Were Oasis actually similar to The Beatles?
 

I'd never previously given any time to listen to Oasis, having heard The Beatles and not liking their music, but thought I'd give it a go the other day. Interestingly, I like a reasonable number of their songs. They dress in a similar way to The Beatles, although I can't really detect any similarity in their music - I actually think they sound closer to The Rolling Stones (late 1960s), Nirvana (early 1990s), and The Wonder Stuff (late 1980s). Why does everyone compare them to The Beatles, then? Odd songs resemble what The Beatles wrote, but by-and-large the two seem completely different to me.

John Lennon was in Oasis.

Who?

I thought Blur were supposed to be the Beatles reborn or some ****? Or was that the Kinks, and Oasis were early Beatles? **** it, who cares? It's not like the comparisons are helpful.

I hear similarity with The Kinks and XTC compared with Blur - what I don't see is The Beatles compared with Oasis.

I think it's because of the simpler pop tunes of the Beatles early years. I know **** all about the Beatles except for the few albums I've listened to, so I can't say for sure if that's fair, but in general I think the comparison was probably drawn by the music media to enhance the stakes of the supposed rivalry between Blur and Oasis, just like how Tupac and Biggie are often described as the two greatest rappers of all-time -- and you need to pick a side, god damn it! -- in order to put a spotlight on them, even if they're not actually the two best rappers of all-time. It's probably all just publicity and music politics.

I'd say "yes" to RJDG14. On my first hearing of that Morning Glory album, I repeatedly thought, "Hey, they got that bit from the Beatles." At first I thought it was just uncredited stealing, but then decided that it was intentional jokey post-modern referencing instead. Don't they reference Beatles songs in their lyrics? and copy the Beatles trademark rhythm cello too?

AFAIK, the only band who sound more like The Beatles than Oasis are The Rutles:-

There are only about two songs on "Be Here Now" that sound anything remotely like The Beatles. Most of the time it sounds sort of a hybrid between Pulp, Blur, Nirvana and The Stone Roses.

Oasis were definitely influenced by the Beatles, particularly Liam, but they had a lot of other influences as well, (The Stone Roses, Sex Pistols, Neil Young, The Smiths)

Oasis didn't have the talent of the Beatles, but they were able to write catchy poppy tunes that had a melancholy edge. Most of their hit singles are relatively easy to play if your a guitarist, they actually remind me more of Neil Young in that respect.

Oasis were better in my opinion