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highplainsdem

(63,110 posts)
Fri Sep 5, 2025, 09:52 PM Sep 2025

Not a tin ear. We all have different taste. But I didn't give them much attention at all in the '90s, between

a lack of time and being turned off by their sibling rivalry and arrogance, and I regret that now.

Btw, as far as I've been able to learn, they never "beat each other up on stage" as you said above. Only onstage disagreement that turned violent was the Whiskey A Go Go show in 1994, before which they'd been given powdered crystal meth and told it was cocaine. They were all fucked up, but lead guitarist and older brother Noel was the most messed up. Liam was singing quite well at the start of the gig, but Noel couldn't keep track of what song they were doing and was playing so loudly, and singing loudly and apparently deliberately off-key, apparently trying to drown Liam out, that Liam finally told him to fuck off and hit him on the head with his tambourine. I haven't seen film of that, don't know if it was just an irritated light bop on the head after Noel had been deliberately aggravating for several songs, with the band and Noel especially sheer chaos while Liam tried to sing and even had them redo the first song to try to get everyone on track. I wouldn't have advised hitting Noel with a tambourine (a light enough hit they just continued with the concert), but after seeing video of what Noel was doing, I think a giant hook to yank him off the stage would have been perfectly appropriate. After that gig Noel took off for San Francisco and talked about quitting the band. But they'd all been completely messed up that night, and Noel had been the worst. Whatever drug they'd been given, they didn't sleep for days.

They were brothers only 5 years apart in age, had grown up sharing a room and fighting, and had an alcoholic, abusive father who would beat them and sometimes beat Noel unconscious. And a mother who really should have left their father earlier, but hesitated because of the Catholic Church. (My mother and two of her sisters stayed too long in bad marriages for the same reason, so I know how that goes. I've never forgiven the priest in St. Paul who took one look at the house and Lincoln Continental and told my mom not to leave my dad, but to get him to start tithing.)

Anyway, the more I learned about the Gallagher brothers, the more their behavior seemed understandable. And once I really listened to their music...

I'm glad they patched things up after 15 years apart. My own brothers still refuse to have anything to do with each other most of the time. They're 4 years apart in age.

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Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Music Appreciation»Not a tin ear. We all ha...