Human headline generator Noel Gallagher has once again shared his opinion on the current state of music, claiming today’s rock scene is dull because of musicians like Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner.
“I would rather drink petrol straight from the nozzle at a garage than listen to an interview with Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys,” Gallagher told The Evening Standard. “Alternative thinking is on its way out. They just don’t make for great copy,” he added, making some great copy in the process.
Gallagher’s beef stems from his belief that “there doesn’t seem to be any characters any more” in the modern music scene, and his claim that the majority of pop stars rely on their major labels to do the talking for them. “Is it any coincidence that all the indie labels got bought up by the major labels and things have started to get boring?” he asked.
“There is a lot of shit pop music these days that’s just devouring everything at the minute. I’m hoping that will come to an end,” he said. “I remember the Brits in 1994 — we were all shit-faced on drugs. The new names like James Blunt, Ed Sheeran and Jessie J — they defer to the [record] labels. The bands that I grew up with had a healthy dose of indifference and contempt towards their labels. That has gone.”
It’s not he first time Gallagher has name-checked Arctic Monkeys, or James Blunt and Ed Sheeran for that matter, in a rant against the state of modern music. Last December, Gallagher blamed Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian for the lack of a “working class” voice in the contemporary music industry. “There’s not really been any great bands in the last 10 years,” he added.
Earlier this week, reports The Independent, Gallagher dismissed the concept of drawing lyrical inspiration from his own life, saying if he did so the material would be “more boring than James Blunt”. “If that’s at all possible,” he added, “which we all know, of course, it’s not.” James Blunt responded by agreeing, kind of.
Gallagher’s quotable comments come, conveniently, just before he is due to release his second solo album, Chasing Yesterday, in March under the moniker Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
For once, I agree with him. RT @NME: Noel Gallagher says songs about his own life would be 'more boring than James Blunt'
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) January 31, 2015
