Oasis Got in Legal Trouble for Plagiarizing a Monty Python Collaborator’s Track
The roll out of Oasis’ much-hyped reunion tour has been a real nightmare for fans. Ticket prices landed somewhere between the cost of Fabergé eggs and black market organs, thanks to Ticketmaster’s “Dynamic Pricing.” Liam Gallagher responded to the controversy in the most Liam Gallagher way possible, by instructing his fans to “SHUTUP.” I guess we should just be happy that he didn’t threaten to stab anybody in the eye.
But this is far from the only controversy that the band has weathered. We all know about the time Noel Gallagher claimed that Oasis was “bigger” than The Beatles, but what about the time they screwed over one of The Rutles?
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In 1994, Oasis released the song “Whatever,” a “standalone Christmas single” that came out between their debut album Definitely Maybe and the hit follow-up (What's the Story) Morning Glory? The song was a success, debuting at number three on the U.K. chart, giving the band “their first top five single.”
But the central melodic hook, featuring the lyrics “I’m free to be whatever I…” sounded familiar to a lot of people — especially to anyone who had seen Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl.
“Whatever” is distinctly like “How Sweet to Be an Idiot” by the late Neil Innes, which first appeared on the album of the same name, his debut solo release following his work with the wild Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Innes has been referred to by some as the “seventh Python” for his frequent collaborations with the troupe, which included penning songs for (and appearing in) Monty Python and the Holy Grail and providing musical interludes during their live shows.
According to Innes, he knew nothing about the Oasis track until he “got a phone call from Paul McCartney’s brother Michael,” asking him, “Have you heard Oasis’ record? It’s really like ‘How Sweet to Be an Idiot.’”
Innes didn’t do anything about it at first, despite a front page story in NME that boasted the headline “Neil Innes to Sue Oasis,” but then added the caveat “…or at least we think so, because when we phoned him he was out, and we assumed he was seeing his lawyers” within the pages of the magazine.
Innes eventually contacted EMI, the owners of the song, who assured him that they were “on to the case.” After threatening legal action, the case was eventually settled out of court, with Innes getting 25 percent of the royalties and a writing credit.
Innes didn’t seem terribly bothered about the whole thing, telling an interviewer in 2013 that “Oasis were perfect gentlemen, and no one actually got sued! Yes, they had to part with money but that was all sorted out by EMI.”
Innes also pointed out that something similar happened to him with The Rutles, the Beatles parody group he created with Eric Idle in 1975. Innes was sued by ATV Music, the owners of the publishing rights to much of the Beatles catalog at the time. They argued that the songs were just too similar.
Innes even hired a musicologist to prove that his compositions were “significantly different from his idols'” songs. But he ended up settling out of court and forking over a percentage of the royalties.
“No other business in the world gets away with stealing like the music business,” Innes once mused. “Apart from banking.”
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