Video: Noel Gallagher – “The Death of You and Me”

On any given day, I have a handful of “shocking” quotes from one or both of the Gallagher brothers that I could post, but most of them are just the good ol’ Oasis boys winding people up. Today, for example, Noel’s making the rounds for admitting that he “spent £1m on drugs” as of 1998, adding, “I look at [Coldplay’s] Chris Martin who says he has never taken drugs in his life and I think he is an idiot.” But since music piracy will be the topic du jour for the next year at least, you may find Noel’s recent comments to MTV Brazil’s Mari Moon a bit more interesting than your everyday Gallagher echo chamber.

Though Gallagher admitted he’s “the only person in England who doesn’t own a computer,” he could relate to the younger generation that can’t buy records from stores any longer, thus forcing them to go online. “You have to be legally, you know, money in the bank, credit cards, and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But it also means that it’s just taking music away from poor people. And that’s why people download music for free, where they can really get it from.”

Then things get more interesting: “If I was 16 and I’d left school and I didn’t have a job, but I had a computer and I could get an Oasis album for free somewhere, you’re gonna do it aren’t you? I mean lucky for me I’m not in that situation, but if I was I know I wouldn’t be paying for it. But it’s the record company’s fault. They made music too expensive in the first place. [A] CD costs £2 to make and £15 to buy.”

To come full circle, I guess you could say that Noel thinks your money would be better spent on drugs than music, but now I’m just feeding The Sun their next headline.

It looks like Noel Gallagher was right when he told Q magazine (via ChartAttack) that his brother Liam “will f*cking freak out” at his hopes for every member of Oasis to record a solo record before the band’s next release.

In a televised interview from Brazil (not sure of the interviewer’s name at this time), Liam responded to Noel’s plans to release a solo record. “I could do that, but I don’t want to do that,” he said. “I’m in Oasis, you know what I mean. If everyone starts going off doing solo records then you might as well just f*cking split the band up, you know what I mean. I’m part of a band and that’s the way it is. If you go on going off doing solo records then there’s no Oasis, you know what I mean. Someone’s gotta be here keeping it together.”

So Noel’s 5-year hiatus plan could be a problem, but once again it’s interesting to see how the Gallagher brothers only communicate with each other through interviews and the occasional tweet.

If the previous comment’s aim wasn’t pointed clearly enough at his brother, Liam gets more explicit at the end of the Q&A. When asked what the best and worst parts to being in Oasis were, he responded: “The best part is obviously the music, playing the gigs, meeting people from different parts of the world. All that stuff. That’s good. The worst part is being in a band with your f*cking brother.”

Twitter has turned into a never-ending reality show for rock stars. You’d think they would only use their 140 characters for promotional purposes (some do), but for others in the rock Twitterati, tweets are oddly personal and revealing. Kind of like the confessional on The Real World or Big Brother, et al.

Cantankerous rocker Billy Corgan’s official Twitter (there was an imposter for a while) is chock-full of God shout-outs and pseudo-theological praise for “Love,” “Truth,” “Joy,” and “Peace.” It’s almost like he’s trying to tweet his way out of being an egoist. Of course, some celebs have ghost Twitterers, but in Corgan’s case it would be a Holy Ghost Twitterer.

One tweet from Oasis’ Liam Gallagher cracked me up because the Gallagher brothers are basically estranged, despite being on a successful tour. Liam finally spoke to Noel, however, with the help of Twitter as an intermediary. After Noel slagged off the band in the press as a “rudderless ship,” Liam tweeted that the last gig was “AMAZING! Don’t know what tour your on RKID…” Awww, he called him rkid again.

Then there’s Trent Reznor. Sure, he said yesterday, “I might be happy and engaged, but I can still be a prick,” but his impending nuptials have actually brought out the soft side of the “Head Like a Hole” singer. One example: “Now that I’m in love and gone all soft on you, can anyone recommend any romantic comedies? Got a weird urge,” he tweeted.

It isn’t all God, romance, and brotherly love for twittering rockers though. Joy Division’s Peter Hook had to go and start another round of Smiths reunion rumors. Ugh.

The Chinese government has canceled Oasis concerts in Beijing and Shanghai next month because they discovered that Noel Gallagher performed at a 1997 Free Tibet Benefit Concert in New York in 1997. What’s more, the Chinese government has revoked Oasis’ performing licenses.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the band said: “The licensing and immigration process for the two shows had been fully and successfully complied with well before the shows went on sale. The Chinese authorities action in cancelling these shows marks a reversal of their decision regarding the band, which has left both Oasis and the promoters bewildered.”

NME noted that the 1997 “Free Tibet” concert, which is apparently cause to ban a band from performing in China, also featured Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Bjork and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Will they all have their licenses revoked? Radiohead has protested China’s treatment of Tibet many times, including dressing the stage with Tibetan flags on the first gig of their 2008 tour.

Noel Gallagher: “I wouldn’t be averse to a film about Oasis. And I would like Daniel [Craig] to play me. I said to him, ‘If you can swing it for me to get the James Bond theme tune, you can play me if they do an Oasis movie.’”

Daniel Craig’s response: “Noel Gallagher wants me to play him in a movie about his life? That is ridiculous…I can play the guitar better than Noel can so I don’t know how that is really going to work. I haven’t had a call from Liam yet so I’ll wait for that one.”

Via Telegraph.co.uk