Do look back in anger
August 13, 2002 ~ 10:34 p.m.
Just as the British government approved a campaign to promote British music and recording artists in America � where, for the first time in four decades, no British artists could be found anywhere on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart this past April � British hard-rockers Oasis, guitarist Noel Gallagher specifically, went on a foul-mouthed attack against the U.S. music industry, making it clear that there�d be no champagne flowing from this supernova.
Gallagher, currently on an U.S. tour with his band, vented his spleen to The New York Post. Commenting on the American custom of schmoozing recording executives, marketers and promoters, he had this to say:
�You meet people and meet people�s wives and meet people�s fucking wives� sisters and all that shit. And it�s like, you know what? You can go fuck your wife and your fucking wife�s sister. If that means I get a number one album, then you can stick it up your ass.�
Bad move, especially considering that the words did not filter down well through the execs at Sony. The record company has been at pains to revive the group�s career in the States. Oasis remains a one-hit album wonder in America, not even coming close to matching the success they reaped with (What�s the Story) Morning Glory?
And naturally, the outburst has got the British government is hiding its collective head in its hands, muttering �why us?,� and trying like mad to breathe some positive life into its promotional campaign. As if George Michael�s anti-U.S. single �Shoot the Dog,� which the pansy-ass singer didn�t even have the nerve to release in the States, wasn�t enough to turn the American tide against British music, Gallagher�s comment will only help turn American listeners off even further.
Not a wise move at all.
However, as impolitic as the attack was, I can�t help but laud Noel Gallagher. The man has a point � a great point. I have no idea what the recording industry is like in Britain, but one gets the feeling that if Oasis is so incensed, then surely British artists don�t have to jump through hoops of fire the way their American counterparts do. America may have a free press, but her recording industry behaves as if run by Stalin-era Communists. Freedom of expression is muted, if not totally bludgeoned by U.S. record producers and marketers, and no artist will get radio airplay unless their material sanctioned by the industry. I sympathized with Prince when he drew �SLAVE� across his cheek; now I salute Noel Gallagher. Here�s a guy who won�t just �roll with it.�
Gallagher, it must be said, has uttered his fair share of blunders in the past. Asked about the success he hoped � Morning Glory would have in the States upon its release, he replied, �I don�t care about the Americans, I just want them to buy the album.� Last year, when probed about Oasis� lack of Stateside success since the debut album, Gallagher publicly opined that American music fans have no taste. Sour grapes, anyone?
This time, Gallagher has hit the nail right on the head and I just can�t help but love the man�s in-your-face rebellion against an industry that pumps out an astonishing stream of garbage. American record producers have no tolerance for maverick artists and when they get their grips into one, any creativity or individuality will be stifled. Oasis started out as a band determined to turn the face of rock music on its ear and Noel Gallagher�s anger at being told his limits is understandable. Ask yourself, would the Doors have been the same band if today�s intolerant recording industry sunk their claws into Jim Morrison, a rock genius? In place of lusty, gutsy rock�n�roll, we get posturing homeboys laying rhythms to drum machines and young people whose voices have yet to change and who couldn�t play a bass or guitar lick if their careers depended on it warbling along to jingling synths. And for all this, record execs expect to get treated like royalty and demand an artist�s subservience? Nice to meet you, gentlemen, please don�t kill my song.
Noel Gallagher said: �You don�t get to number one in America without sucking somebody�s dick.� Noel Gallagher is right.
Long live freedom, musical or otherwise.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
AMERICA FOR TRUE AMERICANS!