Beatles, Oasis and NWA: the story behind their legendary breakup

You always read about bands breaking up. Sometimes it’s creative ideas that differ too much, sometimes it’s the money. The following three breakup stories are so entertaining that you might not even mourn the breakup that much.

There are many rumors surrounding the breakup of the first ever boy band, the Beatles. To this day, neither music historians nor the surviving Beatles themselves agree on what exactly led to this.

On the one hand, there was the sudden death of their manager Brian Epstein, who was only 32 years old at the time, which affected them very much. When he died in 1967, the Beatles initially descended into chaos. The year before they had decided not to perform live anymore, partly because the fanatical shouting at their concerts became too much for them.

After Epstein’s death, they initially tried to save themselves before American businessman Allen Klein took over the job in 1969. But its employment led to a dispute among the four members, as Paul McCartney opposed it from the start and tried (unsuccessfully) to veto it.

Some suspect that Allen Klein also contributed to the breakup of the Beatles. When the relationship between the four men was already tense, he is said to have made decisions in the interest of maximizing profits rather than focusing on a healthy relationship between the ‘Fab Four’.

In the previous two years, from 1967 to 1969, the other band members seemed to have been bothered by Paul McCartney taking over. John Lennon said in a 1970 interview: “Paul took over and would have managed us. But what does leading mean if we go around in circles?”

McCartney, on the other hand, pointed the finger at Lennon. In a 2018 interview, he claimed that John Lennon was responsible for the breakup: he came into the studio one day in 1969 and said he was leaving the group.

There are also those who believe that Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono was responsible for the end of the Beatles. Wherever her husband was, Yoko was not far away; the two were considered inseparable. Much to the dismay of the other three, who felt increasingly disturbed by her presence in the studio. McCartney made it clear in 2013 that she was absolutely not responsible for the breakup.

Ultimately, there were probably several reasons that caused the camel’s back to flood. Personally and musically, all four developed in different directions, they continued to be at each other’s throats and perhaps at a certain point fame and success shot so over their heads that they could no longer continue.

In any case, Paul McCartney issued a press statement on April 10, 1970 stating that he no longer wished to work with the band and would concentrate on his solo career. This marked the end of the Beatles.

The siblings behind the iconic rock band Oasis, Noel and Liam Gallagher, are known for their public arguments.

What started in childhood only got worse as she got older. In 1994, after conquering the British charts with their debut album “Definitely Maybe”, they wanted to tackle the US. During an incredibly bad performance in Los Angeles – while they were allegedly using crystal meth (because they mistook it for cocaine) – Liam started hitting his older brother with the tambourine and left the stage before the show was over.

In the years that followed, the brothers’ ever-increasing success seemed to slowly go to their heads: concerts and entire tours were interrupted to allow one to get across to the other. When Oasis were due to perform in Barcelona in 2000, their drummer was injured and they were unable to perform. Instead they got drunk – what else can you do? – and Liam wondered if Noel was really the father of his daughter Anais. Noel left with Liam and Oasis had to continue the remainder of their European tour without Noel.

Although they were still recording albums and performing concerts in 2005, by then it was clear to everyone that the Gallaghers did not have a good relationship with each other. Noel happily told the American music magazine ‘Spin’ how he would manipulate his younger brother. So much so that he is terrified of him. Liam later explained that, for example, Noel moved furniture because he knew his little brother was afraid of ghosts.

In April 2009, Noel told Q magazine in an iconic quote about Liam: “He’s the angriest man you’ll ever know. Liam is like a man with a fork in a world full of soup.” A few months later, at the end of August, Noel announced he was leaving Oasis. After Liam tried to beat him up with his guitar before a concert in Paris, the last straw seems to have been broken. “It is with some sadness and great relief that I inform you that I have left Oasis this evening,” he wrote in a statement. People would write and say whatever they wanted, but he couldn’t work with Liam the next day.

Liam was unable to build on Oasis’ success with his newly formed band Beady Eye – which, incidentally, split in 2014 – or as a solo artist. Noel’s solo career also could not be compared to the success of Oasis. In the following years, there was repeated speculation that the band would reunite, but it all turned out to be just a rumor. This was followed by some relatively indignant tweets from Liam taking shots at his brother (and calling him a potato), a half-hearted call for people to come together and get the ‘Big O’ back together and then further to carry out diss attacks. about Noel didn’t get involved.

When asked about an Oasis reunion in a radio interview last March, Noel replied: “If Oasis hadn’t reached their full potential the situation would be different. I don’t see what good it would do.” But then he couldn’t resist adding that things might look different again in ten years.

NWA stands for ‘Niggaz Wit Attitudes’. The boys from the Californian problem neighborhood of Compton certainly did not lack attitude. In the beginning the group consisted of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and Arabian Prince. MC Ren and DJ Yella joined later. They played a key role in shaping West Coast hip-hop, speaking from the hearts of a generation of marginalized groups with their raw lyrics about police brutality, drugs and ghetto poverty.

Before the members had fights with each other, they had stress with others. For example with the police. When NWA broke through internationally in 1988 with ‘Straight Outta Compton’, the FBI wrote a letter to the record label Priority Records. NWA was signed to Priority Records’ subsidiary Ruthless Records. The US Domestic Intelligence Service asked the label to withdraw the record. The song “Fuck Tha Police” in particular was – as the name suggests – a thorn in the side. The letter explained that there was a call for violence against the police. The label and NWA ignored the demand and distributed the letter to the public – thus gaining even more notoriety, much to the dismay of the police.

In 1989, Ice Cube decided to leave NWA. He disagreed with the way manager Jerry Heller managed the money and assumed much of it went into his own pockets. He, who wrote the majority of NWA’s lyrics, also felt that he was not recognized enough for his work and his contribution to the group’s success – especially financially. In an interview, he explained that he had to leave NWA to stay true to himself: “I’d rather be broke than be in a well-known group without being paid fairly.” On his debut solo album “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted,” released in 1990, he did not compete against his former bandmates and childhood friends.

But as it goes in the rap world, disputes are fought over the music. And so, NWA vented their anger over Cube’s departure on the songs “100 Miles and Runnin'” and “Real Niggaz.” This is what Dr. Dre shared with Benedict Arnold, an American general in the American War of Independence who later defected to the British.

Further verbal attacks followed on the album “Efil4zaggin”, released in 1991, where NWA dedicated the intermezzo “Message to BA” (another allusion to Benedict Arnold) to him.

Ice Cube didn’t let that go. And launched a counterattack that would go down as one of the biggest diss tracks in rap history: “No Vaseline.”

He not only criticizes his former friends and calls them untalented, but also manager Jerry Heller (we will not translate that passage).

NWA’s last album “Niggaz4Life” was released in 1991. Afterwards, the other members also dropped out, especially Dr. Dre and Eazy E. Dre also began to feel that Ruthless Records was not paying them fairly and wanted to do his own thing with The DOC and Suge Knight: Death Row Records. Eazy-E had a different opinion. When Dre gave Eazy the choice, he chose manager Jerry Heller and declined Dr. Dre to give away the rights to his songs. They would never reconcile: Eazy-E died in March 1995 of complications from AIDS. When Dre went to visit him in the hospital, Eazy was already in a coma. Nine days later he was dead.

In 2015, Ice Cube, DJ Yella and MC Ren appeared together on stage in Los Angeles for a short reunion show – so the hatchet seems to have been buried now.