Liam Gallagher, the English musician and singer who is best known as the lead singer of the rock band Oasis, has reportedly blamed his brother Noel Gallagher (lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Oasis) of "selling out," after Noel allowed the song of Oasis - 'Half The World Away' to be featured in the latest John Lewis (department store company) advert.
The Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora was selected to cover the 1994 B-side for the annual Christmas advertising campaign.
The track was written and performed solely by the guitarist, and songwriter Noel Gallagher, however, reports suggested that vocalist Liam Gallagher is critical of his decision to allow the song to be used on TV this Christmas.
A source reveals, "Liam Gallagher has been making his habitual snide comments about the song being on the advert of John Lewis."
The source also said, "When Liam Gallagher first heard about it, he was blustering in his own local pub in Hampstead, north London, to just about any person who'd listen. Liam Gallagher accused brother Noel of being shameless for letting John Lewis use the song...Liam Gallagher has told mutual friends and family that Noel is a sell-out, and even joked that Noel won't be welcome in the local pub near their mum's house... not that he can enforce that!"
Alan McGee, former Oasis label chief, also indicated the faults of the decision recently, when he said that he hopes the retailer paid Noel Gallagher a substantial fee for the rights to the Oasis song.
McGee remarked, "I think it's rubbish. I don't know what people else thinks of it, though. I'm pleased for Noel that he got his royalties, I hope they gave Noel Gallagher a million quid, but actually I thought it was very bad."
The trend of the John Lewis advert cover-version skyrocketed in 2010, when the cover of the English singer and multi-instrumentalist Ellie Goulding to 'Your Song' by Elton John hit Number One. The first advert song of John Lewis came the year before with a folk cover of Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child O' Mine'.