Noel and Liam’s Wibbling Rivalry – A history of music’s most argumentative brothers

The Brothers Gallagher have been at each others’ throats for a while now. But Oasis fans will remember a time, not so long ago, when they got along just peachy. Memory not stretch that far? Don’t worry, it’s all here in this gallery. Take a look.

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Liam and Noel Gallagher are known for their spats – which trace back to the very start of their band’s career. We’re taking a look at some of the biggest fights they’ve faced over the years, beginning in 1994. While playing a show in LA Liam hit Noel over the head with a tambourine and threatened to quit the band, starting the many more infamous ‘Noel who cried quit’s to come.

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1996: Liam backed out of an MTV Unplugged session minutes before he was due to go on, leaving Noel to fill in. Liam then sat in the balcony with a beer and critiqued Noel’s singing between songs.

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2000: The band pulled out of a gig in Barcelona in 2000 because drummer Alan White had hurt his arm. That evening’s drinking ended with Liam questioning the legitimacy of Noel’s fatherhood to his daughter Anais, to which Noel leaped onto his brother and punched him in the face splitting his lip.

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2002: Liam stormed offstage at a gig in Japan (citing vocal problems). “Liam had been whingeing about his monitors all the way through the tour,” said Noel. “I said to him ‘Are you gonna fucking shut up for the rest of the fucking year, or are you gonna carry on moaning you moaning bastard?’. He looked at me really weirdly and threw his tambourine on the floor like a woman, then walked off.”

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2005: Noel said that he can easily manipulate his brother. “I’ve kind of learnt that instead of arguing stuff out with him and ending up in a fight, I work on his psychology and he’s completely freaked out by me now,” he told SPIN. “He’s actually frightened to death of me.”

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2007: Noel told Mojo that Liam hated ‘Wonderwall’ the first time he heard it. “At the time, in the press, the new musical phenomenon was trip-hop. Because ‘Wonderwall’ didn’t have a 4/4 beat, he was like, ‘it’s trip-hop!’ I said, well, why don’t you go away and listen to some for a start and then come back and tell me it’s trip-hop. He was having none of it.”

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2008: It wasn’t all drama with the brothers in 2008, though. “We’ll carry on as long as we want to carry on,” Liam said in October. “There’s good music out there to be wrote [sic] and we’re the ones to write it.”

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2009: There were claims that Liam cancelled their V Festival appearance in 2009 because Liam was hungover. Noel recently said of the incident: “He claimed he had laryngitis, but whatever. There was a lot of bad press around that, and in his head, he thinks I’m some sort of fucking puppet master who controls the media in England.”

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2009: Noel officially quit the band on 28 August, 2009, writing on their website: “It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer… Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan.”

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2009: “So we get to Paris and he starts saying, he’s reeling off journalists’ names, and some of you are in this room, and it’s all manner of people I have never met, you fucking tell Johnny Bowles Mustache I want to kick his fucking head in, and I’m like I dont know what you’re going on about,” said Noel.

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2009: Liam took legal action against his brother for comments he made about why they pulled out of their Paris gig. Liam did drop the lawsuit and Noel took to YouTube to apologise but did say he “wouldn’t get in a room with Liam” to sort it out.

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2010: Liam said he was was simply trying to get his former bandmates more recognition by leaving out Noel, who wrote all the songs on the album. “I’m sick of it all being about me and Noel,” he said. “The last couple of months has pretty much been all about me and him so I thought it was only right to mention the other lads who played on the album and the best fans in the world.”

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2011: Liam: “The people that go: ‘Oh, Beady Eye is not Oasis,’ well, Noel’s music ain’t Oasis either,” he said. “It might remind you of it but there’s something missing – fucking me.” (Daily Star)

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2011: Right before Beady Eye’s T In The Park set, Liam said, “I don’t play games. Competition’s for idiots. As long as we are taking care of our business, we’ll roast anyone. I’m quite prepared to go head to toe verbally, physically, musically, mentally with Noel Gallagher. We’ve heard our new tunes and they’re big, so bring it on.”

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2011: In July, Liam quelled any hopes for a reunion, saying: “The only reason why Oasis will come back is when we’re fucking skint. I’m far from skint as you can tell – and I won’t be skint for a long, long fucking time. Believe me, it ain’t gonna be happening.”

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2011: In August, Liam filed a lawsuit against Noel for his claims about V Festival 2009. However, pictures that surfaced from the night before the show complicated the story, as they show the singer is drinking into the early hours in Staffordshire.

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2011: Liam accepted the apology and dropped the legal battle. A source told The Sun: “In the cold light of day he realised his brother was actually being quite calm about it all, and decided a legal battle was a bad idea. Hopefully that will draw a line under it all and everyone can move on.”

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2011: However, a few days after that, Liam told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat: “It’s not over yet.” He continued: “There are a few things which need to be sorted out. I didn’t want this to happen. It’s not nice suing your family but like I said, he was telling porkies for the sake of his mates and journalists to get a wise crack on me.”

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2011: Liam added to his threat: “If he listens to his lawyers and does the right thing then it’ll be well and truly over. I never wanted it to happen but it has to happen.”

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