Oasis are back so why all the hatred the Brit pop band's long- awaited reunion is a sellout but has provoked a backlash maybe they and their fans are the wrong kind of working class Barbara Ellen Barbara Ellen Saturday August 31st 20241 16.59% have been castigated for everything from Bad haircuts and football crowds of middle-aged fans in parkas and bucket hats who walk funny to boorishness sexism the demise of '90s music culture and spreading lism like a virus Wilder claims hold them responsible for the dumbing down of society the degradation of Western civilization and facilitating nationalism brexit and more however much some protest to the contrary the snobbery and often outrageous classism on display has been interesting has anyone called it snoboreders of oasis's lted debut album Definitely Maybe it's 29 years since the Oasis SL blur chart battle which blur one with Country House 28 years since Oasis played to the 250,000 strong crowd at nworth 15 years since Oasis split up after a series of characteristically volcanic row between the Gallagher brothers Noel and Liam since then there have been marriages children divorces and solo projects including Noel's high flying birds Liam in Solo form is proving highly popular with Gen Z as indeed our Oasis more of which an on before becoming available to the general public Oasis reunion tickets went on sale via ballot including quiz questions testing fan knowledge with online skirmishes between older and younger fans about who is more deserving and some tickets instantly realist for up to £6,000 although rumors of Oasis playing Glastonberry have been quashed the tour stands to generate an estimated 400 million pounds considerably more if European dates are added it's reported to mean a 50 million pound Payday for each of the Gallaghers some suggest this is Noel's primary motivation after a costly divorce from his second wife of 12 Years Sarah McDonald While others from The Oasis ecosystem Paul bonehead Arthur's gem Archer look likely to be involved it's indisputably the Gallagher show Noel 57 and Liam 51 are have always been the circus coming to town even after the split there was the decades spanning Feud the brothers erupting in Relentless almost biblical quasi fratricidal Rose establishing themselves as the cane and AEL of Brit pop as they embark on the most controversial band reunion since the sex pistol's 1996 filthy lucer tour bookies are already taking bets on them not making it to the 2025 shows placed in a wider cultural context the '90s are having a moment just as the 80s had a moment the naughties will have a moment and so on still other big regenerating '90s acts blur pulp didn't get this response there may have been negativity some people just don't rate band reunions but in the main it's been generational warm fuzzies and Nostalgia drench singalongs only Oasis have provoked such polarized Love/Hate reactions including retrospective condemnation of their domination of ' 9s music culture for some Oasis were Beyond a band they were tantamount to Big parka presiding over a climate of stifled creativity conservatism and such sociopolitical atrophy it facilitated flag waving nationalism it's this sort of charge that makes me think well let's slow down there's nothing wrong with being partisan even a cultural snob for music journalists it's the actual job and it's only right everyone else gets to join in but this feels different sharper nastier uglier at moments it's felt genuinely shocking like undiluted class hatred for someone like me who wrote about music in the 9s it's fascinating so pervasive and crucial at the time Brit pop is now like a sexually transmitted disease everyone was in the bed but no one admits to being infected by it the Oasis SL blur chart battle was effectively a musical version of the British class system blur southern middle class Oasis Northern work class around that time as a firm Oasis backer I interviewed blur basist Alex James a far nicer and clever man than he's often given credit for and he likened the battle to football in retrospect it's one of the few times Oasis and football have been put together without it sounding snide it's impossible to assess the response to the Oasis reunion without including the mass denigration of those football crowds of fans even dismissing the attacks on the Gallaghers at 50 million pounds each they can take it you'd struggle to recall a fan base more vilified still today Oasis fans are likened to near trites as opposed to evolved humans with righteous music taste in such huge numbers there are bound to be a few wrong UNS but do we scan the audiences of You2 or Taylor Swift for clothing attitudes and sporting preferences we don't align with what did Oasis fans do to Warrant such judgment and Venom sing wonder wall to loud loud what's wrong with football crowds why are they automatically presumed to be thugs even in 2024 as for Oasis it's now routine for them to be damned as lowbrow little englanders posturing with Union Jack guitars talentless beetles copyists and slat aikes who got lucky lucky how by having songs people like some charges against Oasis such as homophobia however casual and playground level idiotic could not and should not be waved away I witness accounts from the 2000 Q awards ceremony report Liam yelling queer and lesbian at Robbie Williams and Kylie manogue respectively in 2018 Liam called Noel jam and Style Council frontman Paul Weller and Smith's guitarist Johnny marah bum Chums a couple of years earlier Liam again called Russian Football Hooligans Badd boys he apologized no caveats no excuses there's no such thing as casual homophobia this kind of thing is poisonous and dangerous signaling that such views are acceptable the nationalistic flag waving charges are recurring and baffling I always considered the Union Jacks to be a mod thing relating to the who slash Quadrophenia the jam and Weller who Noel admires and is friendly with a nod to British musical Heritage sometimes virging on wallowing but galaxies away from nationalism Oasis don't even seem patriotic about Manchester maybe in the unseemly rush to Brand them and their ethos nationalistic people appear to have forgotten that the Gallaghers are of Irish descent it's also conveniently misremembered where Oasis come from creatively not just Manchester but also madchester and acid house a groovy inclusive 80s/90s ecstasy blitzed dance rock pop Fusion scene all whirling around the factory records nightclub the Henda a gigantic Melting Pot of influences and genres house Funk Soul hip-hop It produced acts such as the stone roses Happy Mondays and the inspiral carpets when I interviewed the latter Noel was working as a roie for them