The genius of Oasis

As Drew continues his Summer of Lucking Into Good Music (capped by a Cinderella-like DJ spot at White Collar Crime this thursday! which should be can't miss) I'm going to take a different tack, since he seems to temporarily have 'blissed-out dance pop' on lockdown. You see, like the proverbial kid in the candy store, Drew is bingeing on all of these sugary pop confections and soon enough he's going to come crashing down with a tummy ache. At which point he'll see the value in some good old fashioned rock-n-roll. Enter Oasis.

Noel Gallagher's a minor genius. I'm always impressed by someone who can take something generic and make it seem unique; rather than someone who makes something unique seem generic (like Lady Gaga). The creative half of the Gallagher bros does just that - he takes guitar lines that, melodically and rhythmically, you would expect to come from some guitar-playing hippy bro at a keg party (they are mindlessly ordinary) and makes them immediately identifiable as Oasis songs. Part of that has to do with his voice, I realize, but it's also to do with the certain vocal lines he chooses, his guitar tone, and the imagery he's cultivated for his brand. Oasis are always said to 'sound like the Beatles', except that they don't really, the Beatles were never this plain. The Beatles didn't double as 'pro-England' soccer hooligans either, which Oasis certainly do. The point is, in pop, mystique is as important as the music itself, and Noel Gallagher is a genius because he understands that and edits his music and persona down to their most banal elements, going further than any other band was willing to go stripping away gimmicks, using the exact same guitar licks in every song, eventually reaching a pared down state of plainness that is called 'Oasis'. Here's a good example.

This will serve as the comedown music after this thursday's 'Drubiza'.