The Music Court

Every break-up has a winner and a loser. There is always one person who has a sense of relief it is over while the other is consumed by regret. This is as true of bands as relationships. When Noel Gallagher left Oasis in 2009, he seemed determined to become the victor, claiming he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.” Since then, bile has flown freely as both he and his brother Liam have competed to show who could rebound quickest. With Beady Eye about to release its second album, BE, it seems like a good time to analyse who actually won the break-up and answer the question of who had the true talent in Oasis once and for all.

The divorce got off to an unexpected start as Liam announced that he and the remaining members of Oasis were going to continue making music, and renamed themselves Beady Eye. Keen to have the first word, they released Different Gear, Still Speeding in 2011. It was a bombastic remix of Oasis’s style, doubling down on old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. There were hits – particularly ‘Bring the Light’ – but nothing on the anthemic scale of Oasis classics like’ Wonderwall.’

While Liam was surviving, Noel was actively flourishing with his new-found freedom. He formed Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds to breathe life into the material that had been sitting unused while he was in Oasis. The result was a great British album that sounded like the Kinks, Oasis and the Beatles all at once. The melodic highs of ‘If I Had a Gun’ and ‘The Death of You and Me’ were higher than on any Gallagher album since What’s the Story (Morning Glory?)

This brings us up to the present day and the release of Beady Eye’s second album, BE. Liam’s vocals are on top form as usual and the whole band gets a workout with swelling brass sections. ‘Flick of the Finger’ sounds like the climax of an action film, and the whole album will go down well at festivals this summer. However, it is unlikely to draw people in who weren’t Oasis fans.

Although the first round has undoubtedly gone to Noel, the future is uncertain for the Gallagher brothers’ rivalry. The success of High Flying Birds seems to have filled his ambitions for the moment. His collaboration with psychedelic group hasn’t surfaced two years after it was recorded, and he has recently suggested he may never record another album.

Of course, even in the messiest splits, there’s always the chance for reconciliation. The brothers are asked about reuniting Oasis in nearly every expletive filled interview and their responses have varied wildly. Noel has been philosophical, saying “you can never predict what you’ll be doing in 20 years” while Liam has gone on the record as saying he would “do it for nowt.” With the 20^th anniversary of their debut album coming up next year it may be too soon to declare a victor.

The soundtrack is a crucial part of any film, saying what the actors can’t, yet the use of music has largely been ignored by video games. There is one huge exception to this rule, and that is the Grand Theft Auto series. In terms of maturity, diversity and originality, it is actually putting most film soundtracks to shame.

Grand Theft Auto is one of the best selling game series of all time, and it’s impossible to deny that music is a huge part of its appeal. Every time you climb in a car in-game, you have a huge host of radio stations filled with real-life songs, immersing you in that world as if it were your own. Every player has a moment of epiphany when they first start playing the game: they can go anywhere, do anything, and crucially, can listen to exactly what they want. The music has a knack for complementing exactly what you’re doing at the time – there’s dark, gritty rock for performing getaways and soaring pop ballads as you’re coasting down the highways. There is also old school hip-hop for exploring the shadier neighbourhoods. What other game can claim that discovering and enjoying new songs is actually part of the experience?

Even more impressive is the range of genres offered. Take GTA: San Andreas, which was set in a parody of 90’s LA. It could easily have been filled with alternative rock and gangsta rap; instead there is also country music, classic rock, reggae, metal and funk. There are more than 150 songs, covering the full spectrum of musical tastes. Having music you like at your fingertips at all times goes a long way in making this world believable. You will drive around, completely ignoring the game because you just want to listen to the end of song.

GTA 4 went even further, encouraging users to purchase music they enjoyed. Players could use their in-game mobile to ‘mark’ a song, and they would then receive a real email with a direct link to the song on Amazon’s music store. Minutes after you first heard it on the game, you could download the song to your iPod.

The latest game in the series, GTA 5, is due to be released later this year and promises to be even larger and more diverse than usual. The trailers include music by Queen, rapper Jay Rock, and country singer Weylon Jennings, tailored to the different characters. Instead of simply signing the latest hit single, the developers Rockstar have a knack for picking music that says something about the characters and the world they inhabit.

It’s refreshing to have game producers take music seriously rather than as a marketing gimmick. The people responsible for sound tracking most films and TV shows would do well to take note.