The Rolling Stones were formed back in 1962, when the so called British Invasion was starting with The Beatles and many other groups from the United Kingdom, that were creating a new kind of music that would conquer the world. Led by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the band got bigger and bigger over the decades, releasing 25 studio albums that made them one of the best-selling bands of all time, with an estimated amount of more than 200 million records sold worldwide.
Involved in the music business since the early 60s, Richards had the chance to see the evolution of Rock music up-close and always gave his opinion on new bands. In the 90s, the British Rock had a resurgence, with the Brit-Pop bands like Oasis and of course, the Stones guitarist talked about them a lot over the years.
What is Keith Richards’ opinion on Oasis
Oasis was formed in 1991 but only released their debut album “Definitely Maybe” in 1994. In that same year, the Rolling Stones were celebrating their 32nd anniversary and releasing their 20th album, which was called “Voodoo Lounge”, the first one without the original bassist Bill Wyman.
The first album of the band led by the brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher was extremely successful, selling more than 8.5 million copies worldwide. Their next one “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” released in the following year made them even bigger. That record sold more than 22 million copies all over the world.
So they became an instant sensation in the mid-90s being one of the most important British bands at the time. It didn’t take much long to older important rock stars be asked to gave their opinion on them in interviews. Consequently, Keith Richards started to talk about them and he didn’t had good things to say.
As pointed published on the book “Rolling Stones Off The Record” (2003), back in 1997, Keith talked about Oasis saying: “These guys are just obnoxious. Grow up and then come back and see if you can hang. I don’t hear anything there, it’s all just retro to me. But there is an element of pity”.
In the same year as pointed by the Irish Times, the guitarist said that Oasis were “crap”. His his bandmate Mick Jagger also didn’t had a good opinion. Since he said: “You can’t dance to it, the new album’s impossible”.
His opinion didn’t change over the years
Although Oasis evolved more with every record they released, their sound continued not being Richards’ cup of tea. In 2008 he complained in an interview with Uncut Magazine about the kind of music that modern Rock bands composed, saying that he prefered to listen to Blues and Country.
“I dont listen to whats going on. I dont like CDs, quite honestly. They sound tinny to me. Ive not even heard the Arctic Monkeys. I know of them but I dont know anything theyve done. I didnt like Oasis, I didnt like the Sex Pistols. (So) I dont like any of those English rock and roll bands. They’re all crap,” Keith Richards said.
Although he doesn’t like Oasis, he already spent some time with Noel Gallagher
If there is something in common between Noel Gallagher and Keith Richards, is certainly their sincerity. Both artists are known for always giving their real opinion on things. Even if it might hurt someone else’s feelings.
Even though Richards said many times he didn’t like Oasis, he spent some time with Noel Gallagher. Their meeting happened in a hotel where a New Year’s Eve party was going to happen. As the Oasis member recalled in an interview with Absolute Radio, Richards was also there and he ended up talking to him.
“I go up to the bar and there’s Keith Richards, looking exactly as you would imagine, scarf and a hat. He suddenly turns around and says, ‘Ah, you’re still around, are you?’ His second line was, ‘One thing I’ve always wanted to ask you: Who is the bigger cunt, your singer or mine?’ And I said, ‘Well, as your singer wrote some of the greatest lyrics of all time. I’m going to say mine.’”
“[Richards] was like, ‘Your band, you were quite interesting there for a while,’ and I was like, ‘I could actually say the same to you’. But he was great and such a dude. It kinda reaffirms your faith in all your heroes when you meet Keith. Because he is the man,” Noel Gallagher said.