Who is Noel Gallagher?
Short Answer
The songwriter behind Oasis who turned kitchen-sink bitterness into stadium-sized poetry. Sharp as a tack, stubborn as a mule, and quietly responsible for half the songs that kept Britain upright in the '90s.
Long Answer
Noel Gallagher is the reason Oasis had the songs. He wrote the songs. Those songs. Simple as that. While Liam was spitting them out with that strut and snarl, Noel was in the corner, chiselling choruses out of chord progressions stolen from The Beatles and The Kinks. But he did it with such confidence, and such a keen ear, that you couldn’t help but sing along.
He was the older brother with the record collection and the plan. Grew up skint, got a job, picked up a guitar, and started writing songs about hope, regret, and not much happening on a rainy afternoon. His lyrics weren’t revolutionary. They were familiar. That was the trick. He made the mundane sound majestic.
Where Liam was the chaos, Noel was control. Except when he wasn’t. The man could be as petty, moody, and monumentally difficult as any rock star. But he was always articulate. He gave better interviews than most people give sermons. Full of bile, wit, and the kind of insight that only comes from someone who’s seen it all and still doesn’t quite believe any of it.
After Oasis split, he did what he always said he would. Went solo, made some decent records, hired better musicians, and gave himself more room to breathe. He swapped the speed-fuelled anthems for psychedelic swirls and melancholy mid-tempos. And while it didn’t hit as hard, it still landed. Because the quality control was always his job.
Noel Gallagher is a songwriter first, a frontman reluctantly, and a pundit by default. He’s the bloke who brought melody back to the masses. He won’t admit he’s a national treasure. But he is.
