OASIS vs REM: The Mysterious Band Fallout At Slane Castle 

I’m actually quite impressed how Liam and Noel handled the crowd extremely well

I was at the Slane '95 gig....it was outstanding. Both bands were great. Belly, and Luka Bloom were some of ther other support acts... You missed a massive nugget (maybe you were unaware), but Stipe and Cobain were very good friends. This is well documented. Stipe was devestated when Cobain died and not long after, like you mentioned, Noel slags off rock stars committing suicide. That to me, is where it started.

I've just had my 4th round of chemo treatment and I saw this video. Slane Castle was the best gig I ever went to. Being part of lad culture in the 90s was the best time of my life. The 90s truly were the last great decade. We are going to live forever.

I was never that much into Oasis, but I must say, I've become addicted to your mini-docs on the band and have made me more interested into digging into their backcatalogue. Thank you for these.

Interesting, I didn't even know that there'd been a rivalry between them and R.E.M, apart from knowing that "Wake Up Bomb" was a dig, but that was it. One Oasis rivalry that seems to have been forgotten, and was actually one of their earliest, was the one they had with Shed Seven - I'm sure they supported Oasis early in their career, and didn't Oasis have a spat with them because Shed Seven's logo was at one point too similar to that of Oasis, and Liam Gallagher was having none of it?

Quality video, mate! Keep up the awesome work. Can’t get enough of it! Cheers!

Another great documentary from you but I have to pick you up on a couple of points. I was at the Slane gig in '95 and nobody blew anybody off stage! R.E.M. and Oasis were both massive bands at the time, the anticipation ahead of seeing them play back to back was huge and they didn't disappoint. Both delivered amazing sets and around 80,000 people left the venue with a big smile on their faces. Also, I suspect it wasn't backstage at Slane that created the tension. You have to remember Michael Stipe had become very close to Kurt Cobain in the months leading up to his death. As far as I remember, Oasis started having a go at rock stars who commit suicide, mentioning Kurt in particular, shortly after his death and I suspect that was the root of the tension that developed between the two bands.

I am so glad Oasis came along to with a more optimistic sound. Not that it's better music than Rem or the Seattle Bands... but the music was just brighter and I needed that. Those early 90's bands have a gloomy cloud over them and it's still there today, in my mind. Oasis music is still like the sunshine through the clouds

Great content, as always! You're a great story teller.

Another excellent video on something I vaguely remember from the time. Good work , really enjoyed this 👍

I was at this gig. Massive crowd and both bands were really great. Slane Castle is such a great festival site. Oasis did not blow REM off the stage. As I said, both rocked.

I went into the Oasis dressing room to thank them for supporting us after their set on Slane Castle in 1995 and I asked if they were staying to watch us. From the back of the room Liam shouted "are we fuc#, your music is depressing we are off to get pissed" Michael Stipe on NME

I really don't know how you find all this information out but it's really impressive. Love these videos!

Great video for sure. Thank you for that James. I would disagree with the characterization that REM was "slogging" it out on the circuit for 14 years before having success, they were huge in the US for the most part from 1986 on. By 1995 they were really in their twilight. I was a huge REM fan in the early 80's and really only started to appreciate Oasis around 1999. Now they are by far my favorite band of all time. I could not imagine what that back stage scene was like with REM and Oasis, you can't get two groups on more different ends of the spectrum lol. Keep up the good content.

Really interesting video James. It wasn’t a rivalry I’d really thought about before. They are really different bands and not easy to compare.

Noel met Michael Stipe somewhere recently (within the past five years) and Michael Stipe took a selfie with him and posted it on his instagram account (an account he has since deleted) so I think everything’s good between them now.

Was at Slane in 1995 and it was the best outdoor gig I've ever been to. I bought the ticket for REM but Oasis being added to the bill later on was just dream stuff. By the time the gig came round, Oasis were so big they could have been headliners and undoubtedly a lot came to Slane just to see them (funnily enough this also happened at Slane in 1998 with Robbie Williams supporting The Verve despite being bigger than them by then. Slane headliners are usually booked a year in advance but the music world moves much quicker than that). I mostly remember Oasis playing stuff from the then unreleased Morning Glory album and all the crowd mayhem you mentioned. The excitement clearly drove REM on as they played a great gig and didn't want to be upstaged.

Your videos are a must for any Oasis fans, out there. Nice work, mate👍

Another fascinating video, James--although I will say, alot of the supposed "REM comments" are pretty general Noel press-courting statements about those types of bands in general. In particular, with the "band's documentaries" statement, he was obviously referring much more to Radiohead there--the infamously media-phobic, paranoid and dystopian tour documentary "Meeting People is Easy" (which I actually love, it's got some mind blowing performances on it) had been released not too long ago, and he even makes reference to "go[ing] back to Oxford", which obviously wouldn't apply to REM.

Hello all - quick correction - Liam was 21 when he sang Shakermaker in the studio (when he 'taught the world to sing'), not at Slane. My bad. He was 22 at Slane.

Really dig your channel and these types of tales. You mention the dichotomy between the two bands at the Slane castle show, and while they were definitely part of two different movements and attitudes, I will say that you also have to keep in mind that Liam was around 23 years old in 1995 while Michael Stipe was 35 years of age. I would say with life experience and the fact that REM had been plugging at it for years at this point (which you mention) there is definitely a noticeable distinction in maturity at this point in time atleast between those two.

This is the second video I've watched and I subscribed. In both your videos you put the music squarely into the youth movements that were going on at the time. I see a great scope for this in terms of future videos. Excellent job.

An interesting piece. Thanks. I saw REM quite a few times in England from 1984 to about 1988 and yes they were a very hardworking band who toured constantly. They obviously enjoyed playing in the UK and they cultivated a rather large fanbase (well maybe not that large). They really broke through from the early 90's onwards. My main point is that Stipe has always been introverted and that's just what he's like. But to me he's a fantastic musician and frontman. Being a bit older I didn't really get into Oasis but I still respect them as a band. Polar opposites really. But thanks again for your video 👍

I was at that gig and remember Liam’s outburst. Oasis played a lot of What’s the story? Which hadn’t been released. It was the first time I heard Don’t look back in anger, Hello, Champagne Supernova etc. Apparently there was 100,000 there and during man on the moon the lit paper cups were unreal in the dusk.

The time between the Slane Castle show and the first live performance of 'The Wake‐Up Bomb' is just twelve days. If it is true that elements of the song are about Oasis then you have to congratulate R.E.M. for the speed in getting that out there.

Oasis and R.E.M. are my two absolute favourite bands. I've met Stipe backstage after a gig in the early 2000s and in the context of a conversation that I don't remember anymore, I actually said to him sth like "You're not Liam Gallagher are you?". He replied with a smirk and said "No I'm not that...". He never really finished that sentence. I also remember one post oasis interview with Noel where he mentions r.e.m. and the amicable manner in which they split up, contrasting it with oasis breakup.

One of the best videos I've seen except all the frames put together..would have been better as a live interview but well done 👏

Really interesting story. I was/am a fan of both bands (and in attendance at Slane '95) and I had no idea all that was going on. The Slane gig was awesome. I don't remember feeling that anyone blew anyone else off the stage. It was just a really high quality gig all round.

There's of course Michael Stipe offering this opinion on the R.E.M. track King of Birds: "Standing on the shoulder(s) of giants leaves me cold" Of course, that song is from 1987, but still

Great video and analysis my friend. I'm a big fan of both bands and I never heard of this story before

REM was once, in the early 80s, along with the Grateful Dead, the most beloved college radio bands. Both REM and the GD are 2 of my favorite bands. I saw both of them multiple times in 1994/1995. Both can be considered “rock adjacent,” rock derivative or even alternative rock, in some sense.

I didn't realise REM and Oasis ever crossed paths. Monster wasn't a punk record. Although Stipe's ideas have always been pretty abstract, so maybe he felt it was. Either way, it's one hell of an album.. whatever genre it is or isn't.

Just like to point out That REM started out as a Punk Band in the 80s (I saw them in a Back Yard Party)!!

I remember seeing a relatively recent photo of Michael and Noel sitting next to each other at a meal in Italy or somewhere, with, I think De Niro.

Never stop making these mini documentarys!

I hope you do more of these Oasis vs bands as there is some interesting stories to tell.

This is interesting, especially since an Oasis cover band (Supersonic) and an REM cover band (Murmer) are on tour together now. Saw them in NYC a few weeks ago, it was mega!

Interesting video, and it's funny that Oasis and REM only shared two gigs together. The gig at Badesee Düren on the 9th of July and the Slane Castle gig on the 22nd. Though Liam was not 21 at the Slane Castle gig. Liam was 22. It might've been that Liam sang Shakermaker when he was 21.

I also find it interesting that the REM song revolves around the phrase “wake up” and is titled Wake Up Bomb. Oasis clearly took the riff from the “The One I love” by REM and made “Morning Glory”, which also revolves around the recurring phrase of “wake up”. Maybe Stipe was calling out Oasis for using his bands riff by directly stealing a phrase from “Morning Glory”? Not sure if Morning Glory was played that night but it’s an interesting thought.

My top 5 favourite bands of the 90s in no order would be Oasis, REM, Nirvana, Green Day and U2 so it was very interesting to hear this bit of conflict between the two bands that I never even knew existed. I already knew that Noel thought REM were a bit miserable (as from the clip that you played) and I know Noel liked some of Nirvana's music except for a song that Kurt wrote called "I hate myself and I want to die" in accordance to that Noel wrote Live Forever.

That was all a bit tough to hear because I do very much love Oasis. However, when it comes to REM, I consider myself quite the American “James Hargreaves”!!

You missed out another big difference between them... REM was a student band who met at university. The student culture was what they were playing to - intellectual, different, pushing creative boundaries. Oasis couldn't have been further away from a uni campus (other than the drinking of course)

Always loved REM since the mid 1980's and I liked Oasis in 1990's, just great music and music is a great comfort.

Coincidentally REM and bonehead are the only artists to play mtv unplugged twice

I remember Noel commenting when Oasis broke up that it was always going to end in some spectacular fashion rather than like REM discussing it round a table.

Good video James, I didn't know that story, but I also got to see that the Gallaghers didn't get along with Radiohead either, it would be interesting if you talk about that somewhat hidden rivalry

Great video! Thank you!

It seems we really were very very lucky to have Oasis in the '90s. Just imagine what a bedwetting Coldplay-esque decade it could have been without them. It would've been the 2020s feminised society 20 years too early.

I love your videos. So informative.

Another great video james

"Sorry Liam, Noel, it's not about you - no offense." Mike Mills in Mojo talking about The Wake Up Bomb - Inside Out p157

The amount of detail you go in to is astonishing

In 95 REM played at the newly opened mcalpine stadium in my town Huddersfield. I remember the buzz about the town having a massive band like REM play. What sticks out vividly in my head as It was just before my 10th birthday and I really wanted to go is the poster’s that were stuck up all around the town centre. On them posters it stated that Oasis we’re the special guests for the gig. Yet when the gig happened the support band we’re the beautiful south. If I’m honest I only wanted to go for Oasis, but with it being a Wednesday night and my dad (who was a copper) actually working the gig outside. I didn’t get to go.

One important fact not mentioned about Slane Castle is that this was REM's return to the stage after cancelling half their European Tour. (Oasis would have also supported them in Spain and Portugal before Slane, and they did actually support them in Germany on 9 July). 95 had so far seen REM's drummer collapse on stage with a brain aneurysm and then the guitarist needing abdominal surgery, which is why they'd had to stop the tour. It's no wonder they weren't in good spirits if that's what Noel was complaining about. In fact the show in Germany where Oasis supported them was hours before Peter Buck's emergency surgery - can't imagine they were in great spirits that day either. As for Michael Stipe's later comments, just about every Britpop band supported REM at some stage that summer stadium tour (usually three per show). Their concerts at places like Huddersfield and Milton Keynes had turned into pseudo-Britpop celebrations which must also have annoyed them. I was at Huddersfield, half the crowd would have struggled to name more than three REM songs. But for sure, the shadow of Noel's juvenile comments about Kurt Cobain loom over this story.

10:00 Compare that to that horrible Travis Scott concert…musicians actually caring for their fans’ safety. What a concept. How things have changed. I literally have chills right now.

REM and Nirvana had a close bond so they probably took umbrage to Noel's comments on Kurt and the grunge scene in general. Comments from both Noel and Michael Stipe in the aftermath obviously haven't helped the situation.

My favorite "Oasis Nerd" you're the best James!

I have heard a couple of interviews with Oasis and it is pretty obvious there is a fair bit of professional jealosy when it comes to Radiohead it must be frustrating that the media thinks they can do no wrong.

The organ outro of Half The World Away sounded very REMish (New Orleans Instrumental).

Brilliant as always

Strictly categorizing REM as a sensitive 'New Man' outfit & Oasis as 'lad culture' flag bearers does disservice to both bands. REM could certainly rock out with the best of them & often did; you certainly can't call what Noel's been doing the past decade "hard rock" - in many ways, he's become the 'New Man' prototype he once disdained. Also NG shows misguided thinking: Cobain didn't kill himself b/c he wanted out of Nirvana or hated music, he had a terrible H addiction he couldn't kick, & suffered from depression & crippling stomach pain.

I did not know anything about this. I do like quite a lot of REM and their sound alongside their musicianship. A brilliant video again James and these kinds of videos are what I love the most, besides your covers and original songs.

I was at that gig at Slane Castle, along with my dad and some uncles. I was 17 and a fan of R.E.M. but hadn't yet caught on to Oasis. But we all left that gig feeling Oasis had upstaged R.E.M. - even though we weren't overly familiar with the material. A couple of months later, they released the Morning Glory album and I was hooked, and soon everyone else in Ireland was onboard, too!

REM started out punk and were indie before it was a thing really. In many ways they were the ultimate indie band, they turned down support slots, were on a small label and played big venues way before loosing my religion. That song and album was Peter Buck not wanting to play electric for a while. He got interested in other instruments. The Wake up bomb talks about writing the great American novel, can't see Noel or Liam doing that, and Stipe was into Trex etc. REM started in 1980 he would have been 20. So I don't think this one is about Oasis, but might be a few digs. I love the Channel but not convinced on this one. Also he was out way before the New Man thing.

greattttttttttttttt video james!!!!!!!!!!!! upvoted!!!

I think there is definitely some weight to the Oasis references in REM songs, but as an REM superfan I would wager that "I had to teach the world to sing" line is probably autobiographical, about Michael. I doubt he went as far as to research Liam's age, and the line works for Michael as well. That said, both Bomb and Leper likely have references/microaggressions, but it would be a stretch to say are "written about Oasis". Bomb is more of a tribute to Glam Rock than anything, hence the T-Rex and Queen references, so I doubt they're that direct of a go and more of a coincidence given the subject matter. Leper is mostly about late night TV, but that quote from Michael definitely gives it a different air. Thanks for this video, as fans of both I had never realized they had this clash at this gig. I don't think it takes an expert to imagine they weren't the most compatible people though haha

Wow, that is pretty cool. Two great bands IMHO. Bravo on the research. Also, I grew up in the US in the 90s and this is the first time I’ve ever heard the term “new man”…

It was definitely a homecoming gig for the Gallagher's as their dad Tommy came from the village of Duleek, only five minutes from Slane. They would have visited the area when they were kids.

I thought Liam was born in September 1972 which would have made him 22 almost 23 in July 1995. He was 21 when Definitely Maybe was released. Maybe that is what you meant. Anyway, great video as always.

The whole New man/lad culture being a whole "movement" that divided UK and US rock is absolute nonsense. Who else apart from Oasis were part of this "movement?" cos their contemporaries at the time Blur, Travis, Stereophonics, Bluestones, Supergrass, Coldplay certainty weren't. Infact I'd argue that the majority of those bands mentioned were lyrically more introspective and leaned more towards "new man" than "Lad culture."

One thing is sure: if Kurt had lived he would know about Noel and Oasis. And the two would clash sometime somewhere in a biblical way.

As someone from Ireland there my 2 favourite bands singers rem I've heard since i was like 5 and oasis only started listening to them a few months back and there unreal and i listen to so many songs of the Gallaghers theres just something about oasis got a shock when i just realised this video was on RU-vid and this happened and those 2 bands had a band fallout

James I can tell you unequivocally what happened that day because I was actually there. Backstage at Slane, like at almost all festivals, there's an exclusive area set aside for the headline band alone. Liam, while absolutely hammered, repeatedly tried to gain access to R.E.M.'s exclusive area and was so obnoxious and abusive that he had to be removed from the area by security and rightly so!! I can also confirm that Oasis certainly did NOT show up R.E.M. on the day. They were good, but R.E.M. were head and shoulders above them in every respect. As highlighted in the sound clip that you played, Oasis were persistently pelted with objects from the crowd throughout their set. Finally, Peter Buck from R.E.M. stated in an interview in 1995 that 'The Wake-Up Bomb' was not written about Oasis. It was written about a night out that Michael Stipe had in a club in New York that had a Glam Rock theme.

Could you do a deep dive on the history of reception in America for not only Oasis, but Noel (and maybe Liam) Gallagher as well? I'm not only a massive Oasis fan in America, but a massive fan of music from Northern England of the 80s and 90s, specifically artists on the Factory and Creation Records rosters. Additionally, I was watching a RU-vid video of highlights from MTV's 1996 Video Music Awards, and it made me think about how 1996 was absolutely the peak year of popularity for Oasis, especially in America, how the only band in America that could compete with Oasis in 96 for the title of Biggest Band in the World was the Smashing Pumpkins and how Oasis, despite their great and enduring music, never achieved a certain level of popularity in America that other massively successful British bands have achieved. So I thought of a couple of fun ideas for future videos you could do. One would be doing a deep dive on the history of reception in America for not only Oasis, but also Noel (and Liam) Gallagher, and another idea could be discussing how there was a subtle rivalry between Oasis and the Smashing Pumpkins in 96, as evidenced by how the Smashing Pumpkins swept the 96 VMA's in America and Oasis were the big winner at MTV's Europe Music Awards that year. Unfortunately, I can't find the video footage for it anymore, but there was a point at the 96 Europe Music Awards when Alan McGee collected one of Oasis' multiple awards and declared something to the effect that they were the best (British) band since the Beatles. Additionally, there had been video footage of the Smashing Pumpkins' bassist D'Arcy Wretzky, in a backstage interview, when responding to a question about them winning the award in the Best Rock category, very sarcastically responding that Oasis should've won because they're the "best songwriters since Lennon and McCartney" (this in addition to lead singer Billy Corgan saying on stage to the crowd that they should prepare for the 'American Invasion'). Just a couple of ideas for future content, and I think nobody would do a better deep dive than you

Your videos are like an oasis in the desert eheh! Thank you!

Nice video, again full of interesting background information. I've always been a huge REM fan, but Michael Stipe can be a real Diva sometimes and that might not always go to well with the Gallagher brothers, really. Just as you describe in the video. But somehow I am not too sure if Wake-Up bomb is really a diss-track. or even hostile. When you listen to it, it just doesn't have that negative timbre, despite the lyrics (I'm dumb, pond scum). To me, it sounds more like a snapshot of Oasis how he found them that day and how he sees their attitude and what that does with the scene. The lyrics are too directly offensive to be meant as an attack. Anyways, Diva 😛 I listen to Morning glory again and I actually don't think that the riff is stolen. It's rather what happens when you noodle over an Em-D Chord progression in the studio to get some overdubs in and then it turns out like this. I'm sure the original idea for the song riffs was different.

Man your analysis of the spit between British/Irish and /American music culture in the 90s was spot on. And it hasn’t even aligned again

Both are great bands.

I have always loved the music of Oasis. In fact the very first time I ever "performed music" in front of an audience was when I was in primary school at my local church during an international evening. Me and two mates sang Live Forever while song was playing on CD, so I really enjoy your videos. I will forever like Oasis but what they clearly mean to you is how I feel about Nirvana (without getting all deep and soppy Nirvana changed my life). I love the detail you put into your videos and I know this is insignificant but I liked how you even chose a relatively rare(or not the typical photo choice) photo of Kurt when you mentioned him in this video. I wish I could say that I am not one of those over protective Nirvana fans who hates it when somebody bashes Kurt even in jest but I am and that's an understatement. With that said I completely get why Oasis said some of the things they have regarding the attitude certain 90s bands had towards life. I know Noel has huge respect for Kurt as a songwriter and artist. I'm sure bravado had a lot to do with it too but as somebody who has grown up working class and around working class people I am certain there was a lot of sincerity behind those comments. I like REM a lot but not everything they put out. REM/Stipe and Oasis are about as opposed as it gets so the fact that they clashed is not surprising in the slightest. It would be like Sinead O'Connor going on tour with GG Allin.😆

The difference was that most of US rock was part of the 'gen X' mentality typified by grunge and Nirvana, but also to an extent REM. The gen X mentality is the US seemed musically to be serious, often to the point of being miserabilist. It was about rebelling against the cheesy 80's rock and Regan era capitalism. In the UK, what was happening at the same time? The rave and ecstasy explosion (Noel was also a raver and Hacienda regular in the late 80's). All the mid 90's britpop culture, which was very positive, was heavily influenced by the rave era a few years earlier. It pretty much carried on the party that had been started, but with different music. In the US, they think of the early 90's rock as being introspective time in music. In the UK it was the opposite, the music scene was very positive and celebratory. I read an article about Nirvana's first gigs in the UK in late '89. Kurt Cobain grew up being a huge fan of British bands, but when he arrived in Manchester, a journalist was explaining the whole Madchester indie dance scene that was massive with The Roses and the Mondays, and he just couldn't get his head around it. It just seemed alien to what he expected the British music scene to be.

Noel and Michael Stipe have a mutual friend Bono strangely Michael Hutchinson was also. But honestly I fucking love both bands thank God for Oasis and REM

An interesting time. Even as a 15-year-old back then I remember being surprised that Oasis were chosen as support for R.E.M. as the bands were as different as you could possibly imagine. I largely agree with Noel that whining about success is irritating and insulting to those people who would kill for the kind of financial comfort that these band enjoy, but on this occasion I'd cut R.E.M some slack. Let's not forget that a matter of weeks before this gig, their drummer had suffered a brain haemorrhage and almost died. In ordinary circumstances, a band would simply cancel the entire tour and take a few months off, but R.E.M. obviously didn't have that option. They were a massive corporate behemoth at the time, and millions of dollars were riding on them completing this tour. They were forced to continue, despite three of their members having to undergo hospital treatment at various points. I've also read interviews with Peter Buck where he has dropped dark hints of some heinous goings-on in the R.E.M. camp during that tour - details of which he has said he'll never reveal. It must've been really fucking bad - Bill Berry not only quit the band, but music entirely. I think if you ask Noel now, he'd be a little more charitable. R.E.M. in 1995 were in the position that Oasis found themselves in the early-2000s: a giant corporate money machine that existed for everyone but the band themselves and in which the music was largely incidental. Noel himself has as much as admitted that the post-Creation version of the band was a shadow of its former self and had long since ceased to be any kind of fun.

Just subscribed to your channel. Great footage mate, thanks for your excellent job!!🤙⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐😎

I can't find James' video on where he goes on about how Morning Glory, Stone Roses Debut, Permission to Land and Grace having a similar story? Did it get deleted? I recently got reminded of it today when listening to Permission To Land, and it's disappeared?

I will always respect kurt cobain he literally was poverty stricken, a rags to riches tale, people forget that, he was absolutely broke, And musically it was electrifying. I felt that same jolt, of power from Oasis in the 90's when I first heard them, Although OASIS were tagged as britpop, I always thought they were their own thing, same with Nirvana and the grunge tag, Cobain stated it was punk rock, So I always see Nirvana and Oasis as the two pivotal bands of the early to mid 90's. I never liked many of the britpop bands, or grunge bands, But Nirvana and Oasis just had that rare lightning in the bottle in the 90's.

At a time when most of the music industry were too afraid to express opinions for fear of alienating fans, Noel (& Liam) were a breath of fresh air!

I bought tickets to see Oasis support REM in Huddersfield 3 days later and Oasis pulled out claiming they needed to finish mixing the new album so Beautiful South stood in for them.

oh man , 120 minutes, I always watched it hoping to catch a gbv or superchunk video. I remember the oasis guy in that episode had to introduce a sponge video and he obviously thought that was a terrible band name, and kept saying "spunge" over and over. cheers

Another interesting video.

I think you’re over-egging it a bit with the UK & Ireland ‘lad’ versus US ‘new man’ alternative music culture. There was definitely a resurgence of lad culture in the ‘90s in the UK and as a male teenager at the time I remember it as a mixed bag: at its best honest, real and encouraging self-belief, at its worst misogynistic and proud of being ignorant. I don’t think there was a ‘new man’ culture in the ‘90s in the same way: I remember that as just a media label that was used to apply to anything that was male and vaguely sensitive or that deviated from whatever the cardboard cut-out of what a man should be. In reality, there have been introspective men through the ages. Stipe, Cobain and Buckley were all totally different lyricists, and I don’t think it adds much to our understanding to put them in the same “new man” bracket. Oasis captured a special kind of spirit of the times in the mid-90s and there is a lot that’s positive in their music - I loved them during the Definitely Maybe and early What’s the Story… period - but it’s also true that at that time Noel and Liam were gobshites, doing coke and slagging a lot of people off, and their comments on Cobain’s suicide and the supposed ‘miserabilism’ of certain bands should be seen in that light. Music that engages with difficult subject matter and states of mind can also be positive. Noel’s attitude seems to have changed over the years, particularly in the period he’s been a solo artist. He’s become more broad-minded or maybe just more articulate. I don’t think he’s ever been a massive fan of REM: there’s a comment in a Matt Morgan podcast where he says he just likes a few of their tunes. But there are at least a couple of recent-ish interviews in which he says how much he liked Nirvana in the 90s, admired Cobain as a personality and wished he’d met him. Even though they are very different bands, I can some similarities in early Oasis and Nirvana: the Beatles influence, but also the heartfelt and direct nature of the music.

Thanks!

Liam's talking to the crowd reminds me of Jagger and Richard's pleading to the crowd to "cool out " at the infamous Altamont gig in '69.

Hey James and plans for the 25th anniversary of Be here now??? Would love to see another documentary style video, or theory xxx

I wish Kurt Cobain could have met and heard Oasis. I truly believe they would have had a profound and positive effect on him. Weirdly enough, his daughter is a MASSIVE Oasis fan!

Here's what happened behind the scenes at slane castle 1995, Two fans drowned in the river Boyne trying to get in to the show which prompted stipe in saying oasis behaviour onstage was out of order considering they where pulling two bodies out of the river while the show was going on that's what I remember from that gig it seems to be forgotten though, either way rem where awsome on stage so where oasis

0:38 Also, Sad Song seems more than a bit influenced by the song Drive by REM.

I do understand Noel's school of thought when it comes to attitude & outlook, especially if you're in a position of earning a lot of money for literally making/performing music.. how could that possibly make a person miserable? Sadly the human mind is a complex thing an its never as simple as it seems.

My dad loved Michael Stipe and R.E.M. at the time. He also played a lot of Beatles for us as kids, so when Oasis came on we thought it was a new Beatles record. That's how damn good the songwriting was.

REM and Oasis, both huge bands for me. Never noticed "The One Love"/ "Morning Glory" similarity. These two bands could not be more different.

I'm shocked they turned down opening for Bowie! Given that Noel's a huge fan and all