Ghost,
Of course you're right that influences do not necessarily "sound-alikes" make. In this case, tho - the musical similarity between these bands struck me immediately (particularly given the vocal aping of John Lennon). As I indicated in my post (above), I'm not familiar with most of Oasis' music, but (for me) their radio play just suggested a straight Beatles knock-off, kind of a minor league Badfinger. That's one reason why their popularity among music-nerd types always surprised me: Oasis' music seemed to go past "influenced" and straight into "imitation"....to my ear. Obviously, that difference in assessing their music means that I heard more similarity than did many other careful listeners, so your point is taken....opinions will vary on the subject.
BTW, per Wikipedia, it appears that I was mistaken about the law suit. It appears that the Beatles parody band The Ruttles successfully sued Oasis for ripping off one of their songs after McCartney had successfully sued the Ruttles on the same basis. In any event, I guess it's safe to say that many folks (at least one of them a judge) hear a similarity, tho not everyone.
