(Credits: Far Out / Drew de F Fawkes)
Sat 11 April 2026 6:48, UK
Noel Gallagher hates a lot of things in life, but no band have taken his insulting remarks better than Sum-41, also known as “the shittiest band of all-time”.
By Noel slagging them off, they join the likes of Radiohead, Coldplay and The Beach Boys, three of the best-selling groups in history, to be on the receiving end of his famous criticism. Rather than work themselves into a frenzy about not being to his taste, they used it as a marketing technique and went down the ‘all publicity is good publicity’ approach.
Sum-41 knew there was little to gain from trying to respond to Noel and engaging in a slanging match. We all know there’ll only be one winner. Instead, they proudly placed his insulting comment in their press release. Considering the vast number of bands he’s called shit over the years, it really does take some doing to be crowned “the shittiest”, an honour they didn’t for granted.
Gallagher has badmouthed too many bands to possibly mention, but the following, in full, is his most scathing: “Do you ever look at the sky and think, I’m glad I’m alive? After I heard Sum 41, I thought, I’m actually alive to hear the shittiest band of all time, which is quite something when you think about it. Of all the bands that have gone before and all the bands that’ll be in the future, I was around when the worst was around”.
It’s the kind of comment that could have ruined a career, or at least ruined their week. However, it had far from that effect, and they took it in their stride from the first moment it was told to them.
(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
During a later interview with NME, Sum 41 frontman Deryk Whibley recalled his initial reaction to hearing it for the first time, which perversely filled him with joy.
He proudly shared, “We put that quote in our album press release for Does This Look Infected? along with one from Damon Albarn but with somebody like Noel Gallagher who’s such a character people love, you want him to always be like that. You don’t want him to be nice”.
In contrast, Whibley went on to claim that Noel’s brother and Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher has been a complete gentleman whenever their paths have crossed, adding, “We’ve met Liam, who’s much cooler and nicer, a few times.”
He then recounted an experience backstage at a festival when Liam “swaggered up to me”, which he couldn’t understand initially because “he has an accent that’s really thick”.
Naturally, Whibley assumed that Liam was badmouthing him just like Noel previously had. He explained, “Eventually, I got it out that he was saying ‘I like the jumping that you do!’. He gave us a few compliments and I said, ‘I’m surprised to hear you say that because your brother hates us’. And he was like: ‘Fuck him! He doesn’t know shit.’”
Whibley also remembered Liam being courteous when both bands performed on the BBC television programme Top of the Pops, starting, “Our dressing rooms were next to each other, and he was really friendly then too. I remember thinking: ‘Well, he wasn’t just nice because he was drunk then!’”
Admittedly, Liam’s compliments didn’t extend to Sum-41’s music, which suggests his views are likely aligned with his older brother on this subject rather than him secretly rocking out to ‘In Too Deep’ like a Monster-drinking CEX worker.
While Noel’s original comment about Sum 41 being the worst band of all time may have included a smattering of hyperbole for comedic effect, the visceral disdain was real.
They were everything that he resented packaged up into one band. Not only was pop-punk, as a genre, incredibly North American, but it was also a watered-down version of punk to be sold to a teenage audience, which Gallagher viewed as inauthentic.
Still, despite their differences in every other regard, at least Sum-41 took the insult with a smile like a champ.
