Oasis: Time Flies...

Put Yer Money Where Your Mouth Is

Noel sat at his desk proud of himself. Proud of his band and everyone else that put in the work but mostly just proud of himself. He'd produced a fourth album. The world looked dark on the other side of his coke binge (he was getting older and he'd have to do it somewhat sober) and the album reflected that but most importantly it was proof he kept going.

Original members walking out, Creation going under, Liam being Liam, depression setting in (and the doctor pushing pills), nothing stopped him.

He found ways around everything. Hiring in professionals, making his own label, only having Liam around when it was necessary. He and Oasis weren't just surviving on the other side of the millennium, they were thriving.

It was scary going out on your own label, it was scary getting in new band members, the fans could turn their backs on them for the decisions they'd made but they were brave. It was still the Gallagher brothers against the world, facing up to it all head on.

"Top album this, if I do say so myself." Noel boasted, admiring the cover of his next album. "Gonna be number one."

The cover was the New York skyline, maybe they'd flog a few more copies in America now their album looked less British. The name on the other hand, came from a two pound coin, recognition of those who came before and built the path for Oasis to be as it was.

The music was done, the artwork was done, the title was confirmed, it was ready for release. It was over to the public to decide.

"What makes you so sure?" Liam asked, just to argue.

"Wasn't talking to you." he snapped back, just because he'd said it out loud in range of others didn't mean he wanted a conversation.

"Who was ya talking to then? You back on the persians?" he questioned in a sneering manner.

"Course not." He frowned his thick eyebrows at the idea. "I was just saying..."

"You're a deluded cunt who talks to themself, so much better than a druggie." his brother teased.

"What the fuck ya doing here if ya don't think this is any good?" Noel asked flashing the CD case at his brother.

"I think it's great, I thought Be Here Now was great. It was one. Big. Flop."

"Nine million copy flop! They were sick of us, three albums in three years. We were living in a different world when we recorded that shite."

"Wasn't shite and this is all you whingeing about your life.No one wants to hear that."

"I wasn't whingeing. What d'you want? I can't write about anything but me life, can I?"

"And what makes you think people care about your problems?"

"I don't, I just know they're gonna eat it up and we're gonna be back on top."

"Put yer money where your mouth is. It's not Definitely Maybe, it's not Morning Glory, it's not gonna be number one."

"You're an idiot, betting against your own album."

"Take my money then if you're that confident." Liam goaded.

There was something about Liam that made Noel want to prove him wrong more than anyone else, it'd always been like that between the pair of them. Noel couldn't resist taking the bet.

Noel turned in his chair to face his brother. "You're on, I'm telling ya this album will be number one and I will be taking your money."

They shook on it and Noel set about forming a plan to make it happen. He was prepared to do anything to get one over on his brother and more importantly, to be right.

He decided if the artists in the charts happened to die under, well, not natural circumstances, the record companies would take their albums out of the charts as some kind of mark of respect to their passing.

He set about forming a plan to kill anyone who he saw may stand in the way of the album getting to number one. If they went in ways that made them look bad, people wouldn't want to know what happened to their albums. No one would suspect him either if the blame could be put on them.

He made a list of artists behind the albums due to be released. He didn't even care that half these names were no competition for the number one spot, he couldn't take any chances. He couldn't lose the bet to Liam.

After the first one Noel held back and watched the news roll in. When he realised no one suspected him he got a huge confidence boost. He knew he could continue his mission with zeal.

All Noel could think about was the bet. He had to prove his brother wrong. He had to ensure the album got to number one, any less was failure.

He hardly spoke to anyone in all the time since he'd made the bet. Either he was out getting the job done or he was hiding away in the recording studio in his house, pretending he was moving on to the next project when all he was doing was finding any piece of news he could, keeping a firm eye on the investigations he was trying to keep out of.

It was exhausting, doing what he was doing, pretending he wasn't. People knew him to be reclusive so he didn't get much bother from his friends so his business stayed very private.

All he could do was keep going on with his plan until he had a series of murders to his name. Each time was different,he was careful to make it hard for links to be drawn between each death, he didn't have a style to stick to. They all fell like dominoes or toy soldiers. The heat of the police hot hotter and hotter but he stayed icy cold.

Noel had just one last target, one last threat to the success of his album as far as he could see. Their lights went out just as easily as all the others. All he could do after that was wait, both for the result of the charts and for the police interest to rise. The latter just weren't looking in his direction, he was getting away with it.

The record companies didn't take the rival albums out of the charts, they couldn't, it didn't matter though. Everything Noel had done to put his money where his mouth is had proved pointless, doing nothing and letting the album sell would've yielded the same results.

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was released on 28th February, it went straight into the UK charts at number one in that week's chart. Noel got the sense that he'd killed for nothing but still he'd won the bet, he'd been right and now the cash was flowing right into his bank account.

The band celebrated it just like they had the previous three albums. The band line up wasn't the same, they were on a different record label, the drug taking was vastly different but their success was all the same.

Liam didn't care about losing the bet. He didn't particularly remember making it until Noel brought it up in all his smugness. He only cared about getting the music out for the fans to have, keeping rock n roll alive for them for as long as he could. He knew the album was good enough and the fans loyal enough but he wanted to see how far Noel would go to make it happen. He had his suspicions but even he didn't know what Noel had done.

Author Note- This story fell apart the moment I saw the album went straight into  the charts at number 1, dunno why I'd think it'd be any different. I did look at the chart to find out who the other artists were and what albums but I didn't know any of them and this way shows how much they were just something in his way.

The album is finished! That took far longer than the previous two.