
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: become the greatest rock and roll band on the planet,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: and remarkably, despite or perhaps because of their humble beginnings,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: they were able to achieve that goal. Through it all,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: they made great music, anthems, pure pop, instant classics. And
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that music you heard at the top of the show
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: my melotron called meloswag Lager MK one. I played you
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: that loop because I can't afford the rights to everything
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: I'd do. I'd do it for you by Brian Adams,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: And why would I play you that specific slice of
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Prince of Thieves Cheese could I afford it because that
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: was the number one song in America on August eighteenth,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one, and that was the day Oasis took
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the stage for the very first time at the Boardwalk
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Club in Manchester and changed the face of English pop
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: music forever. On this episode, hooligans and hedonists, swaggy lager
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and instant classics, the one hundred percent committed in endlessly
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: entertaining Gallagher Brothers an Oasis. I'm Jake Brennan and this
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: is Disgraceland. And there were no screams, just cold chatter, German,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: hushed but angry in the background, a random shout here
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: or there from a prisoner, a detective or uniform barking orders.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: But back here, back in the pen, it was mostly quiet,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And as far as the prisoner was concerned, there was
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: no concern. He was out, had been out since they
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: piled him in the back of the cruiser.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: He had a coming. He was sauced.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Handcuffs weren't enough, the night stick, the butt of the gun,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the pound of the clenched fist, whatever it was. Who
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: really knew it was so chaotic it did. The trick
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: knocked the drunk raving lunatic out cold. They dragged his
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: lanky body in through the back, up the stairs, inside
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: the double doors, and into the first cell they could find.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: The last cell on the Munich Police Department block, separated
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: from the rest of the department. Back here there were screams.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: They had a better chance of going unnoticed. The big
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: cop couldn't wait to get into it. He was the
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: one who caught the drunks trainer in his ribs a sharp,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: hard kick delivered from the drunk's right foot. It smashed
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: the bottom of the big CoP's lower right rib and
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: damned if it wasn't broken. But he'd worked that out later.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: For now he'd fight through the pain for payback. And
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: they held the drunk down on the floor of the cell,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and the big cop all six feet five inches, all
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty pounds. They'd rank him eighteen stone
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: back in Manchester. He kneeled on the floor above the
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: drunk's head and put his massive mits on his shoulders,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: pressed him into the cement floor, and then with one
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: hand mitted the crown of the drunk's head, pulling it
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: back toward him like he was opening a pez the spencer.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: The drunk's mouth opened. In the process. The other cop,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: the rookie, eager to impress, kneeled down on the drunk's chest.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: He took the pliers and into the mouth of the trunk,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: who was still o cold. The rookie cop latched the
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: pliers onto the drunk's upper front tooth. That wouldn't do,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: not enough leverage, so the rookie cop stood up with
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: one foot on the ground and the other on the
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: drunk's shoulder, just to the right of the big CoP's
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: big men. The rookie then bent over into a bit
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: of a runner squad and got the leverage he needed.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: He was able to firmly fasten the pliers onto the tooth.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: The rookie gripped the pliers with two hands like he
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: was holding a rope in a tugue of war. The
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: big cop looked up at him, his eyes wide and angry. Excited,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: he nodded to the rookie, who, in one powerful pull,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: yanked the plyers downward, ripping out clean the drunk's upper
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: front tooth. Vengeance was exhilarating and near complete. One more
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: tooth to go, moaned a bit, and the big cop
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: quickly knocked him back into La La Land with a
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: swift smack, and they weren't done.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: One tooth wasn't enough, not.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: For the shit this little twatt had stirred. Eighty cops
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: called in to quell as bullshit during lunchtime.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: No less, the.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Rookie got his pliers around the drunk's other front tooth.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Again.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: The big cop bared down on the drunk shoulder, while
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: holding back his head, gave the rookie the nod and
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: once more a quick, forceful pull, and the second top
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: tooth was gone as well, ripped clean out, and they
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: were done. Both cops were satisfied, and the drunk. The
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: singer in one of the biggest bands in the world
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: at the time, Liam Gallagher of Oasis, was still passed out, obliterated,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: wasted and now toothless and lying prone on the floor
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: of a Munich jail cell. A couple hours earlier, Liam
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: was born at the table in the bear rischer Hof Hotel,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: drinking another in an endless stream of midday pint. Before
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: the gig that night, he was thinking about Mike Summerby
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: fucking legend. Summer be brought home multiple trophies from Manchester
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: City's football club, The Sky blues way before Liam's time, regardless,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: a legend and a fan of Oasis as he fucking
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: ate right should have been, just like everyone else with
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: ties to Manchester.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Or with ties to anywhere.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Really, Oasis were the greatest band on the planet, tops
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: the kids, the critics, other bands. They were all mad
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: for it. So why wouldn't Mike summer Be Be as well. Supposedly, Noel,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: William's older brother and bandmate and by all means the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: leader of Oasis, remembered seeing summer Be play, but not Liam.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: He was too young. But he did get to know
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: summer Be a little bit.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: It was that time, back in ninety five or ninety six,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: at the height of Oasis mania, when the band had
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: dinner with summer Bee and some other ex city players.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Summer Bee was dead, funny and apropos of whom what
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the fuck? He turned to Liam, Noel and the rest
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: of the assembled dinner party and blurted out, you know, lads,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I can't do it anymore. Someone asked, can't do what anymore?
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Mike?
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Mike then deadpanned, drink five bottles of wine and shag
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: all night. Liam thought that was funny, not because it
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: was easy to see how that was true, how a
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: man who'd lived through his prime some thirty years earlier
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: was finding it hard to live the rock and roll
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: star lifestyle in his mid fifties.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: But that it was.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Funny that Mike would give up, give up the thrill
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Wasn't that what it was all about?
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Going for it, fucking committed to live the life the
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: way it was supposed to be, lived, fast, hard, without
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: two fucks given, leaving it all on the pitch and
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: a mad dash toward glory.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Wasn't that the ultimate goal? Fuck? Yes, it was so.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Swap the wine for lagger and five pints and an
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: all night shag sounded right for Liam gallaghery even now
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: in two thousand and two, a half decade removed his
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: band's meteoric rise in subsequent White Hot fame. At the
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: table in the Barshiar Haff Hotel restaurant on that afternoon
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: in Munich, some of these comments seemed a lifetime removed,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: but they were top of mind when the argument started
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: over what Liam couldn't remember. It was amongst friends, bandmate's
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: crew at their table. It got heated. Everyone was drunk
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: and this was not out of the norm. Someone shoved
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: someone else. Someone lost their balance on their chair and
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: fell into the table of Italians sitting next to them.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Someone shouted, someone else shouted. Then came the insult, sharp, loud, hysterical,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: No doubt, the Italians couldn't take a joke. Their birds
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: were clearly offended. Their lads peeved with cheesemo gassing their engines,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: they pounced. Liam's squad went full hooligan in retaliation, instant melee, fists, kicks,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: glasses being thrown, glasses being dodged, waiters dropping trays, waitresses
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: shrieking back into the kitchen. Liam watched it all unfold
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: and slow motion before him. This was how the great
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Ones saw him out on the pitch, and the fury
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: of the match's final moments. When the pressure was most intense,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: It all slowed down for them, for summer Bee, for
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: column Bell, for all the greats. When the game got
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: most intense, their determination, their focus brought everything around them
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: down about eleven notches, while other opponents trudged through molasses,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: powerless to stop them. The committed ones, the greats, men
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: like him, like Liam Gallagher, thrived, easily, spotted their route,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: saw their angles, knew how to we through defenses and
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: went to take their shot. Amidst the melee, Liam sat
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: in his chair, watching bodies flail above. He felt two
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: hands grab his shoulders and pull him up and back
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: quickly out of his seat. There in front of him,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: falling from the sky from the balcony of the restaurant.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Directly above him, a glass table came crashing down onto
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: the very same glass table he was just sitting at.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Liam held focus on the chaos in front of him.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: There in the middle of the dining room, one of
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the many cops who quickly descended upon the scene was
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: holding down one of William's bandmates, trying to handcuff him,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: struggling despite his mammossize to keep down the wiring musician.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Between the struggle and Liam was a sea of hooligan chaos,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: overturned tables, broken glass, food, tossed chairs, felt bodies, scrambling staff.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Liam took off from the clutches of his own security,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: who rescued him from the following table, and broke away
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: through the hotel restaurant.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: There goes Gallagher on the breakaway, away from the tussle,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: getting away from the defender. He's got a way to go,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: but he's nicked himself apart. With great skill excellent control.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: He avoids a defender from his left, another from his right.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: We're seeing what he's really made up here, ladies and gentlemen.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: He's got his sights on the goal, the big lad
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the big cop kneeling over his mate. Here comes Gallagher
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: with the boot, an absolute crack out of the back
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: of the net, straight into the copper's room.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Sending him flailing about, making way for Gallagher's goal.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: On classic counter attack.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: After Liam kicked the cop square in the rib cage,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: sending him reeling, another cop knocked Liam unconscious just after
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: he'd completed his violent summer of the imitation. When he
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: awoke hours later in that Munich cell, handcuffed with his
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: two upper front teeth missing, the cops told him he
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: lost them when he tripped up the steps to the station.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: But Liam was no dummy, despite what the British tabloid said.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: He could tell the teeth were pulled clean out, not
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: smashed in, as they would have been had he fallen
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: on c men. As the police were trying to convince
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: him was the case. Fucking Munich, Liam had seen Marathon Man.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: He knew what was up. The cops, of course denied it,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: and who cared anyway, really. Liam Gallagher, Alan White, the
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: band's drummer, and their tour DJ, Phil Smith, were all arrested,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: and justifiably so. They were indeed responsible for that melee
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: back at the hotel, and the result meant that their
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: show in Munich that night had to be canceled and
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Liam's brother Noel absent from the fracas that day. With
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: a brother out of jail and under the dentist, Gun
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: was left the coolest gents to stew to do what
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: came natural to him, to pick up his guitar and
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: put melodies to chord progressions like he'd always done, Big
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: anthemic melodies, the kind of galvanized football stadiums, the kind
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: of rocked ecstasy field dance clubs, the kind that dominated charts,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: the kind that rocketed him and his brother out of
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: poverty and into rock startup, The kind that would give
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: one a sense of invincibility, The kind of melodies that
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: live forever, the kind of songs he committed to writing
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: back in Manchester's Council Flats just a few short years ago.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: There were rules you could drink and do all the
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: drugs you wanted, but if you couldn't handle your shit
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: on stage, you were out of the band. You could
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: pick up with whichever bird you fancied, but if she
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: prevented you from getting to rehearsal or to the gig,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: then she was out, And if you were going to
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: get all arsed about it, you'd be out too. You
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: could play an Oasis and play Oasis songs, but you
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: could not write them. That was nole's job alone, and
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: if that didn't suit you, then you could fuck off
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: back to your mom's couch. You could work whatever job
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: you wanted, rob whatever house or shop you wanted, sign
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: on to the dole if you had to. There's no
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: shame in that. But come time for band practice, you
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: were either there six nights a week or you were out.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Fuck off back to digging ditches full time. This wasn't
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: a hobby. It was a band. Not only a band,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: a commitment to being the biggest, greatest fucking rock and
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: roll band of all time, as good as the greats,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: bigger and better than their local heroes. The Stone Roses
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: equals to the Jam heirs to Johnny Marris Smith's ascendants
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: to take their seats ahead of the who at the
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: table of John Paul Ringo and that nipple George do
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: what Noel said, show up and give a fuck when
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: it came to music and nothing else, and his songs
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: would take care of the rest. Nole's commitment to his
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: band was absolute, and so too with his bandmates, and
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: that included his arrogant cunt of her brother Liam Dickhead.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Nole's vision for his band wasn't so much planned as
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: it was felt. It was inne and it'd stemmed back
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: to his days in Manchester.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: As a youth.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Four years old with his dad at Maine Road Soccer Stadium,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: the Hallow Ground, where Manchester City's sky blues hovered above
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the drudgery of working class Manchester, England. Noel Gallagher sat
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: amongst two thousand other kids stashed away in the stands
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: by their fathers who fucked off to the stadium's bars.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: And it was here that one of the cornerstones of
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Noel Gallagher's songwriting was cemented by the rockous sound of
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: man City's goal celebrations, thunderous rolls of noise from the
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: bounce of stadium attendees. Poe going out of their seats
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: and erupting into song whenever City found the back of
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: the net, a full throated community wide chorus of the
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: working class, united in their support of and commitment to
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: their club, warring their team's chance.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Boys in Blue were really.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Not here nineteen sixty two and the show stopper Blue Moon,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: and not in the lame ass, rogers and heart style
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: that Elvis Presley popularized with his falsetto.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: At Maine Road.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Blue Moon was shouted staccato style, a sort of pre
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: p gang vocal being hammered out by thirty five thousand strong.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: It was simple, easy to latch onto. Anthemic, fucking epic.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Noel Gallagher would never forget it, nor would he forget
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: the house music anthems pummeling keyed up ecstasy crowds at
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Manchester's Pacienda Club in the late eighties and early nineties
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: when he came of age Voodoo Ray by a guy
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: called Gerald, You Got the Love by the source with
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: candy station bangers, and just as influential as anything he'd
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: heard from the Manchester music scene prior to the house
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: music explosion, an earlier scene that led naturally to Manchester
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: House and appealed to Nol in no small part due
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: to the disaffected cool of the Stone Roses with their
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: anthem I want to be adored, and the infectious melodies
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: of the Laws with their earworm hit. There she goes,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: together with the usual UK classic rock curriculum that every
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: young aspirational rock and roll songwriter finds their way to
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: the Beatles, the Stones, the Who the King said, for
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Noel in particular, deeper into the sounds of Manchester in London,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: via the Smiths and the Jam respectively. These anthemic influences
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: clashed inside of him with the pub sing alongs that
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: were his Irish Catholic family's lineage. Anthems were his birthright.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: He could lay claim to them as justifiably as John
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: or Paul or mar or' weller. And with the hardness
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: afforded those who came up in the crime and violence
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: of Manchester's council estates, who was going to deny him?
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Nobody, that's who.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: By the time Noel Gallagher picked up a guitar with
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: a serious mind to write his own songs, he had
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: organically amassed an arsenal of songwriting influences, and it showed
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: from the first batch of songs that he would write
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: and that would wind up on Oasis' first demo, his
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: younger brother Liam's band that he would join as the
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: final member and foremost leader of the group. There were
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: multiple songs that would go on to become anthems Columbia
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: with its infectious lyric I can't tell you the way
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: I feel because the way I feel is so damn
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: new to me.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: And of course rock and Roll Star. I lived my.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Life in the city and there's no easy way out.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: It was a shotgun blast of a track, an instant
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: anthem that would cement the Oasis demo as a classic
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and lead to their signing with Creation Records. Rock and
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Roll Star would eventually kick off the band's debut album,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Definitely Maybe, an album that would announce the arrival of
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: the Gallagher brothers with absolute authority and absolute chaos.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: We'll be right back after this word word word.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Owen Mars, the mix engineer, sat in the recording studio
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: waiting to meet the brothers Gallagher. It was either the
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: second or third engineer brought in a mix Definitely Maybe, Oasis'
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: debut album for Creation Records. Owen wasn't sure about this meeting.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: What he was sure of was that if Oasis didn't
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: get this right, there would likely be no Oasis. The
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: mix was underwhelming, there was no snarl, no bite, and
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: the energy was fucked overthought, overproduced or was that a
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: notorious man Cunian attitude that Owen had heard so much about.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: The Word from Oasis management was that Owen could do
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: whatever he wanted, literally anything he wanted to do to
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: save the album. His first order of business was to
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: re record Liam's vocals. That meant he needed to meet
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: the volatile young singer first, so he was anxious. The
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: control room door burst open and Liam Gallagher stormed inside,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: with his brother Noel behind him.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: On time, ready to work.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Liam Gallagher walks dick first, his groin thrust out ahead
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: of the rest of his body, his long, gangly arms
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: swayed behind him. His body is perpetually leaning backward.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: When he's moving.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: It's as if he's clearly going somewhere, but also as
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: if he could care less if he ever arrives. His
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: dick gets into the room before the rest of them does.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: And you notice you also notice that when he's standing
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: still or not walking. I should say because He's never
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: really standing still. He's always moving at least a little
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: bit a short pace in place, his head bobbing around,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: his eyes, sizing everyone and everything around him up.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: But I digress.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: When Liam Gallagher is standing and talking to someone, he
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: always appears as though he's about to haul off and
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: punch whoever he's talking to, his square in the face.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: His pretty looks aside. Liam Gallagher is a tightly wound
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: ball of kinetic energy set to unfurl in violence at
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: any moment. Owen Mars picked up on the vibe. Immediately
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: off stage, Liam Gallagher appeared to be exactly as he
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: was on stage, a raving lunatic of a front man classic.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Liam skipped any introductions. He got right to the matter,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: pointing his finger at Owen and proclaiming immediately that your
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Phil Spector, and then hitching his thumb toward his chest
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: and finishing his point with and I'm John Lennon. Noel
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: spoke up quickly, you are not fucking John Lennon, and
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: he is not Phil Spector. Now'll just shut the fuck
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: up and get on with it, And get on with
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: it they did. Owen Mars stripped down the mix and
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Liam Gallagher put in some quick visceral vocal takes, and
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: the album was well on its way to its proper
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: mix and deserving its purpose as the vessel nest necessary
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: to transport Oasis.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: To rock stardom.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: But first, before any proper release, there was a gig
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: to play in Amsterdam. Young rock bands, especially those who
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: can feel their ascent to becoming rock stars, have one
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: common enemy, idle time. After they reach rock stardom, idle
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: time usually results in self destructive behavior, heavy addictive drug use,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: deadly car crashes, that sort of thing. But before rockstardom,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: idle time for the ascendant rock star results in a
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: different type of destructive behavior, the kind that is aimed
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: outward out at the world. Because, after all, every good
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: young rock band knows that it's them against the world.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: They also know, if there are any good and have
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: any type of sand at all, that at that moment
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: in time, no matter what stage they're on, no matter
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: what band they're following, no matter who is in the
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: audience that night, that they are the greatest fucking rock
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: and roll band on the planet. And they also know
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: that no matter what street their walking down or what
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: room they happen to find themselves in or what bar
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: they're drinking at that they are fucking rock stars. Any
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: challenge to either belief or threat to their self perceived
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: inevitable conclusion world domination is to be met with one
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: type of reaction, ultra violence. This isn't a strategy, This
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: isn't thought out, This isn't determined in band meetings after
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: fucking band rehearsals every third Saturday of the month, when
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: the missus lets you out of the house to head
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: down to your old schoolmates garage to bang around Pete
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: townsend riffs, smashed too many pints of lagger, and ignore
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: your expanding waistline. These are facts. They are felt innately.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: There is no denying them. Your band is the greatest.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: The world will soon know it. It is an inevitability.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Idle time both fuels and affords the ascendant rock star
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: these beliefs, especially young rock stars as committed as Oasis were,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: and even more so when endless pints of lager, Jack
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Daniels and Champagne are involved. And that's exactly what was
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: involved as Oasis sets sail to Amsterdam for their first
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: overseas gig back in nineteen ninety four, and they were
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: completely sauced before they even arrived at the ferry, having
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: quickly down two bottles of Jack Daniels on the bus
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: ride over. Once on the ferry, they hit up the
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: duty free, stole numerous bottles of champagne and then brazenly
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: popped them at the bar with that look on their
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: faces and said, what the.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: Fuck are you going to do about it?
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Idle time. The ferry was inexplicably packed with Chelsea Football
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Club supporters who were sporadically erupting in their team's chance
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: keep the blue flag flying high. Somehow a fight broke
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: out amongst the supporters, a fight that in its early
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: stages at least didn't involve Oasis, but that would change
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: soon or not. Liam Gallagher, an Oasis Bassis Gwiggsy were
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: actually heading to their room, wasted, about to get some
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: rest before arriving in Amsterdam for their gig when all
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: hell broke loose. It was one of those moments where
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: everything is one way normal and then in an instant
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: everything changes to the complete opposite with zero explanation.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: There were Chelsea Football supporters.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Screaming, running about every which way, tourists stucking for cover,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: scurrying back to their rooms, trying to avoid the melee,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: and then a security guard tearing ass straight toward a
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: clueless Liam with his trunche and held high above his head,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: about to bring it smashing down into Gwiggsy's singer's head.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: No way, not in this lifetime.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Gwiggsy, without thinking twice, hauled off and punched the guards
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: straight in the face, saving his singer from an unsuspecting
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: wallet and who knows what.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Kind of damage.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Immediately, a gang of security guards tackled Gwiggsy it began
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: beating the piss out of him. Liam screwed off as
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: fast as he could, straight into the man, headfirst into
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: the brawling Chelsea supporters, throwing fists, kicks, whatever he could
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: add to the chaos to lash out to protect himself, to.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: Get even for Gwiggsy, who was.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Getting walloped at the moment, and the guards at the
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: top deck of the ferry wrangled Liam. Soon enough, they
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: dragged him to the stairs and threw him violently down
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: to the waiting security on the second floor, who picked
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: him up, dragged him to another flight of stairs, and
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: then threw him down again to the first floor, where
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: he was thrown into the brig with Giggsie or One
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: of the guards held Liam down on the floor in
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: the cell while another drew a chalk outline of his body.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: They rolled them over face first onto the floor within
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the chalk outline and informed the singer that if he
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: moved outside of the lines, they pound him with their truncheons,
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: and there he remained for the next three hours. His
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: and his band member's passports were confiscated when they arrived
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: in Amsterdam.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: They were quickly deported.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Needless to say, Oasis First Overseas gig was canceled. Noel Gallagher,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the band's leader, had the unfortunate responsibility of ringing up
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: their record label boss, Alan McGee of Creation Records and
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: telling them about what had happened. Alan, are you sitting down,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: I've got some news. Everybody has been arrested. Alan McGhee
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: answered sharply with one word, brilliant. Liam Gallagher was waiting
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: on the side of the stage to make his appearance.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: His brother Noel was already on stage with the rest
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: of the band. He was bending the opening notes of
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Rock and Roll Star out of his Gibson Lust Paul.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: The rest of the band was filling in behind him.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: The crowd in front of the stage, the small club
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: outside London that Oasis was headlining, was pitched to lose
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: their shit in anticipation for this new notorious band of
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: popstar hooligans from Manchester.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: Waiting in the wings.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Liam Gallagher said to his roady, while nodding toward his
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: brother on stage, He's good, isn't he fucking great? The
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: roady replied yeah, Liam said, but not as good as this,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: and then sauntered on stage to ravenous applause. The snare
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: picked the tune up and kicked the band in just
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: as Liam appeared, and Oasis were off on a tear
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: and the crowd were mad for it. As Liam would say,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: as Liam would expect tonight. They were rock and roll stars,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: fucking a wright, that belief, that self confidence, that commitment
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: to the bit, that snarl, that attitude, and those fucking
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: songs hits. Prior to the release of their debut album,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: One Music Rag plastered the band across their cover under
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: the headline never mind the bullocks, here's the sex Beatles.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: And they weren't wrong, at least not in the moment.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Everything was in place to make that bold proclamation true.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: The bit on the ferry over to the Netherlands and
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: subsequent press interviews by the Gallagher brothers had the UK
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: hyped for the release of Oasis' debut album, and you
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: could hardly blame them with what Noel and Liam were delivering.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: They were unvarnished, highly comical, highly entertaining quote machines and
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: unlike anything the UK press or record buying public had
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: seen since well the Sex Pistols or the Beatles. During
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: their first televised interview, Noel, in dark sunglasses to mass
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: the effects of the ecstasy he was on, was at
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: how is being famous affected your friends? No, I haven't
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: seen my mates in about six months, apart from the
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: ones that work for us. The interviewer pressed, do you
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: get your friends to work for you so you can
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: tour around in a big group? No replied, If we
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: didn't have them working for us, they'd be burgling our houses,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: so it's best to have them with us. Soon after,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: both respected UK music mags Enemy and Melody Maker made Oasis'
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: second single, shaker Maker, their respective Singles of the Week.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Melody Maker doubled down, claiming the single was one of
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: the one hundred greatest songs ever written, and the hype
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: machine was winding up. The band's third single, Lived Forever,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: cracked the UK Top ten, and by the time the
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: full length debut Definitely Maybe, was released on August twenty nine,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four, all of the hype, all of the
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: hard work, and the careful seating of singles by Creation
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Records led to Oasis' first record entering the charts at
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: number one. Quickly, very quickly, it became the fastest selling
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: debut album of all time the UK. Now it was
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: time for the band to double down. They'd arrived as
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: they knew they would, and why the fuck not. They
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: had the commitment. Now it was time for the world
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: to commit to them as they had committed to being
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the greatest rock stars on the planet. Time to work
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: and time to celebrate. With every day came a new obligation,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: appressor or a televised performance or a show, and always
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: a party, and then an after party, and usually an
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: after after party, and of course, to make it all go, drugs,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: ecstasy as always weed because it was weed, and cocaine
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: because they weren't fucking students they were from Manchester. With
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Definitely Maybe selling like mad and, with their live shows
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: selling out in the UK, Paris and elsewhere in Europe,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: the United States awaited to be conquered. First off Los Angeles,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: the famous Whiskey of Go Go on Sunset Strip. The
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: band landed at Lax and were quickly wrangled aside at customs.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: The customs agent asked Liam Gallagher, what's the purpose of
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: your visit? Liam responded, in all honesty, to become a
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: fucking rock star. I'm here to steal your soul. And
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: then it was off to the hotel, where they were
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: agreed by awaiting scenesters, fans, groupies, new friends, and of
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: course opportunistic drug dealers. At the ensuing party, someone laid
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: the lines out big fat white rails the band, all
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: of them and the crew dove in head first, idle
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: time be damned, and to their surprise, the cocaine they
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: just snorted was not cocaine at all. It was the
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: more powerful ninja speed crystal meth. And the band were
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: shocked but undeterred, and they dug in for more and
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: more and then more, and they did in sleep, and
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: neither did the crew. They stayed up for days before
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: their debut show at the Whiskey, a debut that had
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: the brass from their American record label, Epic Records, all
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: in attendance, as well as influential members of the American
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: music press and of course hip fans, Stateside, readers of
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Enemy and Melody Maker in on what was about to
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: go down. One of the best kept secrets in the
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: music industry was about to no longer be a seat.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Oasis were poised to become the first great UK band
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: to cross over into the American mainstream since Sex Pistols
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: had almost twenty years earlier. And then Showtime, Wired from
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: the Meth, Wired from No Sleep, Liam was so rattled
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: by the drug he had to set up rails of
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: it behind the amps to hit in between songs to
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: keep them going. Noel was the only one who had
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: gotten wise to what they were ingesting and what effects
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: the drug might have on their music. It was also
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: wise to the immense pressure this gig, their American debut carried.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: It was make or break. Then the band walked on
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: stage to a totally hyped audience. The crowd was with
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: them of the jump. If this was any indication of
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: things to come on their first tour that America was
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: firmly in the band's reach. The squawk of feedback signaled
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: with energy, the start of something thrilling and new, something
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: sexy and world changing, and then Oasis turned in the
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: worst performance of their career. I'm Jake Brennan and this
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: is Disgraceland.
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com.
• 31:32
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• 31:35
  Speaker 4: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and
• 31:37
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• 31:40
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• 31:44
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• 31:48
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• 31:58
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• 32:02
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• 32:09
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• 32:15
  Speaker 3: He's a bed don man.