Noel Gallagher has said Oasis never became as popular in the US as they were in the UK because America “couldn’t handle” that “we didn’t give a fuck about anything”.
READ MORE: The Masterlist – every song Oasis ever recorded ranked in order of greatness
Gallagher was speaking in conversation with the legendary rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky ahead of her new exhibition, which will include images of Oasis that she was able to capture during the band’s peak.
“America, they couldn’t handle the fact that we didn’t give a fuck about anything,” said Gallagher, when asked about Oasis’ relationship with the country. “I mean, I think that’s the reason we’ve never really had a number one album in America – they wouldn’t go the extra mile for us because we wouldn’t go the extra mile for them.”
“That’s why we’ve never been nominated for a GRAMMY – you’ve got to do all that stuff over there, you’ve got to kind of fake it a little bit and we just we couldn’t do it which is why we’d always stall at number two.”
Oasis in rehearsals for the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
All seven of Oasis’ studio albums reached the Number One spot on the UK Albums Chart, whereas none achieved the same feat in the US, with 1997’s ‘Be Here Now’ reaching the highest position of Number Two. ‘Wonderwall’ is the only Oasis single to break into the Top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, whereas they racked up eight UK Number One singles and a further 15 Top Ten singles in their home country.
Oasis are also on course to score their latest Number One album this week with the 25th anniversary reissue of their B-sides compilation ‘The Masterplan’. It faces competition from Taylor Swift’s ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’, the incumbent Number One, and BTS singer Jungkook’s debut album ‘Golden’.
Earlier this month, Noel Gallagher shared his new single, ‘We’re Gonna Get There in the End’, a song from his recent album with his High Flying Birds, ‘Council Skies’.
Noel and his High Flying Birds are set to hit the road next month for an arena tour. Any remaining tickets for the tour, which includes a date at London’s OVO Arena Wembley can be purchased here.
Meanwhile, Liam Gallagher recently claimed that Noel turned down the opportunity to take part in the upcoming ‘Definitely Maybe’ tour.
“He’s been asked and he’s refused,” he wrote, responding to a fan who asked when he was going to announce Noel’s involvement in the tour.
Furmanovsky’s newest exhibition, Jill Furmanovsky: No Music No Life has been commissioned by rockarchive.com, in collaboration with Proud Galleries. As well as Oasis, the exhibition will showcase shots by the photographer of artists including Miles Davis, Amy Winehouse, Joy Division, Pink Floyd and Leonard Cohen.
The show will run from November 17 to February 3 at Proud Galleries in London, and entry is free.
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