Music
08 Aug 25

Oasis in '02: "We ain’t gonna write fucking Kid A or whatever the fuck it was called. That’s not us"

Oasis in '02: "We ain’t gonna write fucking <i>Kid A</i> or whatever the fuck it was called. That’s not us"

Ahead of Oasis’s sold-out Croke Park shows on August 16 & 17, we’re taking a deep-dive into the Hot Press archives – to hear Liam and Noel's incredible story in their own words...

'02:

July turned out to be a very good month for Oasis with the first album to feature Andy Bell and Gem Archer, Heathen Chemistry, adding to their record-breaking haul of No. 1s and a headlining trip to the Witnness festival at Fairyhouse Racecourse. Doing the Hot Press interview honours once again, Liam was in reflective mood...

“I’m well happy with the new record. I’m happy to just make another record and have it out. Obviously I want everybody to buy it but, if they don’t, I’m not really bothered ‘cause I’m over all that fucking being No. 1 shit. Them things happen when you’re young – you want to fucking get in there and fucking take over the world and you want to do everything. But you get older, you get over it.”

“I don’t think we’ve progressed because I don’t think we’re a progressing band. We’re into rock ‘n’ roll music. We ain’t gonna write Sgt. Pepper’s. We ain’t gonna write fucking Kid A or whatever the fuck it was called. That’s not us. We just like to write 12 new songs and that’s it, you know. I don’t want people scratching their heads and going ‘fucking hell, how did they do that?’ We’re just simple rock ‘n’ roll music for people who drink beer and who just fucking want to put their arms around each other and have a good time. They don’t want to go away going ‘Wow, that fucking blew my mind, man’. It’s like simple fun, get up or get down. It’s dead easy. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. I don’t want to start going around (adopts asthmatic academic tone) saying: ‘The fucking willows wept into fucking trees, and we’re all fucking tangerines’. Fuck off! That’s alright for some people, but not for us. We’re just a simple rock ‘n’ roll outfit.”

“My kids are getting christened and that. My mam and all my aunties are still Catholics. Music’s my stuff. I’ve not got no views on it. My kids will go to Catholic school and be brought up that way and if one of ’em wants to be a priest, fucking fair play and if one of them wants to be a mad rock star, then fine. It’s up to them to decide, man. I decided at an early age it wasn’t for me.”

“I drink two days a week. Monday to Friday, Friday to Sunday. I can do whatever I want, when I want. I enjoy going out and I enjoy staying in.”