Noel Gallagher has 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.
Gallagher, who releases new album ‘Chasing Yesterday’ in March, said in a new interview with BBC Radio Four that the working class in Britain no longer has a voice and that he finds music increasingly middle class.
During an interview for the Master Tapes show, broadcast earlier this week, Gallagher was asked whether he thinks the music scene in Britain is in good health, or whether it requires inspiration.
“Well you only have to look at the charts, what happened at the end of the ’90s, all those bands used to be in the Top Ten, like us, Manic, Pulp, The Verve, Suede and Blur, and I think bands like that have been marginalised and side-lined,” he replied. “There’s X Factor and all that kind of thing, can you name me the last great band that came out of this country? There’s not really been any great bands in the last 10 years.”
When it was put to him that One Direction might be considered great in terms of their global success and fame, Gallagher added: “They’re not a band, they’re a group and good luck to those lads. Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, that’s ten years ago now and shame on those two bands for a start because they didn’t inspire anybody else. The working classes have not got a voice anymore, there doesn’t seem to be a noise coming from the council estates, you know what I mean?
“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. Easy, had ‘em for breakfast. My bass player summed it up, we’re constantly saying, ‘Where is the next band coming from?’ and he rightly says, ‘Never mind the band, where are the people?’
“When I first started I wanted to get in the charts and wreck it, like stamp Phil Collins out and Wet Wet Wet, they’ve got to go, and all that ’80s gear, we don’t need that anymore. I don’t see anything from the working class, I just don’t see it.”
Earlier today Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds were announced as the first headline act for the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall next year.
This year, Oasis’ first two albums – ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ – have been reissued. NME‘s newest Collector’s Edition is an attempt to bottle up and present the wild spirit of those times. Over 100 pages it tells the story of every song they wrote, recorded and released during the time, delves into the NME, Melody Maker and VOX archives to pick out some classic interviews, and builds up to the peak of their career: playing to a quarter of a million people at Knebworth Park in August 1996.
