After springing back into the spotlight with his debut solo album, As You Were, Oasis’ frontman, Liam Gallagher, had shown the world that he was far from a spent force. With his solo career now in full swing, Gallagher’s second record, 2019’s Why Me? Why Not., continued his thunderous return to form, the singer wrapping himself in the comforting glow of his past musical influences while also embracing a future filled with new meaning. Defiant, uncompromising and unapologetically anthemic, Why Me? Why Not. didn’t just affirm Gallagher’s comeback – it cranked it up into something truly unstoppable.
Here, then, is the story of Why Me? Why Not., and how it proved that Liam Gallagher is rock’n’roll’s last great frontman.
Listen to ‘Why Me? Why Not.’ here.
The backstory: “It was like it was speaking to me”
By early 2018, after fronting both Oasis and Beady Eye, Liam Gallagher, had made a triumphant return to music with his debut solo album, As You Were. Going on to sell more than 300,000 copies, the album’s success – not to mention its well-received tour and companion documentary, As It Was – gave many critics resounding proof that the legendary Britpop singer still had plenty left to offer.
“As You Were was a weight off my shoulders,” Gallagher later told Los Angeles Daily News. “It has kept the wolf from the door. It was beautiful, the response that it got, and the fans lent me their ears again for another couple of years, so I could go and do another record.” This renewed confidence in pursuing a solo career laid the groundwork for Gallagher’s follow-up album, Why Me? Why Not. – a record whose story that stretches back further than most fans might realise.
Gallagher has never hidden his deep love for John Lennon. The rock icon has long served as both a musical and spiritual guide to Gallagher, who even named his son Lennon in the former Beatle’s honour. However, in 1997, two years before Gallagher’s son was born, Oasis were touring in Germany, where the singer happened upon a Munich exhibition showcasing the artwork of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. While perusing the gallery, one Lennon original – a hand-drawn self-portrait titled Why Me? – caught Gallagher’s attention. The image depicted a bearded Lennon from 1972, arms outstretched, as if reaching out to Gallagher. “It triggered something in me,” he later told Q magazine. “It was like it was speaking to me.” Gallagher bought the artwork without a further thought.
Fast-forward to 2005. Oasis were in New York City, touring their sixth studio album, Don’t Believe the Truth. The day before their performance at Madison Square Garden, Gallagher had the rare opportunity to visit John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, at the city’s famous Dakota Building. Ono, then 72, welcomed her guest with tea and biscuits, and offered him a tour of the ninth-floor apartment Lennon once called home. As Gallagher walked through the room where Lennon’s legendary white piano stood – on which he famously composed Imagine – he noticed more sketches drawn by his hero.
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“I’ve got one of these,” Gallagher exclaimed. “I bought Why Me? a few years ago, at your exhibition in Munich.” Surprised by the coincidence, Ono told him about another drawing Lennon had created around the same time. “What was it about Why Me? that you liked?” she asked. Liam responded simply: “It just resonated with me.” Ono smiled knowingly, acknowledging the connection: “Yes, I can see that.”
A few weeks later, back in London, Gallagher was at home, enjoying some downtime with his cat. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door – a DHL delivery. To his surprise, it was a package from Ono. Sitting back in his armchair with his cat beside him, Gallagher excitedly opened the package, revealing another drawing. This time, the piece was titled Why Not.: a companion to Why Me?. The artwork depicted Lennon sitting on a chair in the clouds, with a cat by his side. Liam recounted this moment to Q magazine: “I’m looking at this drawing Yoko Ono sent me, that John Lennon drew in 1972, of him on a chair in the clouds with a cat on his arm… as I sit on a chair with a cat on my arm… and what is going on?”
The eerie coincidence of the drawings life left a lasting impression on Gallagher. The words “Why Me? Why Not.” became his own personal mantra, seemingly delivered from the afterlife through Lennon’s artwork. Gallagher kept these memories in the back of his mind for years, and when he returned to the recording studio after the success of As You Were, he knew it was time to immortalise those words.
The recording: “They bring in the music, and I breathe the fire into it”
Mostly written and recorded in Los Angeles, with later sessions taking place at London’s Abbey Road and RAK Studios, Why Me? Why Not. saw Gallagher reunite with the songwriting duo Greg Kurstin and Andrew Wyatt. Since Kurstin and Wyatt had performed wonders at the helm of his debut solo album, Gallagher was keen to keep the wheels of his career comeback moving. “The way that we work together is that they bring in the music, and I breathe the fire into it,” he told Junkee. “It doesn’t matter what kind of song we’re making, I can make it sound like me.”
Picked as the album’s lead single, the bluesy rocker Shockwave was, indeed, 100 per cent Liam Gallagher: as he lashes out at backstabbers, the song explodes like a stick of dynamite in a classic-rock diamond mine. Released in June 2019, Shockwave would go on to peak at No.22 in the UK, giving Gallagher his biggest solo hit yet. “I prefer to come back with a rocking tune more than a ballad,” he told Los Angeles Daily News. “I like to kick the doors off the engines and let people know that I’m back. You want to make a noise on your first tune, don’t you?”
