Gallagher: 'Oasis nearly split'

Noel Gallagher has revealed that Oasis nearly decided to split in 2000 after releasing their fourth album.

The guitarist claimed that the disappointing response to their Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants LP and departure of band members Guigsy and Bonehead made him question the group's future.

"There were years of a real total lack of inspiration," he told BBC 6 Music. "In my defence, Creation was collapsing around our ears, Bonehead and Guigsy were thinking about leaving - although we didn't know it at the time.

"The fact that we were all getting divorced, that we made a record anyway is quite staggering."

He continued: "I think we put records out because we didn't know what to do. We really should have gone away after Knebworth and done what U2 did after The Joshua Tree.

"To [do] that you've got to be cool. We were all addicted to the attention and the mania and the egos."

When asked whether they actually talked about breaking up, he answered: "We had a serious discussion after Bonehead and Guigsy left. Should we fold this now and just go under a different name? We were seriously thinking about it.

"But your manager gets you at a moment of weakness when you're hungover and says: 'You've built this think up after then years and you're just going to throw it away and start again?'"

> Click here to read our review of the new Oasis album