Noel Gallagher: Oasis should never have made Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants'

Noel Gallagher regrets that Oasis released their fourth album 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants'.

Speaking to Grantland magazine, the guitarist said that after the release of the band's hugely successful second album, 1995's '(What's The Story?) Morning Glory?', he lost the desire to write music and he believes the band lost its way.

He said:

We should have never made 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants'. I'd come to the end. At the time, I had no reason or desire to make music. I had no drive. We'd sold all these fucking records and there just seemed to be no point.

He continued:

I went ahead and did it, even though I had no inspiration and couldn't find inspiration anywhere. I just wrote songs for the sake of making an album. We needed a reason to go on a tour. But at the time, I wasn't thinking like that. We all thought the song 'Go Let It Out' was good.

Gallagher also admitted that he believes his career went backwards after the first two Oasis albums, but it bothers him that people believe his songwriting ability has been in steady decline ever since.


He added:

At the end of the cycle of '...Morning Glory', I was hailed as the greatest songwriter since Lennon and McCartney. Now, I know that I'm not, and I knew I wasn't then. But the perception of everybody since that period has been, 'What the fuck happened to this guy? Wasn't he supposed to be the next fucking Beatles?'

He went on:

Let's say my career had gone backwards. Let say this new solo album had been my debut, and it was my last two records that sold 20 million copies instead of the first two records. Had this been the case, all the other albums leading up to those last two would be considered a fucking journey. They would be perceived as albums that represent the road to greatness.

The guitarist also spoke about his departure from Oasis and said he quit the band when his brother Liam continued to upset his friends and relations turned violent. He explained:

He [Liam] had to take responsibility for the fucking words he was saying. I have a circle of friends, and he kept saying things that were upsetting to these people. And for years I ignored it, because I thought the band was more important. But at some point, I just decided I'd had enough of this. And when things got violent, I left.

Noel added:

There is no point in being in a fucking violent rock band. That's nonsense. We've always had a different view of the band: I thought the most important part were the songs, and he though the most important part was the chaos.

Noel Gallagher releases his debut solo album 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' on October 17.