How Oasis Conquered the U.S.A.

Back in 1994, Oasis‘ first U.S. tour didn’t go very well. After a legendarily disastrous, crystal-meth-fueled performance at Los Angeles’ Whisky a Go Go, they canceled nine shows. Twenty-one years later, things are a little different: The reunited band just blazed through five sold-out stadium concerts in the States that seemed to have more cultural impact than many other acts’ year-long runs, with grown men weeping, strangers embracing, and U.K. flags waving in New Jersey’s swamplands.

In the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Andy Greene joins host Brian Hiatt for a discussion of Oasis’ triumphant U.S. stint, and all that preceded it. The chat also touches on the band’s possible future, including inevitable speculation about a new album and more tour dates.

We try to figure out just how Oasis got so big during their years off, pondering the fact that the band’s songs have somehow gained relevance over the last couple of decades. We also look at the collective hunger for live rock, the lack of new stadium-level bands, and the fact that Sixties and Seventies classic rock bands are starting to fade away. Another obvious point: So many legendary Gen X bands have lost key members, but Oasis have managed to stick around.

Along the way, the episode includes relevant selections from Noel and Liam Gallagher‘s previous appearances on Rolling Stone Music Now, in 2023 and 2017, respectively. To hear the whole episode, go here for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above. Some highlights follow:

 Noel explains why he wanted to sing lead vocals on either “Wonderwall” or “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” “Liam at the time had got into the habit of walking offstage,” says Noel. “I would always have to finish the fucking gig because there would be a riot if he didn’t finish it. And I thought, ‘I better start writing a few songs for me to sing in case this kind of thing carries on happening.’ I kind of got the sense that both those songs were gonna be big, and I remember saying, ‘I’m singing one or the other.’ He didn’t like ‘Wonderwall’ when he heard it. In fact, he fucking hated it, as did pretty much everyone else until somebody from a record label came down and went, ‘Whoa, that’s the song that’s gonna make us all fucking rich and famous.’ And then he changed his mind and was like, ‘Well, you know, I’ll sing that one then.’ And I sang ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’…. I’m glad I chose that one. I think ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ is a better song.”

Liam explains why he ignores memes and jokes about “Wonderwall.”  ”It’s not a joke to me, man,” he says. “But if people have a laugh at it, feel free. It’s a free world, man. Yeah. But when I sing it, it ain’t no joke, man. I’m doing it for real…. It’s been good to me and I’ve been good to it.”

Noel says people shouldn’t expect him to write the same kind of songs he did in the Nineties. “ I’m not fucking 27 anymore,” he says. “I was 27 once and I fucking changed people’s lives. You can’t carry on doing it. Did it once, twice, even three times even…. Bob Dylan’s the fucking same. Bob Dylan, that guy changed the course of fucking history with those first three albums. You don’t do that anymore. He’ll tell you, even if he wanted to write ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ now, he couldn’t do it, ’cause he’s not that guy.”

 Liam defends the band’s sometimes-maligned third album, Be Here Now. “I like that album,” he says. “I think it’s a great album. I guess in hindsight it could have been better, but what’s hindsight mean when you’re living the dream? You’re doing it in the moment, aren’t you.  We know we took our eye off the ball a little bit, but we’d been grafting since Definitely Maybe. Money started coming in. Buying houses and cars and nice clothes and that… You feel a bit fearless. We were probably drinking too much and, you know, other things, but fuck it. We’d been grafting our asses off, so it’s time to have a bit of a party. We thought, ‘Rock & roll will take care of itself.’ And it kind of did.”

Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone‘s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out six years’ worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, John Fogerty, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone’s critics and reporters.