Robbie Williams calls Noel Gallagher a ‘great comedic’ writer of insults
Their Nineties rivalry seems long buried now
Robbie Williams has said that Noel Gallagher is a “great comedic writer” of insults — a complement at odds with the pair’s historic feuding.
In the Nineties, Gallagher famously called Williams “the fat dancer from Take That”, and at the 2000 BRIT Awards Williams also challenged Gallagher’s Oasis brother and bandmate Liam to a televised boxing match with a £100,000 prize.
However, in a recent interview with NME, Williams praised Noel as a “great comedic writer”.
“There was a lot of back-and-forth about a lot of different people,” Williams said. “And it wasn’t that I was hurt that it was said; it was just fucking annoying that it stuck. But, you know: Noel’s really good at that stuff. He’s said a lot of incredible quotes that stick.
“He’s a great comedic writer and he’s got that sort of brain for those things that cut through the chaff and stay around.”
Meanwhile, in the same interview Williams hit out at Damon Albarn after he controversially suggested in an interview that Taylor Swift “doesn’t write her own songs”.
Speaking to The Los Angeles Times earlier this year, Albarn was asked about modern songwriters “relying on sound and attitude”, to which he said: “Name me someone who’s not.”
The interviewer then said: “She may not be to your taste, but Taylor Swift is an excellent songwriter,” to which Albarn replied: “She doesn’t write her own songs.”
“Co-writing is very different to writing,” the Blur and Gorillaz singer went on. “I’m not hating on anybody, I’m just saying there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great.”
While Swift subsequently decried Albarn’s comments as “fucked up”, the musician said that his remarks had been “reduced to clickbait” and that he agreed with her criticism.
Williams has since launched a battle of words with another of his Nineties rivals.
“I think that when people say that,” Williams told NME, “what they’re actually doing is having a wank about themselves. It’s true! You know, it’s like, why don’t you cut the middle man out – just get a few ribs removed and give yourself a nosh, you twat!
“Because all you’re doing is going, ‘Hey, I’m fucking amazing!’ Nothing good comes from it in any way, other than it’s a sort of dopamine hit for themselves, going, ‘Do you know – I’m a real one.’ OK. Good for you. Fuck off,” he said.