Among the better-known bootlegs of the ’90s was a 14-minute recording of a Noel & Liam interview by John Harris for NME called Wibbling Rivalry, a muddy and overshouted argument that made it to number 52 in the UK singles charts. It remains a fly on the wall glimpse into the raw and often hilarious relationship between the two brothers, offering opinions about what it means to be in a band and the true essence of rock and roll.
If you can’t fully parse the thick Mancunian accent, the 2025 Simon & Schuster book “Oasis Talking Shite: An Unauthorized, Unofficial and Unaffiliated Compendium of Provocations, Pontifications, Profanities and Profundities” lays out some of the best of the worst of the Gallaghers, roughly organized by topic and accompanied by photos spanning decades of haircuts and parkas. No subject is off limits, including religion, politics, technology, sports, aging, America, aliens, the Big Bang Theory, open-toed shoes, Christmas, SpongeBob SquarePants, Blur, and of course, each other.
A few highlights:
• “Legalize drugs. Kill all the people who like grunge music. Kill all surfboarders. Melt the snow. Anybody who wears a cowboy hat should get the electric chair. Generally have a good time. With that platform, I think I can get you elected. I think I can get myself elected.” – Noel on politics.
• “Oasis was definitely like a fucking Ferrari: great to look at, great to drive. It would spin out of control every now and again when you go to fast.” – Liam.
• “Skateboarding’s for fucking little idiots. Skateboarders can, quite frankly, go fuck themselves. I’ve never seen a skateboarded ever, in the streets, in the entire world, try and do something and not fall off.” – Noel on sports.
• An interviewer asks “What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?” and Liam answers “Are you Noel Gallagher?”
Ultimately, Liam sums it up by saying “It’s just me and me brother having arguments in a band. If we weren’t in a band, we’d be havin’ it in the house. If we had a greengrocers, Gallagher’s Greengrocers, we’d argue over which way we set out the apples or the fuckin’ pears” and that may be the closest we’ll get to a truce between these two.
The book itself isn’t really a coffee table book… maybe more like a snooker table book, lightweight and easy to pick up or put down when you need a larf or to roll your eyes at the audacity of what may be our last true rock stars. If you weren’t able to score tickets to the Oasis Live ’25 tour, maybe this could be a (much less expensive) consolation prize.
The book hits shelves on July 29th, 2025 and more details can be found at the Simon & Schuster website.
