A song a day: Oasis - Little by little

Ok, I know people hate Oasis but I don't care, I like them. I recently had the weird sensation of hearing Oasis in a Manchester pub and in that context, their aspirational, up for a fight attitude all makes sense. In the break up wash up I'm definitely on Noel's side because let's face it, he wrote the bulk of the tunes and definitely wrote the best ones that's for sure. The first two records are universally great apart from a couple of tracks so I decided to go for a later era song. I actually rate Heathen Chemistry and I think Little by Little is the best song on it. Sung by Noel, it is quite deceptive in that it starts as an Oasis ballad but turns into a rock monster by the time the solo rolls around. I'll be curious to hear the Noel solo stuff but the Beady Eye record is rubbish. Here's hoping Noel has more luck.

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What becomes of the broken hearted?

I’m not ashamed to say I like sport (stop reading now!) and I generally support teams that are losers (Rabbitohs, Cowboys, England). My childhood football (soccer) team is Stoke City FC. Stoke-on-Trent is where my people are from, it’s where I grew up and being a fan of the local football team is conferred on you from birth.

Stoke City is the second oldest team in England and for the first time they made the FA Cup final in 148 years if existence. Even though I moved house that day and was destroyed physically, I stayed up until 2am to watch the game. It’s history now but they lost 1-0 to the trillionaires at Man City. However, I have to say it is the first time that I have had so much pride and investment in any sporting event – the weight of the loss was crushing and I was choking back tears (Lord knows what my Dad felt as he flew from Australia to the UK to see the game – I’ll speak to him this week). Anyhow, I was devastated.

Anyhow, it made me think of this video (only a minute long and hilarious). When you think of music and sports, it tends to be Nickelback playing as you watch footage of people thumping each other – ROCKIN’OUTWHILETHATGUYRIPSTHATGUY’SHEADOFFAWESOMEYEAH!!!! But then there are the plaintive songs that play to the misery of defeat like Stop Crying Your Heart Out. Apart from being a Man City fan (bastard!), Noel Gallagher seems to excel in writing songs that work for heartbreaking moments in sport. However, while he’s probably still drunk from celebrating their win on the weekend, he’s also making a mint from the poor Stoke fans who are probably listening to this song right now. And maybe that’s the cruellest blow of all, lining the coffers of a Man City fan… Kerching.

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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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