Gallagher: The Fall and Rise of Oasis: the new 2025 biography of one of the world's biggest bands

by PJ Harrison

'Brilliant...an absolute classic' Paul Ross

'Harrison usefully tracks the brothers' post-Oasis careers and the toxifying feud between them' Ludovic Hunter Tilney, Financial Times

'Harrison...goes further than most in getting to the core of who the Gallaghers are' Shaun Curran, TheiPaper

***

'WHEN AN ARTIST IS RELENTLESSLY AUTHENTIC, IT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO BELIEVE IN THEM AND TO BELIEVE IN THEIR WORK. AND THE GALLAGHERS BELIEVE IN EACH OTHER ONCE MORE.'

Gallagher chronicles the fall and rise again of one of the world's biggest Oasis. With a focus on Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher's individual journeys, this absorbing biography starts from the shattered remnants of Oasis in 2009, taking fans through 15 years of high and lows as the brothers become formidable solo artists, pinpointing the significant events that allowed them to bridge their fraternal rift and stage the greatest comeback of all time.

Inside, PJ Harrison, a former label owner and artist manager (but above all Oasis fan) who spent time on the road and in the studio with the band, takes fans on a journey to the heart of Oasis and everything they stand for. Through meticulous research, exclusive interviews and inside access, Harrison strives to understand how two brothers rose from a council estate in Manchester to create the dominant musical force of their generation throughout the 1990s and 2000s and why they have such enduring legacies both together and apart.

For three decades, the question of why Liam and Noel, two brothers with the world at their feet, simply couldn't get along has fascinated the world. Gallagher aims to explore that question and offer some answers. What drove them apart in 2009, and what led to their reunion in 2024?

With a foreword from legendary Rolling Stones manager and producer, Andrew Loog Oldham, this unique telling of the Oasis story allows fans new and old to draw their own comparisons between two very different brothers; casting a new light on how they navigated fame, feuds and family to create music history before shocking the world with the reunion nobody thought could happen.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2025

Reviews

[Richard S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished Gallagher: The Fall & Rise Of Oasis by PJ Harrison today and wish I’d followed the reviews. It wasn’t great. I did learn a little but it’s very repetitive and negative.

Supposedly “Written by a fan for fans” and based on thorough research and exclusive access, I didn’t get that feeling from the book at all. It seems to have been written based on a trawl of news articles and twitter feeds. Much of the book is recycled from elsewhere and it’s very repetitive. Often the very same information is repeated verbatim in different chapters.
It’s very negative and only focuses on the dark and destructive aspects of Oasis, with Noel & Liam both painted as damaged, tortured victims of abuse and a broken home. Sure, that forms part of their history but where’s the positive stuff!

Not a book I’d recommend. There are many better Oasis books out there. This one seems rushed to capitalise on the recently announced reunion tour.

[Lærke Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

a moment of silence for every woman who has ever been involved in the mess that is the relationship of these two

[Brigitte Binger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Den læner sig egentlig op ad 3 stjerner, men alt for mange faktuelle fejl, og en lidt for selvsmagende forfatter trækker ned

[Richard Jaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for this advance copy of Gallagher, in return for an honest review.

I was excited to see this "new" biography of the Gallagher Brothers in advance of the highly anticipated "reunion" tour of Oasis in the UK this summer, and the USA in September. Unfortunately this book by PJ Harrison seems rushed and trying to take advantage of the renewed interest in the Gallagher brothers and their long standing feud leading up to the making up last year.

I have always been "Team Noel" and a huge fan of the Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, having seen each of the North American tours, culminating in last summers co-headlining tour with Garbage. Nothing in this book made me a fan of Liam, except when he's singing songs written by the more talented older sibling.

The narrative was supposed to be about the break up of Oasis in Paris, 2009 and the divergent career paths leading up to the announced tour in 2025. I found the book repetitive and the "timeline" disjointed, not to mention a little effervescent and too often Harrison is fawning over Liam's rockstar quality while at the same time pointing out what an absolute arse he is.

I am sure there are better written and more informative biographies out there. This seemed like a fan letter to Liam and Noel and a way to profit off the brothers as they embark on their reunion tour.

[Juha Virkki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kyökkifilosofiaa ja paisuttelua. Tosi paljon toistoa.

[Claire Druschel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks NetGalley for this arc
Was this the greatest book about Oasis I’ve ever read? No. It’s a lot of information that is pretty readily available for sure. While this says it’s for the fans I really would recommend it more to people who don’t know much about the band. I think this book would be a great starting point for them. It was also slightly repetitive. Like for example there’s a brief introduction going over the bands history from the 90s-2009, but then the book later goes on to talk more about the band from that time period so the introduction wasn’t really needed. It also had a slightly weird timeline. Like it started right before the band split and went into Liam and Noels’ solo careers but in the middle talked about their childhood as well as the band’s early years. Some positives I thought it was written well. It didn’t feel super dry like nonfiction tends to. I also liked how the chapters were split between the two brothers.

[Antti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. The book is mostly focused on the gossip stories and the dynamics of the Gallagher brothers. There's not much about the music, the lyrics, the stories of the songs and so forth. It's mostly built on the tension of the break-up and mostly focusing on their solo careers. The 2025 part feels rushed and mostly going on about the sentimential and financial side of things. There isn't even much background information on how things actually went. I welt quite empty after reading it all. It wasn't adventurous like the Mötley Crüe book was, but at least the flow was quite good (and the finnish translation worked well). I just wish there was more to this. Maybe some interviews, some new information, maybe some more in-depth analysis on the music rather than the endless stories about the relationships, what the magazines wrote and who says what nasty things about each other...

[Kara · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a huge Oasis fan, I was excited to dive into Gallagher—but it read more like a college textbook than a rock biography. While PJ Harrison clearly did his homework, the tone is overly academic and lacks the raw energy that defines the band. There are some insightful moments, especially around Liam and Noel’s personal dynamics, but overall it felt too analytical and not enough fun. Great for deep thinkers, maybe not for die-hard fans looking to relive the chaos.

I received an advance reader copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#Gallagher #NetGalley

[Tino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirja Gallagherien veljeksistä, jossa pääpaino on ajallisesti Oasiksen hajoamisen ja comebackin välissä. Veljesten soolouraa, perhesiteitä ja riitelyä seurataan tarkasti, ja ainakin itselleni tuli paljon uutta tietoa. Riitelyssä todella riittää monenlaisia edesottamuksia. Kirja valottaa myös mielenkiintoisesti Britannian mediakenttää tällaisessa tapauksessa, jossa uutisjuttujen kohteet ovat musiikkiteollisuuden raskainta sarjaa. Välillä lukiessa tuli fiilis, että oli ollut kiire saattaa kirja markkinoille ennen comeback-kiertuetta.

[Wendi Manning · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gallaghers would hate this book.

This wasn’t for me. As an Oasis fan, I’ve read a lot about them, and I read a lot of this book in various places. Now, it feels like I’m reading a textbook. So dry.

I was looking forward to this.

I’d only recommend it to people who have very recently discovered Oasis.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but didn't blow me away. It felt like a fairly standard music biography, sprinting through the major life events of the Gallagher brothers, from childhood to near present-day. After Paolo Hewitt's Forever the People, it did definitely have a distinct blah quality to it -- PJ Harrison's writing is good and gets the job done, but lacks the overall flair and punch of Hewitt's work. The book was a quick read and kept things strictly professional: Harrison didn't offer much in the way of his own relationship with the band or the brothers, and there was no actual musical analysis in it besides just rehashing old album reviews accumulated over the years.

Similarly, any hardcore Oasis fan will probably already be familiar with the timeline of events and won't be bowled over by any new revelations. Still, until Noel or Liam come out with their own tell-all biographies, Harrison's book is about as good as we're going to get for now. He does a good job at taking on the brothers' psychology. It's true that only Liam and Noel know what Liam and Noel were thinking at any particular point in their lives -- but Harrison breaks down their different personalities, motivations, quirks, and contradictions with a keen emotional eye. In terms of defining who the men are against the forces that shaped them, I think Harrison's close to the mark. For Liam, especially, I walked away with a higher opinion of the man and the personal growth he's undergone these last few years. Liam's story was always more fragile than Noel's, and he could've all too easily ended up as another Jimi or Kurt or Amy.

So 3/5 stars: a workhorse of a biography, and left on a slightly incomplete note since it was published before the actual reunion tour got underway. But not bad, especially for the burgeoning Oasis fan who's interested in some more context around the Mancunian duo.

[Matthew Jacobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read and a good insight into the brothers for a casual fan. I agree with previous reviews however as a longtime supporter of the band and the brothers, lots of the information was recycled and not anything particularly new.

The book documents both brothers journeys post Oasis and captures the triumph of Liams post Beady Eye resurgence.

[Thomas Krippgans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Für Fans sehr zu empfehlen.

[Anna Perho · Rating 1 out of 5]

Harvoin jos koskaan koen lukemisen turhaksi, mutta tässä meni elämää hukkaan, kun kouluaine kohtasi unilääkkeet.