10 of the Biggest Oasis Brother Fights

For those of you with siblings, consider all the times they’ve gotten on your nerves. Now imagine being in a band with them. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis are just like any other pair of siblings in that they clearly don’t always see eye to eye on things. But being internationally famous rock stars certainly doesn’t make getting along any easier, so it does make sense that over the course of years, tensions would rise to the point of a breakup.

Prior to Oasis’ 2009 split, there were quite a lot of extremely public arguments between the two brothers, prompted over a variety of different things, as well as countless more casual jabs in interviews and on social media. And that’s just the stuff that’s public —we can only imagine the spats that have happened entirely behind closed doors.

Fortunately, the two appear to have patched things up enough to reunite for a global tour, so in honor of that feat, we’re taking a look at 10 of the Biggest Oasis Brother Fights, listed in chronological order.

1. Liam Hits Noel With a Tambourine, Noel Quits (September 1994)

In August of 1994, Oasis released their debut album, Definitely Maybe, an unbelievable success in the U.K. where it was the fastest-selling British album at the time. Literally one month later, the band was playing a show at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles — their biggest American concert up until then — where tensions grew so high that Liam hurled a tambourine at Noel’s head and started insulting the American audience. This prompted Noel to briefly quit the band and for the next nine scheduled shows in the U.S. to be canceled. They reconvened on Oct. 14 in Minneapolis and moved on from there.

 

2. ‘Wibbling Rivalry’ Tape (1995)

Imagine a tape of an argument you had with your sibling being released as a single. That’s exactly what happened to the Gallagher brothers in 1995. A recording that had been made the previous year where writer John Harris, working for NME at the time, interviewed Noel and Liam a few months before the release of Definitely Maybe. Arguing, with plenty of curse words, ensued over just about everything. When the tape was released as a single in 1995, it went to No. 52 on the U.K. charts.

 

3. Noel Hits Liam Over the Head With a Cricket Bat (1995)

Noel wound up getting back at Liam for that tambourine incident by hitting him over the head with arguably the most British weapon of all time: a cricket bat. This happened during the making of Oasis’ second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? for which the band holed up in Rockfield Studios in Wales for the recording process.

“As I recall, Liam was going pretty f—ing mad,” Noel would later recall (via The Standard). “Somebody let a fire extinguisher off in the farmhouse. I think maybe one of my guitars got damaged, and I blamed him. … I ended up having a proper fight with Liam. It might have been the biggest fight we ever had.”

 

4. Noel Performs on ‘MTV Unplugged’ Alone, Liam Heckles Him During the Set (August 1996)

Being on MTV Unplugged in the ’90s was not a small deal, especially if you wanted to increase your popularity in America. Oasis was invited to perform on the show in 1996, but after three days of rehearsals, Liam ended up pulling out on account of a sore throat. Because it was at the last minute, the band went ahead without him and Noel took on all lead vocal duties. “Liam ain’t gonna be with us tonight cause he’s got a sore throat,” Noel told the audience at the beginning. “So you’re stuck with the ugly four.”

As if that wasn’t complicated enough, Liam began heckling his brother from the audience, drinking champagne and slow clapping.

 

5. Noel Quits Again After Liam Questions Noel’s Daughter’s Paternity (2000)

In 2000, Noel and his wife at the time, Meg Matthews, welcomed a daughter named Anais. But leave it to Liam to start a fight over an innocent baby. That same year, Oasis drummer Alan White suffered an arm injury, resulting in the cancelation of the band’s Barcelona performance. Instead, they went out drinking and Liam, for some reason, questioned the paternity of Noel’s new daughter. As The Guardian reported then: “Noel is on top of Liam in an instant, punching him, splitting his lip. Afterwards, Noel leaves the tour, the rest of the band dragging themselves around Europe without him.”

 

6. Liam Abruptly Leaves the Stage During ‘Champagne Supernova’ (June 2005)

In the below video, Oasis performs “Champagne Supernova” in Milan, Italy on May 12, 2005. Exactly one month later on June 12, the band was performing the same song at the Heineken Jammin’ Festival in Imola, Italy, but this time Liam walked off stage in the middle of it. Why? That remains unclear.

“Noel and I don’t speak to each other. That’s probably best,” Liam explained to Spin also in June of 2005. “We see each other, but I’ve got nothing to say to him. He’s got nothing to say to me. We make music and that’s it. … But there’s a difference between disagreements and hating each other. Me and him are cool. We’re brothers. We’re never gonna split up. We’re f—ing family.” Famous last words.

 

7. Noel Quits for the Final Time (August 2009)

Whoever filmed the below video of Oasis performing the Beatles‘ “I Am the Walrus” at the V Festival in Staffordshire, England, Aug. 22, 2009, almost certainly did not know they were recording the band’s very last live performance before announcing their breakup. Oasis was scheduled to play a second night at the festival, but that was canceled. Liam said it was because he had laryngitis, but rumors began circulating that the band was once again on thin ice. Arguing was indeed occurring, according to Noel, who has said that it included Liam swinging a guitar at him, “wielding it like an axe.”

Oasis was then scheduled to perform on Aug. 28 at the Rock en Seine Festival in Paris, but not long before their set, the audience was told Oasis would not be appearing. A couple hours later, Noel announced he’d quit the band, and this time it was for good. “I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer,” he said then.

 

8. Liam Says He’d Rather Eat His Own S— Than Play With Noel Again

If you thought the drama would end after the breakup of the band, you would be mistaken. In the years that followed Oasis’ breakup, both Noel and Liam were consistently asked about reforming the band, or at the very least making amends in some way. This meant that for years, the brothers took jabs at one another in interviews. In 2011, Liam noted that he would only consider reforming Oasis for the sake of the fans and the music, and definitely not his brother. “I’d rather eat my own s— than be in a band with him again,” he told LA Weekly. “He’s a miserable little f—, if you know what I mean.”

 

9. Liam Begins Calling Noel ‘Potato’ Online (2016)

It’s true that Liam has historically been the more vocal of the two Gallagher brothers, to put it mildly. He’s also the weirder one. In 2016, he started posting photos of his brother labeling him, of all things, a “potato.” He did it so often that fans started referring to Noel simply as “potato” online. This probably doesn’t technically count as an “argument,” but it is awfully funny.

“Here’s how I see it the little fella aka potato has done a lot of damage to Oasis as a band / brand,” Liam posted in 2023, “he’s got a lot of making up to do not just to me but to you the fans the people that put us where we are tday as you were LG x”

Then in 2024 Liam decided to put an end to the spud saga. When a fan asked online if Noel was still a potato he replied: “No he is bloody well not i won’t have a bad word said about that gorgeous talented young man.”

10. Liam Insults Noel’s Wife: ‘She’s a D—‘ (2018)

We could fill multiple books with all of the factors that have prevented an Oasis reunion from happening. One aspect that can’t be overlooked is the beef between Noel’s most recent wife, Sara MacDonald, and Liam. Online, Liam has referred to her as a “witch,” a “d—,” “proper dark” and “like Fred and Mary West.” (Fred and Rosemary West were two of Britain’s most famous serial killers, accused of raping and murdering not just strangers but their own daughter.) To be fair, MacDonald did call him a “deplorable wanker.”

Liam also accused MacDonald of being the primary reason Oasis had not yet reunited, claiming that she stole Noel’s passport.

Noel, quite understandably, didn’t take kindly to these words, addressing Liam via an interview in 2019: “If you think for one minute I am going to share a stage with you after what you’ve said you are f—ing more of a moron than you look.”

Bonus: A Few Nice Things the Brothers Have Said About Each Other Recently

We couldn’t conclude this piece without acknowledging that the Gallagher brothers have said nice things about one another recently, albeit sparingly.

In 2019, Liam said the following (via Spin): “Whether I’m digging him out or we’re having a crack at each other, I adored him. I love him. He’s my brother. You know what I mean? You can veer off and go, oh yeah … he said that little bit and that, you know what I mean, but the main core of it is pure love, man.”

Noel did something similar in August of 2024, not long after the announcement of their reunion.

“When I would sing a song it would sound good, when he would sing it, it would sound great,” Noel said (via NME) of his brother. “What he did was inspire the kids at the front to do something, do you know what I mean? ‘If he can do it I can do it.’ And he’s still doing that now.”