Oasis obsessives should broaden their horizons

For those of us not into Oasis in the 90s, the past month’s mania over their reunion has been baffling. Songs like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ may have hit the spot but as individuals Oasis seemed far from engaging. As John Harris said in his book The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock, ‘It was difficult to think of any group whose career had combined stratospheric success with such stubbornly limited horizons.’

The band didn’t appear to read or have interests outside music, Liam’s wild man antics were risible, and they were often pointlessly insulting. Even Noel, the nice brother, received a Brit award from Michael Hutchence with the words: ‘Has-beens shouldn’t present f***in’ awards to gonna-bes’; on another occasion, he wished publicly that Blur’s Alex James and Damon Albarn would ‘catch AIDS and die.