Bee Gees, gifts and life as a star roadie: Six things you don’t know about Oasis

Beyond the booze and battles are the Oasis stories few know: like why Bee Gees fan Noel joined the band, his life as a star roadie and the gift from a rock legend that spawned a hit.

Perhaps the last great rock‘n’roll band of the pre-internet era, Oasis lived the lifestyle to the hilt and dared to enjoy it.

But this is also only a small part of their story. There was so much more to brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, and the rest of the band, than the tabloid headlines.

Being part of the UK’s Manchester music scene for decades, I’ve known the band and Noel for years – even before they broke through – and they are far less one-dimensional than their media image.

Here are six things you might not have realised about them:

Roadie to rock‘n’roll star ... Noel Gallagher lugged gear around the world for the Inspiral Carpets before making it big with Oasis.

CLASS A, CLASS BEE GEE

Whilst their A-sides were often brilliant raucous anthems of escape that signposted a generation, Noel Gallagher peppered the B-sides with classic introspective acoustic. From celebrating the classic rock‘n’roll bands from the Beatles, the Sex Pistols and the Kinks to cult punk like Slaughter And The Dogs, Noel Gallagher was also a big fan of acid house and unlikely music like Burt Bacharach and the Bee Gees, as well as deeper cuts from the likes of Blue Mink, the baroque pop of Left Banke, and German underground heroes Can.

Mad for them ... Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher enjoys the Bee Gees and other eclectic styles of music as much as rock and punk.

INSPIRING NOEL

Noel Gallagher spent the four years before joining Oasis as the roadie for Manchester band the Inspiral Carpets, where his profile was almost as high as that bands. Every Manchester band at the time had a cool member of the crew like Noel who also sound-checked all the instruments and helped run the band.

Twist of fate ... Liam Gallagher (pictured) and Oasis made it big. World Of Twist didn’t but should have.

NAME TWIST

They were nearly called Sons Of The Stage after a song by the early nineties Manchester band who should have made it, World Of Twist. The name Oasis possibly came from an Inspiral Carpets tour poster on the wall of Liam and Noel’s shared bedroom in their childhood house, where the band were playing an April 28th 1991 gig at the Swindon Oasis centre.

Noel decided to roll with it ... Oasis in their early years.

SWEET SURPRISE

Noel Gallagher didn’t play the first Oasis gig at Manchester Boardwalk on August 14th, 1991. He went to see them supporting the long-lost Birmingham band Sweet Jesus after hearing that his younger brother Liam had joined a band. Surprised at hearing the news, he liked what he saw and after a few months of prevaricating joined them in time for their second gig at the same venue the following January.

They love a bit of it ... Oasis’ Britpop rivals Blur. Spoiler: Country House ended up beating Roll With It to No1.

BLUR & BRITPOP

The famous battle of Britpop in August 1995 saw Oasis’ Roll With It and Blur’s Country House in a head-to-head race for the number one spot, accompanied by a huge wave of media that ended up on the national news. Ironically the two groups were not in the original Britpop scene, which had been sparked by a front cover article in Select magazine in March 1993. The article used the Britpop word which had already been kicking around the music press for five years and concentrated on Suede with Pulp, St Etienne, Denim and the Auteurs.

This charming man ... Smiths guitar virtuoso Johnny Marr gave an extraordinary gift to a then-unknown Noel Gallagher. Photo: Marc McGarraghy

SLIDE GUITAR

The Smiths’ legendary guitarist Johnny Marr went to see a pre-fame Oasis in the summer of 1993 supporting Dodgy at Manchester Academy 3. Noticing that Noel didn’t have a spare guitar he gave him one from his collection – a 1960 Gibson Les Paul, which was previously owned by Pete Townshend of The Who and also featured on The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead album. On receiving the guitar, the first thing that Noel did was write the Oasis classic Slide Away.

Known Noel and Oasis for years ... music industry veteran John Robb. Photo: John Middleham.

Deep dive into a rock legend ... Live Forever by John Robb

Live Forever: The Rise, Fall and Resurrectionof Oasis by John Robb is out now, published by HarperCollins.

What’s the best music bio you’ve read? Join the jam at The Sunday Book Club group on Facebook.

Originally published as Bee Gees, gifts and life as a star roadie: Six things you don’t know about Oasis