Podcast Summary

Podcast: DISGRACELAND
Host: Jake Brennan (Double Elvis Productions)
Episode: Oasis Pt. 2: The Biggest Band on the Planet, Britpop, Private Islands, A Drowning Rolls-Royce, Liam and Noel Off Their T*ts and at Each Other’s Throats
Date: September 6, 2025

Overview

This episode continues DISGRACELAND’s deep dive into the chaotic and mythic rise of Oasis, focusing on their explosion into global stardom with the release of their second album, the infamous sibling rivalry between Noel and Liam Gallagher, their public feud with Blur, and how drugs, alcohol, the British tabloids, and infighting both fueled their legend and hastened their demise. The dramatic storytelling highlights both historic moments—like the Nebworth gigs and the MTV Unplugged disaster—and behind-the-scenes chaos, underscoring why Oasis became the “biggest band on the planet” and why they nearly tore themselves apart.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Success, American Mayhem, and the Power of Myth

• Whiskey a Go Go Disaster: Oasis’s first American show at the iconic venue was a trainwreck, fueled by crystal meth and incompetence. Band members played different songs at the same time—“Oasis, while on stage for the first time in America at the hallowed Whiskey a Go Go... were so high on crystal meth that individual band members were literally performing different songs at the same time. It was a mess.” (07:00)
• Noel stormed off, quitting the band temporarily, only to be lured back after making everyone fear they’d lost their centerpiece.
• The mayhem only added to the band's mystique: “Here was a true rock’n’roll band capable of blowing your mind in one moment and blowing it all up in the other. You never knew what you were going to get. Which made Oasis all the more appealing.” (09:57)

Gallagher Roots, Attitude, and Relentlessness

• Jake Brennan details the brothers’ rough upbringing in Manchester, with bleak prospects and delinquency: “Liam was navigating his teenage years, was off sniffing glue to get high and robbing houses to get by.” (11:24)
• Early hustles included vandalizing Manchester United player cars as a form of “serious payback” for football losses.
• Liam’s singular ambition for stardom is established: “There was only one thing… become the greatest rock’n’roll frontman the world had ever seen. So that’s what he did.” (11:52)

Britpop Rivalry: Oasis vs Blur

• Britpop Context: Oasis’s mega-album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? makes them record-breakers. “It went to number one on the UK charts and stayed there for ten weeks… did for Oasis what so many other British bands had failed to do: cross the band over to mainstream success in America.” (15:11)
• Contrast with Blur:
  • Blur: “Way more British… You’d take them home to mom. Oasis were straight-up dangerous bruisers.” (16:53)
  • Britpop Battle: “NME dubbed the showdown the British Heavyweight Championship. It was north versus south, upper middle class versus lower working class, students versus hooligans… Blur versus Oasis.” (18:19)
  • Blur’s “Country House” outsells Oasis’s “Roll With It,” but Oasis wins the war in the long run.
• Memorable Brit Awards Moment:
  • Upon winning Best Album, Oasis mock Blur: “Then busted into an impromptu a capella version of Blur’s Parklife at the mic, ending, instead, with the lyric shite life. Liam Gallagher then proceeded to roll around on the stage, attempting to sodomize himself with his Brit Award.” (19:46)

Nebworth & Stadium Supremacy

• Nebworth concerts (August 1996) were the “apex of the Oasis experience”:
  • “Gigs were the highlight in Oasis career, which to that point was filled with highlights… performed to 125,000 people each night, a total of a quarter million people—the largest outdoor shows in Britain’s history to that point.” (21:13)
  • “Blur may have won the battle of Britpop, but Oasis won the war.” (21:56)

Liam & Noel: Dysfunction as Art

• Tabloid Fodder & Rivalry:
  • Liam’s lifestyle becomes “absolute chaos,” feeding British tabloid frenzy.
  • Legendary fight captured on leaked audio:
    • Noel: “You were never committed to this band, would rather be a hooligan!”
    • Liam: “You can stick your thousand pounds right up your fucking arse till it comes out your fucking big toe.” (28:57)

MTV Unplugged Chaos (Aug 23, 1996)

• Liam sabotages rehearsals and bails on the show, citing “no voice,” but is seen drunk in the audience, heckling his own band.
• Noel steps up:
  • “Noel Gallagher is in full hero mode… these are his songs, and he’ll be damned if they’re going to be held hostage by his brother or anyone else.” (31:41)
  • On camera: Noel spots Liam in the balcony and asks, “You alright?”—pure big-brother shade.
• The Unplugged show becomes instant legend due to both the music and the drama.

Band on the Brink—Infighting and Collapse

• Oasis embarks on an American tour without Liam.
• Liam rejoins in Manhattan but is too wasted or disinterested to perform, leading to onstage fistfights, canceled gigs, and the end of the tour.
• Jake observes: “The tour cancellation and the violent drama surrounding it was front-page news back home.” (36:01)

The “Be Here Now” Album & Symbolic Decay

• Epic Album Cover:
  • The drowning of a Rolls Royce in a mansion’s pool—a tribute to Keith Moon’s legend and a heavy-handed metaphor for excess.
  • “A $100,000 Rolls Royce Ghost lowered into the swimming pool… Do I even need to complete the metaphor?” (39:54)
• Creation & Aftermath:
  • Written “while he (Noel) was vacationing on a private island with Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, Mick Jagger, and Jerry Hall.”
  • Noel remarks: “The album can only be fully enjoyed with, quote, a crate of beer and a bag of Charlie.” (41:01)
  • Jake/Brennan: “It was the commitment of the fans… that made Oasis great. Once the band let go of their famous commitment… they dried up and they faded away. Which is, of course, a disgrace.” (43:07)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the American debut meltdown:
  “Oasis were so high on crystal meth that individual band members were literally performing different songs at the same time. It was a mess.” —Jake Brennan (07:00)

• On Britpop divide:
  “Blur were Britpop. Oasis were rock and roll. Blur were a bit safe… Oasis were straight up dangerous bruisers. You wouldn't leave them in the same room with your mom or your girl or anyone really.” —Jake Brennan (16:53)

• The insult that shocked Britain:
  “Noel Gallagher… said publicly that he hoped Damon and Alex of Blur would, quote, catch AIDS and die. Ouch.” (19:18)

• Brit Awards chaos:
  “Liam Gallagher then proceeded to roll around on the stage, attempting to sodomize himself with his Brit Award.” (19:56)

• On Nebworth’s peak:
  “Nebworth made the band legends, cemented their names in glory… hearing 125,000 people singing back every single word of Wonderwall, full-throated, fucking committed.” (24:07)

• Sibling savagery, MTV Unplugged:
  “Noel, seated on a stool… remarks into the mic, ‘Liam ain’t gonna be with us tonight cause he’s got a sore throat so you’re stuck with the ugly four.’” (32:40)

  “You alright?” —Noel to Liam, heckling from the balcony (34:30)

• Lasting legacy observation:
  “Once the band let go of their famous commitment to the music, their boastful commitment to themselves, their commitment to being the greatest fucking rock and roll band ever, they dried up and they faded away. Which is of course, a disgrace.” —Jake Brennan (43:07)

Important Timestamps

• 07:00: Oasis’s disastrous US debut at Whisky a Go Go fueled by drugs
• 11:52: Gallagher upbringing in Manchester and their youthful misadventures
• 15:11 – 18:19: Oasis vs Blur: the anatomy of Britpop rivalry
• 19:46: Legendary moment at the Brit Awards
• 21:13: Nebworth gigs—the apex of Oasis
• 28:57: Noel and Liam volley insults on infamous leaked “Wibbling Rivalry” tape
• 31:41–34:30: MTV Unplugged disaster, with Liam heckling from the audience and Noel stepping in
• 36:01: Oasis’s American tour collapse due to fighting and excess
• 39:54: Drowning a Rolls Royce for the “Be Here Now” album cover
• 41:01: “Be Here Now” made for “a crate of beer and a bag of Charlie”
• 43:07: The final note—fan devotion, band decay, legacy

Tone

Jake Brennan adopts a reverent, dramatic, and mischievous storytelling style—leaning into the brash, chaotic, and darkly comic spirit of Oasis’s heyday. He doesn’t shy from their warts or their myth, hammering home both the electric appeal and the destructive excess at the band’s core.

For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

This DISGRACELAND episode is a relentless, detail-packed ride through Oasis’s highest highs and lowest lows: from catastrophic gigs and chart battles to public feuds and wild excess. Brennan’s storytelling pulls you into the madness on- and offstage—illuminating just why Oasis captured a moment, courted controversy, and broke themselves (and the charts) in the process. If you want a portrait of Britpop’s two wildest brothers and the scene they reigned over—unvarnished, hilarious, and tragic—this episode delivers in spades.