25/01/2025
Rock music journalist Simon Price writing in the Guardian newspaper has little time for the adulation pouring out from some quarters at the news of a money spinning reunion for the 1990's laddish rock band Oasis. Mr Price points out "I’ll never forget being present at the Q Awards in 2000, when Liam Gallagher repeatedly heckled Robbie Williams with “Queer!” and Kylie Minogue with “Lesbian!” as the assembled music business and media tittered nervously, reluctant to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. It’s one of the ugliest scenes I’ve ever witnessed. This wasn’t a one-off either. In 2016, on Twitter, he called Russian football hooligans “batty boys”, and in 2018 used another homophobic slur, “bum chums”, against Noel, Johnny Marr and Paul Weller. Noel, too, has repeatedly expressed prehistoric views, complaining about a hip-hop artist, Jay-Z, headlining Glastonbury in 2008". We asked our news editor, Terry, where he was during Oasis first pinnacle of laddish success in 1995. He replied "Working for a pirate radio station. Interestingly, all the political stuff that was going on at the time, whether it be OutRage!, the Lesbian Avengers or Reclaim the Streets, was not reflected in Oasis' output. They generally disliked progressive politics of any shade. The aforementioned pirate station I worked for eventually adopted a slogan of "Guaranteed No Blur and No Bloody Oasis". Which with the benefit of hindsight was a bit harsh on Blur, who were the intelligent alternative to Oasis at the time".
