(Credits: Kevin Cummins / Iconic Images)
Wed 10 September 2025 8:00, UK
The Gallagher brothers have never been shy of criticising each other. Things seem to be going great for Liam and Noel Gallagher on their Oasis reunion tour, but if their hit songs are famous, the digs they take at each other are even more iconic.
While there is a huge element of sibling rivalry in their mutual verbal mudslinging, it’s not always about just that. Many times, their criticism of one another can be constructive, if sharp, and based on musical preferences.
2008 and Oasis were on top of the world. The band had just released what would become their last album, Dig Out Your Soul, but behind the scenes, things weren’t going so well. While the album went on to achieve great critical and commercial success, the recording process was gruelling, according to Noel, who, in an interview with Spin in 2008, revealed that he had faced significant pushback when presenting his original songs, as Liam seemed to misunderstand his vision.
“Liam immediately had a tantrum in the studio and was dancing around saying, ‘No one told me we were making a f***ing dance album! I’m not having this s**t. We’re a rock band’,” Noel Gallagher shared.
But apparently, it wasn’t the only time the band had had that kind of discussion. Back in 1995, when the band released (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Liam had the same concerns about Oasis’ greatest hit.
“This is the man who thought we had gone too dance when I wrote ‘Wonderwall’ because the drums didn’t go boom-boom bap, boom-boom-bap,” Noel Gallagher complained about his younger brother in vocals. “Liam is very institutionalised by being in Oasis. He’s been doing it for so long,” Noel added, noting how the former was too attached to clichés, and that was why, even in 2008, he still couldn’t appreciate ‘Wonderwall’. When the interviewer shared that Liam had told him he hated singing that song, the oldest replied, “That’s interesting, because he would never say that to me”.
On reports of the singing, Noel admitted he doesn’t like Liam’s voice on it as well, owing to nature taking its course with ageing and vocal changes, which hot-headed singers may fail to account for often: “Liam doesn’t sound like he did ten years ago. Your voice and your body change. We’ve never got it right. It’s too slow or too fast.”
However, he did have in mind one artist who managed to do the song justice, with the songwriter even confessing he preferred this cover to the original. “I think Ryan Adams is the only person who ever got that song right. I’d love to do the Ryan Adams version, but in front of 60,000 Oasis fans, that wouldn’t be possible,” Noel remarked.
While it is always controversial to claim that a cover could be better than an original song, the fact that the man who wrote it asserts it makes it easier to compliment Adams’ version. His interpretation is a lot more tender and soothing than the original, and while it pays homage to it, he entirely reimagines it. It’s completely acoustic, for a start, with soft guitar picking instead of straight chords. Adams’s voice is much softer, while Oasis fans are used to Liam belting the notes and holding them for longer. Ryan Adams’s voice is a sweet whisper in comparison, and he plays with his vocal range a lot more.
Although he probably meant it partly as a dig at his brother, there’s no denying that Noel made a great point praising this incredible cover.
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