Oh here it goes. Oasis. For a long time I didn’t want to buy their records, even though I loved their work in the mid-nineties. The reason I was so reluctant to give in to their self-proclaimed greatness is because they piss me off as people. However, now I have as good as all their work on an mp3 cd I purchased in Indonesia, which worked out well for me: I didn’t give them any of my money, but I still get to enjoy their best work whenever I want to. Plus, I supported the local Indonesian community, sort of. (All you officers of the law out there, I’m just being funny to attract potential readers, I would never do something like that, no sir.) I know I’m not the first one to say it by far, but them Gallagher brothers say stuff that makes them look so small, it’s hard not to comment on them. So I’ve decided to surrender to my need to rant, if only once.

How petty is it, especially as an artist with some cachet, to call other bands by name and tell the public just exactly what is crap about them. I understand that it is a big part of their shtick, to lash out at certain people publicly, which is probably why barely anybody takes them seriously anymore - not in interviews anyway. I understand they probably wouldn’t be who they are if they weren’t using the media as their personal mud-slinging device, but I’m also allowed to bitch about them when they do. So here is the one bitching session about a Gallagher I’ll allow myself.

In an interview for an Australian radio station, Noel Gallagher comments on today’s British bands and why they are “indie shit”. The reason for that, according to him, is that they’re not trying to make it BIG. Forgetting that not everybody is as hungry for fame as he is. Some people actually just love making the music, or love groupies, or would be unemployed if they weren’t on a stage. Whatever the reason, sometimes Making It Big is not always the main objective. Why that automatically makes the band “indie shit” is beyond me. Seems to me, anyone who does claim they’re gonna be the world’s greatest nowadays - which, incidentally, got tired after Muhammad Ali stopped doing it - is most likely auditioning for Idol.

Franz Ferdinand seem to get a compliment, but then he actually calls them “fucking indie rubbish”. Well, Mr. Gallagher, it seems the rubbish is taking the world by storm. In fact, it looks like the stink of indie filth is oozing through the layers of Popdom more and more. Many popular artists want at least some aspect of today’s indie sound in their own work. Oasis, on the other hand, seem to have peaked a while ago and are watching the new bands - yes, even in their super trendy indie school boy attire - win the chart race. That must sting a little.