How did Oasis so blantantly rip-off "Bang a Gong (Get it On) with "Cigarettes and Alcohol", and get away with it?

M.O.R., yes. The vocal melody/chords/arrangement are almost identical to Bowie's up until the chorus, which was presumably just different enough to prevent Bowiecorp suing.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more litigious it gets. E.g., The chorus of "Boys" goes "Boys keep swinging/Boys always work it out", whereas M.O.R has: "You, me, we, we'll work it out!"

Oasis never denied taking it from Bolan, however... they even admitted to it in "Getting High", their first bio, I believe. Noel was a huge fan of T-Rex and really praised them more than just about any other artists besides the beatles.

Belle & Sebatsian also increased Cliff Richard's bank balance thanks to Wrapped Up In Books being similar to In The Country.

And there's a song of theirs, which esacpes me now, which is a direct ripoff of a Lee Hazlewood song.

Dog on Wheels?

Didn't know about the Blur one being credited... Interesting though, because the original artists don't seem to get a huge percentage on the whole. I mean, I'd have given the Stranglers 90% of the royalties to "Waking Up", but 50% sounds like a good deal to me, considering that all that's different are the words. You could make a good deal of cash out of an LP of loosely disguised cover versions by the looks of things.

It would seem Marc's interests aren't being looked after that well by his publisher.

xp 1- KeefW- Words are fifty per cent of publishing. Hence cases like the NIrvana split, when Cobain took 66.666% of credit at someone else's suggestion (I can't think who) after success struck. Previously they split three ways. That's a lot of cash to lose. Blur went something like 50/25/12.5/12.5 though Albarn could have claimed the lot (but he'd never have made it without Coxy)
xp 2- 'Creep' is 'The Air That I Breathe'. Don't know if the Hollies wrote it, but apparently the writers did collect from Radiohead (and why not. It has the same melody)
xp 3- Stewart. I was kidding about 'Rip It Up'. But Shelley/Devoto's publisher would be well within their rights to collect. Admitting theft doesn't mean it isn't theft. Orange Juice almost certainly sold more copies and certainly received more radio play.

Yes, "Dog on Wheels", ridiculously ripped from Summer Wine by Lee'n'Nancy.

Oasis rip off the La's on the new record, but if Noel actually managed to get them to re-form wouldn't that make it more of a tribute?

But the La's have reformed. Does this mean Noel's work is done?

Definitely Maybe meant Noel's work was done.