Former Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher has voiced his disapproval of musicians expressing political views during their performances. The 57-year-old artist criticized his contemporaries for speaking out about political issues and global conflicts from the stage.
This past weekend at Glastonbury, artists including Damon Albarn, Dua Lipa, and Charlotte Church made statements regarding the war in the Middle East, the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, and the UK’s General Election.
In an interview with The Sun, Gallagher described these outbursts as “woke,” “preachy,” and “virtue-signalling.” He expressed his frustration, saying, “I don’t like it in music – little fking idiots waving flags around and making political statements and bands taking the stage and saying, ‘Hey guys, isn’t war terrible, yeah? Let’s all boo war. Fk the Tories man,’ and all that. It’s like, look – play your f**king tunes and get off.”
Gallagher continued, “It’s too much. Donate all your money to the cause – that’s it, stop yapping about it. Let’s just say for instance the world is in a bit of a fed up place and you’re all in a field in Glastonbury. What’s the problem with that? I haven’t got a problem with it. Everybody knows what’s going on in the fing world, you’ve got a phone in your pocket that tells you anyway. What is the point of virtue-signalling?”
Gallagher’s comments reflect a broader debate within the music industry about the role of artists in political discourse and the appropriate platform for such discussions.
