Justin Hawkins recently discussed how Oasis claimed to be influenced mainly by John Lennon while taking a few important hints from the other Beatles’ books as well. The Darkness frontman then called out how the band was influenced by George Harrison but chose to overlook the guitarist’s contributions during one of his latest YouTube videos.
It’s not much of a secret that the Gallaghers admire John Lennon. Liam even went on to name one of his sons after the Beatles icon and appreciate the rocker’s lyrics and compositions at every chance he gets. Noel’s no different than his brother when admiring John, as he had also expressed in the past that the singer was an important influence while creating Oasis’ tunes.
However, it seemed that Hawkins felt that the Gallagher brothers were a bit hypocritical when it came to appreciating the other Beatles, even though it was evident that they were also influenced by George Harrison; though, the pair chose to underestimate Harrison and prioritized John.
Justin then gave an example of his claims by playing a few chords from the Oasis song, ‘She’s Electric’ and then comparing it to Harrison-penned ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps.’ Hawkins noted that although the melodies weren’t precisely the same, they still held a significant familiarity, and it was no doubt that Harrison was an essential driving force for Oasis’ creative direction.
The Darkness singer on Oasis overlooking and underappreciating Harrison while worshipping Lennon:
“The point I was making was the melody is nearly as same as this [starts playing ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’]. That’s the Beatles, of course, doing ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’ and I thought the irony of it was the Oasis always saying, ‘John Lennon was the main Beatle,’ they loved him… blah blah blah, didn’t really care for Paul McCartney’s contribution,’ and yet when they’re actually doing stuff that really does sound like the melodies of the Beatles, they’re borrowing from George Harrison.
…but I would hesitate to call it a direct lift because the chords underneath the Oasis version are relationally different to the melody even though the melody nearly exactly the same. Probably, the four is a different part of the bar and relates to the accompaniment in a different way because the chords are not the same.”
It felt to Hawkins that Oasis didn’t give credit to the other Beatles, especially Harrison, as they mainly prioritized John and admired his talent as a songwriter and composer. However, Justin noted that there had been numerous tracks where the Gallaghers couldn’t help but take a few hints from George’s book, although they chose not to be as vocal about those.
