NOEL GALLAGHER still blames his brother Liam for Oasis's failure to crack America.

They have been the biggest band in the UK since the middle Nineties, but blew their chance to become the biggest band in the world by not following U2 and Duran Duran in making it big in the US.

The early Nineties had all but forgotten British rock with American grunge reigning supreme.

In Britain, Oasis's brand of indie punk and singalong anthems was a breath of fresh air. America was waiting for Britain's latest exports.

But in August 1996, a week after pulling out of the band's MTV Unplugged gig, Liam walked out of Heathrow airport minutes before the band were due to leave for Chicago for the start of their American tour.

They never regained the momentum.

Noel said: "I still blame him for the fact we never cracked the US.

"When we had one of the biggest selling albums in the world, and were about to begin a crucial US tour, he arrived at the airport, gave some ludicrous excuse that he couldn't get on the plane and left us stranded."

At the time, Liam ranted:"I'm mad for it, but I have to move house. I can't go looking for a house while I'm trying to perform for silly f*****g Yanks."

The momentum they had as the UK's hottest new rock band, that had seen their 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? going to No.4 in America and selling four million copies there alone, was lost.

Although 1997 album Be Here Now went to No.2 in the US, it only sold a million there and subsequent albums didn't grace the American top 10 until current long player Dig Out Your Soul, which went to No.5 this month.

When Liam did arrive in America, his appearance at the MTV Awards in 1996 was appalling. He swore, hurled a can of beer into the crowd and spat.

At least Amy Winehouse had the sense not to turn up.

Nowadays, the Gallagher brothers seem to have swapped roles. Liam has become the consummate professional - a family man who keeps fit and likes watching SpongeBob Square Pants.

It's been left to 41-year-old Noel to keep the Oasis rock 'n' roll star credentials in shape.

He may have a young son, Donovan Rory MacDonald, with Scots girlfriend Sara and eight-year-old daughter Anais with ex-wife Meg Mathews, but Noel is happy to slag everyone from Amy Winehouse to Dannii Minogue.

And he was pushed over on stage by a fan in Toronto last month. Noel thought he'd been stabbed when the man shoved him from behind and is still on medication for three cracked ribs while on a UK tour.

Oasis play Aberdeen tomorrow and Sunday before Glasgow's SECC on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Noel still can't believe what happened and once again has taken a pop at Liam. He said: "People are talking about how well Liam reacted.You can see him on the clip going to hit the guy who attacked me.

"But if you look carefully, you'll see he only starts to react when I'm surrounded by security guards.

"The guy had been backstage where it had been raining. He hit me from behind and I fell on to the monitor. I immediately felt a really sharp pain in my back - where the ribs had cracked.

"Then I looked down at my leg and he had left wet footprints on me. I thought it was blood. I was s******g myself.

"Up until that point, everything had been going great.The tour was going really well, PaulWeller had just been on before us and we had a monumental p**s-up planned with him later that night. Next thing I know, I'm in hospital.

Where were security?

"Obviously now we have to rethink our security situation, but we don't want to get like Madonna and travel around with 400 people."

THE band are also proving that they haven't become a heritage act like The Rolling Stones, who can sell shed-loads of tickets for gigs but whose new albums are outsold by Bob The Builder.

As well as their seventh album, Dig Out Your Soul, going straight to No.1 in the UK and hitting the American top 10, 500,000 tickets for their 2009 stadium tour, including a date at Edinburgh's Murrayfield on June 17, sold out in five hours last Friday.

They could do another Knebworth - the two huge gigs Oasis played in 1996 that one in 20 Britons applied for and 250,000 people saw live.

Indeed when tickets went on sale for their Slane Castle gig in County Meath next June, 50,000 of the 80,000 tickets were snapped up in just an hour.

Love for Oasis seems as strong as ever with Noel becoming the godfather of British indie music.

But he reckons he's always kept his feet on the ground.

He said:"Despite all that has happened - those massive selling albums, those huge gigs at Knebworth, being called the saviours of British music - I've retained my identity.

"Even at the very height of our success, I never thought I was any better than the next person.The opposite is probably the case. I'm still sitting here waiting for my luck to run out."

Of course, we all know the story. Noel was a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets when he heard his young brother Liam had started a band calledThe Rain.

Noel joined and, on a trip to Glasgow to play KingTut's in 1993, was spotted and signed by Alan McGee to his Creation Records, despite Bono's label Mother Records offering them three times the cash.

Noel said: "That was a lot of money for unemployed Manchester kids.

"We stayed with Creation because Alan had the contracts done up and had always said how much he believed in us."

Debut album Definitely Maybe and debut single Supersonic were an impressive statement of intent.

And it only got better. Subsequent singles included Live Forever, Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger followed from second album (What'sThe Story) Morning Glory?, which is the UK's third biggest-seller.

But cocaine took hold of the band and although Be Here Now sold over 420,000 copies on the first day of its release in 1997, it failed to live up to the hype.

Noel said:"I still tell people that the Be Here Now is the best advertisement against taking cocaine. It goes on too long, it's smothered by its selfimportance - the same as coke users are.

"When I was writing these 11-minute epics, I kept waiting for someone in the studio to turn to me and say"I think that's a bit long" but no one ever did.

"I often think of going back to that album, using ProTools and re-editing the whole thing.The same as Paul McCartney did when he took Phil Spector's strings off The Long And Winding Road.

"Then I think, 'Hold on, that album is part of the rollercoaster ride of being in a band'. There's going to be all these ups and downs and ins and outs. Otherwise you might as well be in Keane".

And while Noel claims he's going to do a solo album, he also has 30 songs going spare from Dig Out Your Soul.

Never great with lyrics, Noel said:"I was talking to my manager last week about hiring a lyric writer to come in and finish them off. I can hear girls singing three of the songs. But no, Amy Winehouse isn't getting them."

'He arrived at the airport, gave some ludicrous excuse that he couldn't get on the plane to the US and left us stranded'

via L4e / source: The Daily Record

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