Oasis’ Noel Gallagher said The Beatles and another classic rock band inspired his group. In addition, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with drawing inspiration from earlier acts. Oasis recorded a version of The Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus” that is radically different from the Fab Four’s.
Oasis’ Noel Gallagher said his band crossed The Beatles with the Sex Pistols
During a 2009 interview in the book The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters, Gallagher discussed the roots of Oasis. “Oasis were basically a cross between The Beatles and the Sex Pistols,” he said. “They were the two main loves of my life when I was growing up.
“I’ll put it to you this way: when Radiohead in the middle of ‘Karma Police’ dropped that bit in of ‘Sexy Sadie,’ to all the people down here that’s f****** brilliant, but when I do it I’m accused of some kind of plagiarism,” he added. “It’s not important to me.” For context, “Karma Police” features a piano riff reminiscent of the one that opens “Sexy Sadie” from The White Album.
Noel Gallagher discussed how ‘Hey Jude’ inspired the music of Oasis
Gallagher elaborated on his influences. “There’s two main things: one is being of Irish descent and the other is going to a lot of football matches from a very an early age and listening to those chants (sings): ‘la la la lalala la ci-ty’ — that’s ‘Hey Jude!’ Those songs that transferred themselves from the pop charts to the terraces, that’s where it’s at.”
In the United Kingdom, certain popular songs become popular football chants. “Hey Jude” is the sort of repetitive sing-a-long that is popular in that context.
How Oasis’ cover of The Beatles’ ‘I Am the Walrus’ performed on the pop charts
The Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus” is a sprawling psychedelic track. Meanwhile, Oasis turned “I Am the Walrus” into a lengthy hard-rock tune with lots of guitar feedback. It sounds more like Dinosaur Jr. than the average Oasis song.
The cover never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Oasis’ “I Am the Walrus” appeared on some editions of the album Definitely Maybe. That record climbed to No. 58 on the Billboard 200 for 21 weeks. Definitely Maybe lasted longer on the charts than most of the band’s other albums.
According to The Official Charts Company, Oasis’ “I Am the Walrus” didn’t chart in the U.K. either. On the other hand, Definitely Maybe topped the U.K. chart for a single week. It lasted on the chart for a whopping total of 505 weeks, making it the band’s biggest studio album there besides (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
Oasis drew influence from The Beatles and the Sex Pistols and they put their own spin on a classic Fab Four track.
