A moment that changed me- I first heard Oasis at 14 – and they gave me the swagger to come out

In a recent conversation, comedian Susie McCabe shared how the music of Oasis profoundly impacted her life as a working-class teenager growing up in Glasgow during the ’90s. “Definitely Maybe resonated with me and gave me hope,” she recalled. “But then came Be Here Now, and it felt like all that hope came crashing down.”

McCabe reminisced about a significant moment in her life in 1994, when she visited her brother at RAF Chivenor. She and her family had driven down from Glasgow for the weekend, but she was more interested in exploring her brother’s music collection than joining their dinner plans. “He recognized I wasn’t keen on going out, so he handed me a CD and said, ‘Here, listen to this first,'” she explained. As the iconic opening chords of “Rock ’n’ Roll Star” filled the room, it marked the moment when Oasis became a central part of her life at just 14 years old.

“I rushed out to buy my own copy of Definitely Maybe as soon as I got home,” she said, vividly describing how her wardrobe transformed. Her casual wear morphed from running trainers and sweaters to Adidas tracksuits and Fred Perry polo shirts—an eventual look she associated with the swagger of Liam and Noel Gallagher. “I wanted to embody their attitude and style. Thankfully, my nana helped me out with second-hand pieces since my mum didn’t quite get the importance of labels unless it was school shoes.”

Oasis became the soundtrack of her youth, contrasting with her family’s more traditional musical tastes. “My parents listened to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and my older brother was into The Specials and The Smiths. But Oasis was mine, and I was all in. I’d skip school just to queue for their latest releases and tickets. I even camped out with friends to snag a ticket for their concert at Loch Lomond.”

As McCabe reflected on Oasis leading the Cool Britannia movement, she drew parallels to the political climate of the time. “Tony Blair was presenting a vision of change that mirrored what I felt through the music. It was the first time my friends and I became politically engaged, thanks in part to Oasis encouraging us to vote Labour in 1997.”

She acknowledged a period of optimism during Blair’s leadership, noting improvements in the economy and important social changes, particularly for the LGBT community. “The repeal of section 28, which restricted the promotion of homosexuality in schools, felt monumental,” she described.

However, everything shifted for McCabe with the release of Be Here Now on August 21, 1997. “That album felt like it was recorded with reckless abandon, and just days later, Princess Diana’s tragic death brought on a national mourning that seemed to extinguish all the hope I had.”

With the changes in her own life and society at large, McCabe faced her own struggles. “I came out as a lesbian with the same bravado as Liam Gallagher, only to feel rejected by those I thought would support me. At 17, I felt lost, and I ended up leaving home to live with my nana, trying to navigate adulthood in the LGBTQ scene.”

Now, 30 years later, she finds herself reflecting on her journey. “While my wardrobe may have changed slightly, my political beliefs remain firmly left of center. I still have a deep love for the music of Liam and Noel, even if their relationship isn’t what it used to be. Their songs were the soundtrack to a formative time in my life—a period defined by political progress and personal hope.”

As her stand-up tour, “The Merchant of Menace,” prepares to launch on November 1, McCabe carries with her the legacy of Oasis and the transformative power of music. “Those two lads made me believe that, as a working-class kid, I belonged in this country.”