Glastonbury

How Not To Be A Star

 

 

Back in 1994 Noel Gallagher did his first Glastonbury Festival. To play at Glastonbury is a great honour. A shame then that Noel was reported at the time to be less of a star and more of a spoilt child. Yet to give both him and the band credit, their performance at Glastonbury was a real blinder. Superb lyrics a soulful beat and great sound all combined to personify what later became regarded as the first major breakthrough for the band. The bands second record Shakermaker had just climbed to number 11 in the charts and Creation records were reported to be unhappy that their investment had not hit the top ten. Oasis were at the forefront of a new generation of British guitar groups who set their own mark on the music scene, with a focus on the mainstream in a way that would have been unthinkable a few years before. Noel was not troubled that his record had not hit the top ten.

Glastonbury made Oasis. Something they sadly forgot when the pressure of fame became too much for them. They forgot their roots. Yet at the time the thousands of people present to hear Oasis that day went away with a real buzz. They had heard a real masterpiece of creation and within a very short space of time, literally everyone was talking about Oasis as if they had been there that afternoon. Brit Pop had arrived.

Raised in the tough area of Burnage in Manchester, the Gallagher brothers brought to the stage and to the lives of millions of fans that rough, tough, couldn't care less attitude with undertones of violence that is sadly what they are remembered more for today than for the excellent music they created.

In those early days it could have been so different. The anti social attitude however is what caught the headlines of the newspapers more than the music and that will be something that the brothers will have to reflect on as they get older. They could have made a real statement, a real lasting difference. Instead they will be remembered as that British Band that constantly ended up fighting with photographers, getting drunk and beating up club goers and generally being a complete pain in the arse.