Yes, you're completely correct. I should have put his overall performance at the VMA's. He did not spit the crowd, he just popped a luggi on stage.

So you define caring by professionalism?

And people who do thoughtless things from time definitively don't care about something?

The standards by which you judge people are extreme, are you an angel? You disregard how they behave in a personal situation to individual fans and yet serve up Liam spitting on a stage as some sort of proof to your point. I know which as a fan I'm more worried about!

No mention of Bonehead or Guigs? Widely reported to be top people? They didn't give a shit. Andy and Gem seem pretty decent too.

Liam has said he many positive things about the fans in the past as has Noel. I don't think I'll throw those out just yet for the comments of a man clearly pissed of with being asked the same question over and over.

If that's Noel talking for himself then fine. But he shouldn't speak for the others.

Well said. I dont see the point in bothering Artists when their preparing or out in their private life for an autograph. Personally if You want an autograph enter a competition to get the autograph and meet them. Dont pester them when they're preparing for a Gig(or whatever)nor ask them in their own time for a poxy photo or a autograph. Respect their time they have a Life too

He's bored of being asked the same questions and said that to the interviewer as of a way to say "can We talk about something else Im tired of this shit?" If He meant them only Noel knows or as usual He might have been playing the media's hand

I think before and after a gig is fair enough. I think most like seeing their fans. Out with the family or at dinner or whatever is a totally different story. That is 100% their time IMO

I think it's aimed at both.

He never did anything for the fans that he didn't want to...and that is why no Oasis reunion.

I think people are getting "cared" and "appreciated" mixed up. I don't think Noel, or Oasis for that matter, cared what their fans necessarily thought - and this is where GDForever is right, in my opinion. As she (I believe it was her) said, if they cared what the fans thought, we would have gotten our Masterplan 2, LAMB played live, etc, as that would be pandering to the fans. And, to a certain extent, Noel actually did do that: lest we forget the surprise inclusion of MBM in the DOYS tour, and the shock of him playing Angel Child just the other month.

But why should, or even would, we expect Oasis to pander? One of the elements that made Oasis great and unique is that they didn't pander - not to the fans, and not to the media - but rather, they stayed true to themselves, especially in the earlier days as that's when they really championed those kind of principles.

That being said, I think Noel and Oasis were/are appreciative of the fans. I think that goes without saying. And in one interview in 2008 Noel even mentioned you'd have to be an idiot to walk away from it all (whoops), and that he wouldn't stop playing Wonderwall and Live Forever, etc because "they mean so much to people." Is that pandering as defined above? I wouldn't say so - it's mutual appreciation: Noel made those era defining songs, but those era defining songs only became era defining because they took on a life of their own thanks to the fans. [Put it this way, he's not pandering to the hardcore base (us) by doing that. But I digress].

Further, Noel - just as much as Liam, Gem, and Andy - go out of their way to meet the fans and sign autographs. As LIB pointed out, and I hardly ever quote him, you can't sign everyone's autograph, and you don't always want to be bothered when out shopping....Oasis liked attention but it was a different kind of attention than the typical Hollywood crowd.

Lastly, Oasis - and this harks back to their principles again - would always mingle with their fans and have drinks in a public bar. How many celebrities did that? Especially considering how big Oasis were in the UK during the britpop era!?

So I think people are missing the point here. I think Noel is mainly saying he didn't give a shit what people - his fans or otherwise - thought. He and they were going to do things his and their way. As Liam says "If people like it, they like it; if they don't they don't, I couldn't be bothered." And that Liam catchphrase is essentially the same attitude that Noel is taking here.

He initially wrote music to get out of the doledrums. It was a job for him. We see it glamorous but that's because we don't see the background aspect of it all. So money of course motivated it, just like money motivates all of us (and is way communism failed), but that doesn't mean he doesn't or didn't like his job; or didn't care about his consumers and customers (i.e., his fans).

This posted rambled more than I expected it to do, but you get the point: Caring about opinions like what fans think of an Oasis reunion is different than not being appreciative of one's fan base.

makes sense... I'll believe this to not get so wound up about it all

I think the comment about the fans is more of a swipe at Liam than a comment on his own feelings. For whatever reason, he seemed in a really bad mood with Liam during that interview - he's talked about a reunion plenty of times since the legal action, and has never been so negative about it before. I thought the "no one in that band cared about the fans" was actually accusing Liam and possibly the others of not caring, as they were being portrayed by the interviewer as the ones who wanted the reunion. I'm not defending Noel here, in fact I would argue that it is worse to accuse someone else of not caring than saying you don't care yourself, I'm just saying that the comment was made in the middle of a rant against a reunion, and I thought it was clearly directed at the other members.

Noel has always said and did things to fit his image - there are plenty of examples of him "caring" about the fans and also instances where he blatantly plays up on the smug, 'up himself' rock star persona as well. I find it a bit distasteful at times and I think he's overstepped the mark here, but as I said on the other thread, take everything he says with a pinch of salt. As long as the same standards are applied fairly across the board, some posters on here seem to have very short memories and hang on every word taking everything as gospel, which is where I think the whole "fanboy" argument (which is really boring) stems from. As much as I love the bloke, Noel is a massive hypocrite.

The reason he's rarely pulled up on his quotes is because journalists are only interested in the headlines. It doesn't take a great deal of probing to get a good story out of Noel, why question him any further when you've already got your scoop?

I suppose there's an argument that the Noel of 2012 is the kind of musician that the Noel of 1994 would oppose. Not sure where I stand on that but that's for another debate.

Also, its ridiculous how quotes and incidents from 1996 when both Noel and Liam were considerably younger are brought up, have none of you grown up at all in the last 16 years?

Why do you care about Liam's comments? Because you prefer Noel, you know it is possible for some people to prefer Liam

Agree with that. I think he's a good bloke who, like most people, can come across as a bit of a wanker at times. The ones who take most offence are the ones who put him (and Liam) on a pedestal unnecessarily.


Edit - I'm looking at you, NL4E!