Why the music world needs Oasis… like a bad case of haemerroids
In his weekly column for The Grauniad, the increasingly ridiculous Alan McGee manages to exceed his own standard in breathless hyperbole
I understand that openly admitting to liking Oasis is inviting confrontation, but you know what? Being an Oasis fan is never having to say I’m sorry. And I’m not. Leave saying sorry to the Coldplay imitators as their era of bedwetter music is over. It’s only Glasvegas and Oasis for competition in this country. If you are in a band and are not artistically competing with the creative rock’n'roll genius of Oasis or Glasvegas, it’s time to just stop and get off the treadmill. This is how rock’n'roll should be done in the United Kingdom today.
Apparently this new album is on a par with The Beatles’ “Revolver” and The Stones’ “Beggars Banquet”. Believe that, and I’ve got a bridge for sale.
A comment of mine has so far got 30 recommendations for saying that the coming of Oasis marked the point where mainstream British rock music took a major wrong turning, and tediously retro lumpen four-chord pub-rock became the only game in town.
Actually, I thought the first couple of Oasis albums were tolerably listenable, about as good as The Darkness a decade later. But their sound came to dominate the music scene to the extent that their ultimate legacy is the current glut of so-called ‘landfill indie’, band after band who all draw from the same desperately limited musical palette. It’s not pretty.
Naturally a band like The Reasoning blows the musically limited Oasis right out out of the water. Perhaps that’s what McGee is inadvertently saying: if you’re even more tiresomely conservative than Oasis, you might as well give up now.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Oasis inspired a truly horrible (bowel) movement of sludgy guitar pop bands in the 90’s fronted by static, aloof singers doing the “I’m so working class ‘ard, me” act.
it’s hilarious that McGee says “get off the treadmill” when Oasis are firmly aboard one, going through the motions like a tribute act.
as for his beloved Glasvegas; Daddy’s gone, It’s my own cheating heart that makes me cry, boo hoo, there, there, get over it.
Mcgee whined about Coldplay being bedwetters, now he’s given us Nu-Bedwetters.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Yes, taking the piss out of that McGee piece is just like shooting fish in a barrel. I find the random postings by Oasis fanboys saying “Go back and listen to Trout Mask Replica” equally amusing.
I’d rather listen to “Tales from Topographic Oceans”. Hell, I’d rather listen to “Tormato”.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 am
I kind of like the new album — not an Oasis fan in general, though. I’ve only heard about half of it while my wife was listening to it, maybe the other half sucks.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Coldplay are a part of the reason I ended up listening to Merzbow.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Sometimes I’ve felt like I’m the only person in the world who never took to Oasis, so I’m glad to hear I’m not. I’m not sure I’d say they were responsible for landfill indie, but they are so dull they make me want to stuff my ears with cotton wool.
Do you ever wonder if the Guardian pays people to write some contentious rubbish just to get a response?
October 5th, 2008 at 8:53 am
“Do you ever wonder if the Guardian pays people to write some contentious rubbish just to get a response?”
Crivens! There’s a thought! The Dead Tree Trolls might actually be, erm, trolling!
What do you think, Tim?
;-) 
October 5th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Steven Wells definitely fits the classic internet troll pattern - I’m half-convinced the man is genuinely psychotic.
McGee on the other hand, is so locked up in his self-regarding little universe I don’t suppose he notices if anyone responds.
As for why the Grauniad pays these two, you might just be right.
BTW, Steve - didn’t see you at either the Manchester show or the It Bites gig in the evening
October 5th, 2008 at 11:16 am
“BTW, Steve - didn’t see you at either the Manchester show or the It Bites gig in the evening”
Yes, that’s correct
October 5th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Well, TfTO is certainly miles better, deeper and more accomplished on every level than the mainstream Pop/Rock peddled as Prog by The Reasoning. And Oasis have never been even remotely interesting - same goes for The Darkness, mind. And there’s absolutely no need to escape all the way to Merzbow just because you want music that diverges at least somewhat from cliché and safe songwriting.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Golly: TFTO IS prog, as we might understand it in the traditional sense. The Reasoning are a ROCK band. The Reasoning do not market themselves as prog and have no desire to be considered as such. FFS, there’s nothing about Dark Angel that fits the currently and generally understood understanding of prog. This is modern music that recognises its influences but doesn’t seek to reproduce them!
October 6th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I did say “part of the reason”. The other part was because I genuinely like Merzbow. There’s plenty of music out there that diverges from cliché / safe songwriting — in fact, most of what’s in my playlist right now is Coltrane and Miles Davis.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
http://www.marillion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36956
Well, it makes a change from ‘Lucy, has HiTR shipped yet?’ I suppose
Gotta go - thought I heard the postman…
October 9th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Well, I’m glad to hear that some people note that The Reasoning is basically a mainstream Rock band. They do get a listing on Progarchives, however - while much more Progressive (both upper and lower case) acts like The Week That Was get completely ignored - probably because they don’t have the pedigree of Magenta, etc.
Then again, the reviewers on Progarchives compare The Reasoning to Pure Reason Revolution, which is…lets be kind here; absurd. The definition of Progressive Rock is being watered down so far from what it was that Saga, who were never really considered Prog in the 80s are pretty much Prog stalwarts today. *sigh*