THE DAY LIAM TOLD RODNEY TO SLIDE AWAY
SOME things never change. The audacity of certain footballers, for instance. Rodney Marsh has been telling the story of how he came to feature on the album cover for Oasis’ Definitely
Maybe. It’s not a personal appearance, exactly. His photograph (circled), in Manchester City’s colours, can be seen in a small frame in the fireplace. So can a picture of George Best, on the window sill. Some of the band are watching a television, which is showing The Good, The Bad And The Ugly by Sergio Leone. Eli Wallach and Antonio Casale are on screen. Most significant of all, in the foreground to the left, is a large image of Burt Bacharach, the song-writing hero of Noel Gallagher (left, with Liam, top), as prominent as any figure in the group. So we get it. The influencers, the immortals. Singer Liam is believed to have contributed the picture of Marsh, who takes up the story of the day they met some years later. ‘I asked Liam, halfjokingly, if the cheque was in the post for my share of royalties from the image rights,’ Marsh recalled. And you really have to love that half-jokingly. For that means half-seriously, too. Half-joking, half-absolutely serious that for a tiny photograph no bigger than the red wine glass on the wooden floor, Marsh thought he was in for a cut. As if Oasis were really struggling until they hit on the idea of putting a bloke from Manchester City’s 1972 team on the cover of the first album. You know, the one with Supersonic, Live Forever and Rock ‘n’ Roll Star. ‘He looked at me and replied p*** off,’ Marsh concluded. Given Liam’s reputation, it sounds as if he was in a polite mood that day.