Noel Gallagher has finally gone on record to address claims his ‘Holy Mountain’ song bears resemblance to Ricky Martin’s 2000 song ‘She Bangs’.
When released in October, Noel fans said they heard bits of The Vaccines and Paul Weller, but most notably the 00’s-era Puerto Rican pop star.
With new High Flying Birds album ‘Who Built the Moon?’ out today (November 24, read the NME review here), Noel spoke to Radio X’s John Kennedy about the comparisons.
“I must say, out of all the things I’ve read, the one thing that was never played to me in the studio was ‘Ricky Martin’,” he said, admitting that the two songs shared a vaguely similar-sounding chorus. “The only similarity, his tune goes – as I remember it – ‘She bangs! She bangs!’ So it’s the phrasing of the words. That’s it. I understand people have mundane jobs and they’ve got nothing better to do, so they can comment on stuff.”
He went on to compare ‘Holy Mountain’ to David Bowie, saying: “It’s got a bit of ‘Diamond Dogs’ in there. But you know, when you’re making up stuff in the studio and the clock’s ticking… I never thought I’d be into it. People are sitting there like: ‘What are we doing today, then?’ And you think: ‘Well, I’ve got to come up with something here.’ So this is pure expression. It’s not thinking about it at all.”
Dismissing Ricky Martin as an inspiration, he said the strongest influence came from working with producer David Holmes. “He’s not got any inhibitions about my music. So it’s a real collaboration. He’s all about vibe and the sounds and the mood. I’m all about the songs. We’d have these discussions, me saying: ‘I can’t do that in a song. I’ve got to play this stuff live.’ He’d say: ‘Nonsense!’ It’s a combination of both our styles, I think.”
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Brother Liam Gallagher previously went on record to label the single as “annoying” and “not risky.” Speaking to Vulture, he responded: “Obviously you know what I’m going to say, but it’s not for me.”
Earlier this week, Noel dismissed claims he’d “coordinated” his album release with Liam for “publicity”. He stated: “It’s slightly annoying. My shit is not reacting [to Liam’s album]. It’s not reactionary on that level to anybody’s. When your record’s ready, it goes, and that’s the end of it, and if it’s near to the other fellow’s, then that’s it.”
“I don’t give a fuck whether he puts his album out the same day as mine,” Noel added. “I will thank him for promoting my record, though, and it’s not even out yet.”