The artist Noel Gallagher considered a “Lennon and McCartney type character”

Posted On October 28, 2024October 28, 2024

Lennon & McCartney. Andre & Big Boi. Sam & Dave. Jack & Meg. Mel & Kim. Music is stuffed full of iconic duos who bring the best out of each other. These are talents that are undeniable on their own, but when brought together, they become truly exceptional. Someone intensely familiar with this dynamic would be one Mr Noel Gallagher. Alone, as his solo career proves, he’s a decent hand with a serviceable voice and a smattering of light psychedelic jams. Once his little brother comes into the mix, though, suddenly, they’re one of the world’s biggest and most relevant bands.

Trust him to know when some talents are better together. In a 2005 interview with News AU, he talked about another young man who was on the cusp of greatness. Who was it though, that he pinned “will go down in history as a Morrissey and Marr or Lennon and McCartney type character”? It was the freshly solo Libertines man and newly enshrined Babyshambles head honcho Peter Doherty. Whose debut album for his new project ‘Down In Albion’ had just been released, and The General was not impressed.

“He’s not the genius everyone makes him out to be.” Sneers Noel when prompted about Doherty’s place as ‘The New Bad Boy of British Rock. “In fact, far from a genius if his new (Babyshambles) album’s anything to go by. Him and Carl (Barat, the Libertines) were great for each other. Apart they’ll probably be shocking.” Which is fair. Noel does know all about shocking solo albums, but this wasn’t the first time that Doherty and the Gallagher’s paths have crossed.

In fact, when both Doherty and his Libertines cohort/rival Barat first started writing songs together, their chief influence was Oasis. When they first started getting attention as the Libertines, one of the choice quotes from Pete about his band’s work was the iconic “If Oasis is the sound of a council estate singing its heart out, then the Libertines sound like someone waking up in the rubbish chute at the back of the estate, trying to work out what day it is.”

Then there’s the famed video. Yeah, yeah you know the one. Pete Doherty, all of about 17, a fresh-faced moppet queuing up to buy Be Here Now, gushing about the “Umberto Eco view that Noel Gallagher is a poet, and Liam Gallagher is a town crier”. He’s since tried to brush this off by saying it was all a sham, and he just wanted to get on telly, but really, who could possibly buy that? He has too much in common with the Gallaghers not to be a die-hard fan and as much as I hate to admit it, Noel has him bang to rights.

Pete was the creative hub of The Libertines. You can see it in ‘Down in Albion’ itself, even if Noel couldn’t. It’s messy, overlong and barely produced, but it is bursting with ideas and creativity, oftentimes to its detriment. It needed a calming hand like Barat, who had incredible pop nous and an eagle’s eye for editing. This potent combination made the duo yet another pairing that defined an era of culture.

Fortunately, Pete’n’Carl would eventually see what Noel was able to, and reunited for a one-off show in 2010, then a full time reunion in 2014 that continues to this day. Noel himself took a whole lot longer to follow his own advice, but today, for the first time since the turn of the 21st century, we can live in a world that has both Oasis and the Libertines active in it. Hurrah.

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