In short, the Gallagher brothers argue like teenagers. It’s every younger brother-older brother relationship you’ve ever seen, exposed to fame and money and drugs and ferries to Amsterdam.
As well as the tone, the recording shows us the tactics – how each of them navigates the older-younger power dynamic. Noel tries to embarrass Liam, and Liam doesn’t like it. Noel says Liam “can’t drink”—is there a more older brother move? “Well fuckin’ where the fuck did it go then?” Liam asks, re: the booze. Is there a more younger brother response?
This foreshadows one of the key moments in the eventual dissolution of the band. In 2009, Liam pulled out of a gig citing laryngitis. Noel later claimed it was really a hangover—something Liam later successfully sued Noel over. A week after that incident, they broke up. The recurrence of this same conflict points to a bigger, more philosophical difference in each brother’s approach to hedonism, and by extension how seriously they take their art.
And we see that at its clearest in an argument the brothers have in the recording about the most important thing in the whole of both of their worlds: the meaning of—what? Life? God no. The meaning of rock ‘n’ roll.
Liam says it’s about being yourself, and part of being himself is getting drunk and fighting. Noel says it’s about music. “Music music music. It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s not about Oasis. It’s about the songs,” he insists. Liam has a good counter-argument prepared: “Nah nah nah nah nah.”
Harris probes a little further by asking whether or not the Rolling Stones—themselves notorious hellraisers—would’ve made the same impact without getting arrested and pissing people off.
Liam says no, of course not, that’s what made them so good. Noel agrees that they were good, but not because they got themselves arrested. “No…No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!” says Liam, and of course you think he’s got Noel cornered. But Noel fires back:. “Fuck off! Bullshit! Bullshit!”
And so it goes on.
Towards the end of the interview, Harris asks the brothers how often they argue like this. Liam says every day. Noel says every hour.
This story originally appeared in British GQ.
