Stop the celebrations – Oasis are the most damaging pop-cultural force in recent British history | Simon Price

Dismal lyrics, plodding tunes and prehistoric political views: why is everyone so happy that the Gallagher brothers are back?

So 15 years of Punch-and-Judy bickering between Liam and Noel Gallagher has ended with the inevitable: Oasis reforming for a UK and Ireland tour – and a giant payday (money talks, especially when Noel has a reported £20m divorce settlement to cover). Cue wild celebrations from the section of the British public who are still nostalgic for the simpler times of Euro 96 and the first Blair administration. Britpop’s coming home.

I’m not among them, and here’s why. I genuinely believe Oasis are the most damaging pop-cultural force in recent British history. It’s easy to attack them for being musically regressive: after all, they didn’t just Stop The Clocks, to quote the title of their 2006 best-of, but rewound them by 30 years. But the real problem is that they set social attitudes back even further.

Simon Price is a music journalist and author

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