Back in 1996 INXS Frontman Michael Hutchence would present Oasis with an award for their
huge hit Wonderwall at the Brit Awards. But the happy occasion resulted in one of Oasis members
hurling an insult at Hutchence as they left the stage
and would result in a diss track. That’s what were going to discuss in today’s video.
At the 1995 MTV European music awards it was reported by ultimate classic rock that INXS
frontman Michael Hutchence and Oasis singer Liam Gallagher nearly got into a fight backstage about
Hutchence then lover Paula Yates. There wasn't much follow up reporting, , but a year later 1996
at the Brit Awards it seemed like it was water under the bridge at least initially. Hutchence
who was an Oasis fan would present an award that night to Oasis for best british video of the year
for their single Wonderwall Oasis would take to the stage to accept their award, but as the band
left the stage guitarist noel gallagher hurled an insult at hutchence saying the following
, “Has-beens should not be presenting f***** awards to gonna-be’s.”
It was during the time of the Brit awardds that INXS who had started writing what would be their
final album with Hutchence 1997’s Elegantly Wasted. The band had come off an extended
hiatus after their last record 1993’ Full Moon Dirty Hearts was a commercial disappointment
due to both lukewarm responses from critics and changing musical tastes.
Hutchence would tell the album network magazine in 1997 “We really wanted to
get off the old carousel for a while,” “As a band, we have recorded an album every 12
to 18 months over the last five or six years. This helped to create a
situation resulting in a lot of personal and business friction within the band,
as well as the record label. … So, it just seemed like the logical time to take a break" he'd say.
It was sometime after the brit awards that hutchence was now in dublin, ireland
and was at a bar with bono of u2 when liam gallagher supposedly walked in and got into a
verbal altercation with hutchence. Bono kept the peace, but Hutchence was so infuriated with the
event that he headed back to the studio and added a background vocal to the title track
that said “i’m better than oasis.’ HEres an interview with hutchence asking about
the background vocal. In elegantly wasted the actual song i don't know if
you hear this at all but i always hear the line better than oasis let's get elegantly wasted.
No. I'm better than oasis. Ah maybe i am. No people have said that, i've heard that myself.
It's weird how that happens. Do you think you're better than oasis And then my final question was
how would you suggest someone starting off in a band deal with the things you've obviously had
to dael with the tabloids and wanting to live in a city and having so many eyes on you, the focus
of being a rockstar the private life automatically becomes public domain
and how do you manage it and handle it and stay.Well, i would say don't live in london,
but in london you just get shanghai'd by these guys and exploited and they make it up as
they go along. if they can't find it it's just terrible. I always pride myself on. Do you ever
think about leaving and going back to australia. yeah i'd love to
eventually, but i don;t think you should live your life being pushed around by people either so
we'll see. ok, well it's been a real honor meeting you it's a pleasure meeting you.
Hutchens would take his own life in november of 1997 and to his friends
Noel’s remark was said to have humiliated him.
Noel Gallagher would discuss the incident in 2000, three years after hutchence death telling
uncut magazine…. The second night of The Brits [1996]. We didn't know Michael Hutchence was
going to present us with an award. It was the first award of the night and there'd been words
said before the ceremony in the papers. So when he come out to present the award, we went, 'Right,
these cs [Brits organisers] have stitched us up here, because they know what's going on.' So we
decided that, every time we hit that stage, we were just going to give it to everyone,
and we f***ing duly did…It wasn't scripted or anything like that. We probably wouldn't
have done anything if Michael Hutchence hadn't come out and said his little bit:
'I heard Liam wants to fight me.' We were like, 'Don't f***ing try and pick a fight with us, man,
because we're the best at giving verbal abuse,' and off we went.
WHile the band’d last album with hutchence wasn’t as commercially successful as their
earlier works the title track would peak at number 2 on the alternative charts in America.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like
button and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. take care.