“Somebody must’ve gotten on my tits.” – Noel Gallagher, 1996.
Folks I study journalism. I know all about all that inverted pyramid mumbo jumbo. And I know a golden quote when I see one. And to be honest that was one of at least 20 in Supersonic. I expected nothing less from a documentary filled with archived video and new interviews with the Brothers Gallagher, who time and time again make me think it would be a good idea to learn Manchester City vernacular and incorporate it into my writing (which I have been known to do from time to time).
Whether it’s Noel referring to the work of Phil Collins and Sting as “McDonald’s music,” calling Bonehead a “mental cunt” (to my American readers, its okay I’m writing about British things so I can drop unsolicited C-bombs at will) or using the phrases “bell-end” and “gob-shite” as insults, we get the best of the best during this film. Liam gets his licks in too, right off the bat using the phrase “blaskibo” [?] to replace the lazy, American “bullshit.”
At first glance I was bummed when this project was announced and that it was only going to encompass Oasis’ inception up until the Knebworth shows. I just wanted more, but after watching Supersonic and seeing how in depth they went with the early years I’m inclined to think the opposite now. It’s like when you take a history class in college and you learn about like nine different battles that happened in east bum. Except in this instance, all those little battles are absolutely amazing stories that I’m dying to tell people about, like a bunch of the member getting deported on their way to Holland:
Noel: Are you sitting down?… Everyone’s been arrested.
Alan McGee: …Brilliant.
and Liam’s reaction to being asked the purpose of his visit to the United States:
“I’m a fucking rock star, here to steal your soul.”
The fanboy in me was as giddy as a little kid when your parents surprisingly pull into the McDick’s drive-thru watching all this footage of the early days and the conception of songs like ‘Bring It On Down’ and ‘Live Forever.’ Bonehead saying, “There’s no way that’s your fucking song” to Noel as he unveils the latter track.
Side Note: Where the fuck does all this footage magically come from? Does every single band basically have someone that they point to and are like “Hey, you… film fucking everything we’re doing just in case.” I mean seriously, they’ve got (alleged) footage of (allegedly) the first time Noel jammed with the rest of the band (although all I can smell is that smelly smell when they start playing ‘All Around The World.’
Side Side Note: But apparently the cameras go away any time girls come around.
Noel saying that when one song was written they knew it was real, and every inch of me knew it was going to be ‘Live Forever’ but it didn’t matter. It’s like watching the Titanic or playing Halo: Reach: you know how it’s going to end but it’s how it happened that fucking matters.
And that sentiment can be applied to this entire documentary. The whole time we know we’re going to see them at the arguable height of their fame: playing to a shit load of people a giant ass field somewhere in England. But for me, seeing a happenstance appearance by a happenstance record executive at a happenstance venue and hearing that first riff of ‘Bring It On Down’ right in front of him put me at full mast (Although any of my regular readers know I’m 18 days into No Fap November and will bust a willy if I leave a window open and the wind blows the wrong way).
No one was even talking about Oasis at that moment. Noel says:
They weren’t even talking about us. No one even said we were shit.
And then they release ‘Bring It On Down.’ And ‘Shakermaker.’ And then they’re making an album. And Noel writes the titular track ‘Supersonic’ in the time it takes, “six other guys to eat a Chinese meal.” And then people are singing this song back at them, the same nonsensical words Noel had nonchalantly written on a pad of paper at the ass crack of 3 am.
This is a beautiful documentary. I’d give it a ring if it had a finger. The way the interviews are synced up with archive footage is amazing, and the animation and interview fusion take a story that is so Jackson Pollock and make it flow steadily like cocaine up Liam Gallagher’s nose.
Oh and regarding the title of this post…
Come on guys, if I had to point to something and say, “Now THAT’S a ‘gob-shite’,” I’d point to this before I pointed to a flipped porta-john.
@WMUAndersen
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