Noel Gallagher has said that Oasis didn’t break America because they “didn’t have a frontman like Bono or Chris Martin”.

In an interview with CNN, which you can watch by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking, the High Flying Birds man said that his old band had “got off on the wrong foot” with the US, but also claimed that they were more successful over the pond than they are given credit for.

“I think unfortunately for us, and then, we got off on the wrong foot with America,” he said. “Four tours in a row were either never started or never finished.”


He went on to add:

We didn’t have a frontman like Bono or Chris Martin. We had a different kind of frontman who was like Johnny Rotten. But I don’t think anybody in Oasis would look back it with any regret.

Talking about Oasis’s popularity in America, meanwhile, he added: “Not that I’ve got to justify it, but we did sell out the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden regularly. And I’ve got gold discs and platinum discs to prove it, Sonny Jim. You don’t get that from selling records in Dagenham, let me tell you.”

He did admit that the US market had been slower to take to his new album than the UK, however. “Those Americans are still proving to be stubborn fools though,” he said. “Don’t know what’s going on over there. Have they got no taste? How can Green Day be billionaires and I’m not over there? It’s nonsense, isn’t it?”

In the new issue of NME, which will be on UK newsstands or available digitally from tomorrow (March 13), Gallagher explains why Manchester City footballer Mario Balotelli is his personal hero. Previously, he told NME that he should receive his own Godlike Genius award – the same gong Noel picked up at the NME Awards last month (February 29).

Scroll down and click below to watch NME’s ultimate video guide to Noel Gallagher.

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