The moment Tom Delonge became “the biggest Oasis fan”
From day one, Oasis always were proud of their roots in punk rock. As much as some fans loved to dissect the influence of The Beatles in the Gallagher brothers’ songs, Liam always envisioned himself as a mix between the soft croon of John Lennon and the snarling ferocity of John Lydon in one voice. While the age of Britpop may have spawned thousands of imitators, Oasis also had fans across the pond from the pop-punk world.
As Oasis was blowing up from the success of their first handful of records, Blink-182 were cutting their teeth in their native California, scoring their first hits with songs like ‘Dammit’ once Oasis were cutting their infamous album Be Here Now. Although Britpop’s time in the sun may have passed by the time ‘All the Small Things’ lit up the charts, Blink guitarist Tom DeLonge learned to love every aspect of the Britpop legends.
Starting from a conversation DeLonge had with Joe Strummer, The Clash guitarist gave him a lesson in being more open-minded about various forms of music, thinking that punk rock can manifest itself in any genre. As Blink was about to go on a festival show with Oasis, DeLonge remembered his first impression of the band, telling Ernie Ball, “I have my backwards hat on backstage, and all of these guys roll up in trenchcoats and Beatles haircuts. The first thing I thought was, ‘Well, they look pretty fucking cool.’ But they’re not really punk rock, and I’m still trying to hold onto what Strummer said.”
As Oasis got ready backstage, Blink went on and played up their snotty attitude to the nth degree, with DeLonge remembering that they made some comments that could have put them in prison these days. Once they got offstage, DeLonge was paid a visit from Liam after their set, continuing, “We go backstage, and the door flies open, and it’s one of the brothers, Liam. And he says, ‘Are you guys Blink-182?’ and we say yeah. And he goes, ‘You’re the best I’ve seen in America. We were like, ‘You like us?’ and he said, ‘I didn’t say that, but you’re the best I’ve seen in America’, and closed the door. I thought that was the most punk rock dude I’ve ever met. I became the biggest Oasis fan after that.”
Thanks to Liam’s attitude, DeLonge began listening to everything outside the punk umbrella, drawing him to make more daring decisions on their later albums. While there was still the rowdy energy that most would find in punk rock, DeLonge’s willingness to experiment on albums like their self-titled record brought a new sheen to their sound, toying with keyboards and even working with Robert Smith from The Cure on the song ‘All of This’.
Then again, DeLonge’s experimental streak did end up driving a wedge between him and the rest of the band, eventually breaking up after the tour ended and not resurfacing until the early 2010s with the release of the album Neighborhoods. Old habits died hard, though, with DeLonge getting kicked out again in favour of Alkaline Trio guitarist Matt Skiba before DeLonge returned one more time last year. Oasis may have given DeLonge a bit of a cultural shock, but his need to get all his creative juices flowing proved too much for Blink’s aesthetic.
