by A core part of Oasis and their unparalleled rock and roll power back in the 1990s was their ability to speak directly to the youth culture of the time, but Noel Gallagher’s songwriting was equally adept at harking back to multiple previous generations of rock royalty, including Pete Townshend.
Decades before Gallagher ever picked up a guitar, Townshend was at the forefront of British rock when the nation’s capital was at its most swinging. With era-defining anthems like ‘My Generation’, Townshend captured the voice of Britain’s post-war youth and paved the way for virtually all future rock and roll rebellion. That sound is inseparable from the vibrant, nostalgia-fueled image of the swinging sixties, but if you strip The Who’s work down to its core components, it has never really become outdated.
So, it should come as no surprise that The Who, along with the likes of The Beatles and The Kinks, formed a colossal influence on Oasis during their earlier days. Adopting the same kind of grassroots spirit and rebellious energy as their heroes from the era of mods and mini skirts, the Britpop heroes were indebted to people like Pete Townshend. Nevertheless, Oasis weren’t always so well-respected by that older generation of rock and rollers.
George Harrison, for instance, famously dismissed Liam Gallagher as being “silly”, although the parka-wearing frontman quickly brushed that insult off. Pete Townshend, on the other hand, was a lot more receptive to the new age of British rock and roll which emerged during the 1990s, with Oasis firmly at the forefront. “The thing that got me about Oasis was Liam’s voice, not so much the attitude,” the songwriter once told The Times. “It took me a while to get used to the attitude, and I felt Noel was the one with the most edge.”
With that mutual appreciation, Townshend fostered a certain friendship with the Oasis frontman during the peak of Oasismania. “Liam used to come to Who gigs with his girlfriend, and he was always charming,” The Who guitarist recalled. “And despite the fact that it was intended to be threatening and to have no emotion, it was loaded with emotion.” That description could equally be attributed to The Who’s early work, awash with youthful angst and an underlying current of complex emotional intelligence.
Unlike some of the swinging sixties contemporaries, Townshend had no qualms about having influenced the age of Britpop, although he did also note that Oasis weren’t a simple rehashing of the past. “The songs were inspired not just by The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks but also had this feeling of coming from an entirely new place, and I don’t really know where it is,” he explained.
Perhaps as a result of that, Townshend tended to lean towards Oasis’ more vulnerable, understated moments as particular favourites. “I feel a bit exposed, talking about it now,” he said, “but the song that brought me to tears is [‘Half The World Away’].” One of Noel Gallagher’s finest moments, that iconic track was only released as the B-side to ‘Whatever’ originally, before eventually being included on The Masterplan album four years later.
Townshend didn’t expand on his love of the song, but it is easy to see why it fostered such an emotional response for the songwriter. ‘Half The World Away’ offers an entirely different perspective on the Oasis sound, much more honest and vulnerable than some of their brash, big hits which helped to define the Britpop sound.
