Noel Gallagher says Oasis ‘would have nowhere near the same impact’ today

Gallagher joins Courtney Barnett, Sleaford Mods and La Roux to discuss state of modern music

Noel Gallagher has taken a swipe at “shit” charts shows and mainstream radio, stating that if Oasis were starting out today they “would have nowhere near the impact” that they had in the 90s.

In NME’s new bands for 2015 issue, which is on newsstands now and available digitally, Gallagher discussed the monotony of the charts, the artists that end up in the top spot and the bureaucracy of the music industry in general.

“If you’re Number One in the charts now, it automatically means you must be shit. Bands now go cap-in-hand to the industry and the industry has already decided what it wants for the fucking chart stars. But the charts are all the fucking same. Every single song in the Top 10 is the same shit with a different voice,” he said.

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Gallagher was part of a panel discussing the current state of music alongside Courtney Barnett, Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson and Elly Jackson (La Roux). The former Oasis man, whose new solo album ‘Chasing Yesterday’ is out in March, explained that what drives him most angry is the industry’s control over artists. “The artist used to drive the industry, but the industry reacted to Britpop, or whatever it was. And now bands go to the industry and go, ‘What is it you want again? OK, I can do that.’ But when we all came along – and it wasn’t by design, it was completely accidental – the industry took a step back and was like, ‘What the fuck is this? These people are all drug addicts and maniacs, they’re gonna fuck the fucking share prices up! We need to get rid of these people!'”

ALSO ON NME.COM: The best stories from Oasis’ craziest year

He added: “If Oasis were starting tomorrow we would have nowhere near the impact, because you’re judged instantly on your first gig, and then Radio 1 will judge you on how many fucking followers you’ve got on Facebook […] Oasis never had an A&R at Creation – we were given the fucking keys to the kingdom and they went, ‘Off you go, see you in a bit’. Now, the manager is accountable to the A&R guy, who’s accountable to the guy above him, who’s gonna lose his fucking job.”

Last month, Gallagher criticised the way that Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian’s success has not inspired a new wave of working class bands to follow in their footsteps. “The working classes have not got a voice anymore, there doesn’t seem to be a noise coming from the council estates. Music is very middle class, I’d have eaten Bastille alive in an afternoon in the ’90s, one interview, destroyed, gone, never to be heard of again,” he said.

NME’s annual radar issue features the best new bands set to dominate 2015. Listen to a playlist of NME’s top 50 picks here.

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