I wanna be a...

I was reading this article about how it has been an terrible year for rock bands judging by the Australian charts. Where have all the rockers gone? I think that's the least of our worries when Susan Boyle has two albums in the year's top 10. What does that say about Australia? Either the nation has terrible taste or an epidemic of insomnia has broken out out and this is the only cure.

Reading it made me wistful. I love my sensitive singer-songwriters as much as the next guy but I want my rock stars to destroy hotel rooms and call Blur shite*. That's why I miss the Gallagher brothers than anyone today. Their brawling, boozing, pilling and profanity laden ways are the way rock stars are meant to behave. These guys were born for it and they embraced fame in a way which wasn't ironic or self conscious - they wanted to be stars. I mean the first song on their debut album is called Rock n' roll star (the chorus being their mission statement which is simply "I wanna be a rock n' roll star.") Sure, a lot of it was derivative and it got progressively worse but the music was equal parts rock sneer and glorious anthemic overload. The one time I saw Oasis was at a Livid Festival. From the first chord, I was instantly surrounded by a million British backpackers - we hugged, danced and sang until we were hoarse (Oasis fans seem to be a mobile Barmy Army).

So when Noel left the band last year and went solo and Liam formed Beady Eye, I thought the days of the Gallagher Bros Fighting Show was over. Sure they left after a tremendous fight but it seemed the aggro, rock star posturing of their glory days was over. So I was really glad when I read an article about Liam having a go at Noel at saying he stole the songs on his new solo album from Oasis and he was making music for 50 year olds.

That's more like it. Even apart, these guy's are the real deal. Long may they argue, fight and be the rock stars the world desperately needs.

*Technically, it was Mogwai that called Blur shite but I'm sure Oasis did too. By the way, I don't think Blur are shite, I just like bands with a point of view.

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