It’s just been announced that Rita Ora and BBC1’s Nick Grimshaw are the new X Factor U.K. judges, replacing Mel B and longtime cast member Louis Walsh. But if there was ever a rock star that seemed destined to launch a second career as a loud-mouthed talent show judge, it’s loud-mouthed ex-Oasis curmudgeon Noel Gallagher. (I once even suggested that he replace Simon Cowell on American Idol five years ago.) And according to a recent Yahoo Music interview with Noel, Cowell supposedly wanted him for The X Factor U.K., and he tried to hire Noel — twice.
“Twice, yup,” says Gallagher. “A guy calls me who works at Sony Records; he’s a good friend of mine I’ve known for years and years and years. His office was across the hall from Simon Cowell’s. Simon Cowell knew this guy was a friend of mine, and this guy called me up and he said, ‘Simon Cowell’s asking for your phone number, can I give it to him?’ I said, ‘What does he want it for?’ He said, ‘I have no idea.’ I thought he might want a song for one of the X Factor winners. A couple weeks pass, nothing happens and I’ve forgotten all about it, and then one Sunday afternoon this girl calls and says, ‘I’m Simon Cowell’s assistant, is it OK to call you in about five minutes?’ And he offered me the job to replace him when he first left The X Factor. I think to this day I’m still the only person who ever turned him down.”
(A representative for The X Factor tells Yahoo Music that Gallagher was merely “considered,” and was never formally offered a job on the show.)
Gallagher insists that it “wasn’t for any novel reasons about music, blah blah blah and all that” that he said no to Simon and a reported £2 million salary. “It’s for the simple reason that I don’t want to be on TV every Saturday night. [The X Factor U.K. airs on Saturdays.] I’ve got better things to do. And with being on TV every Saturday night comes the endless promotion to do that. And I don’t want to be a TV star, you know?
“I explained all this to Simon Cowell, and I do like him; I’ve met him on several occasions. And he was being very f—ing insistent that it didn’t matter, we could work around [my schedule], we could do it. I said, ‘Well, I’ve got an album coming out.’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about that either.’ I found it mildly amusing for a while and then he said, ‘Well, just think about it and I’ll call you back.’ And I said, ‘I’ve already thought about it, I don’t want to do it,’ and we left it at that.
“But then a year later I got a call, or my management got a call: ‘The album is finished now. Is he in any way interested now?’ But I don’t want to be on TV. Saturday night is for playing with my wife, f—ing getting drunk. It’s my night off.”
Noel Gallagher won’t have many nights off for a while, as he is on tour through July promoting his sophomore album with his band High Flying Birds, Chasing Yesterday. I’m sure he’s got the X factor whenever he’s onstage.
Follow Lyndsey on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, Amazon, Tumblr, Vine, Spotify
This article originally ran on Yahoo Music.
