Oasis: Criticized in America, but Loved

Oasis: Criticized In America, But Loved

Anyone familiar with music magazines will notice a common method used by most music critics: comparing artists to one or more of their peers. In most cases this method is critical to the review, especially if the readers have never heard the artist being reviewed. It gives them a point of reference, and if they like the artists being compared, they might buy the album. Such comparisons can work for or against an artist, but for one band in particular it has been incorporated into almost everything ever written about them.

Oasis were in the hands of the media right from the beginning. In a review of their first album, Definitely Maybe, Stuart Maconie referred to them as “manna from heaven in a slow newspaper week.” He gave almost as much attention to the rivalry between the two brothers and core members of the band, Noel and Liam Gallagher, as he did to the music itself. He pointed out that the music was nothing new and cited the Sex Pistols, T. Rex, the Stooges, and the Beatles as influences (Maconie). This last influence proved to be the most significant, as critic after critic used the Beatles as a focus point in describing Oasis. There were several reasons for the fixations on the Beatles and the Gallagher brothers’ social behavior when talking about Oasis.

Oasis never shied from the reality that they worshipped the Beatles, and that it showed in their music. In fact, the Beatles sometimes seemed to be their favorite topic of conversation in interviews. Noel claimed he wanted to introduce them to a new generation. They covered Beatles songs, including “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” and “I Am The Walrus,” the latter becoming a staple at their live shows. They also spoke of them in their lyrics. In “D’You Know What I Mean,” a song from their third album “Be Here Now”, they namedrop two Beatles songs in one line, “Fool On The Hill” and “I Feel Fine” (Oasis). Liam even claimed to be the reincarnated soul of John Lennon, though his brother often pointed out its chronological impossibility.

Though some of these facts seem important when music was concerned, they took a back seat in the tabloids to stories of alcohol and drug use, egotism, bad-mannered interviews, general rudeness, and various scuffs with the law, which