There was another outbreak of rock star badmouthing this week -- from the prickly Gallagher brothers of Oasis, a band whose hit tune "Wonderwall" took its title from an old George Harrison album, and whose whole sound is deeply Beatlesque. Nevertheless, singer Liam and songwriter Noel Gallagher have been at odds with their musical forebears lately.

MTV: First, Liam Gallagher, described by Beatle George Harrison as the "silly one" in a band Harrison says will be forgotten in 30 years, lashed back with a bit of Brit slang.

LIAM GALLAGHER: As a person, I think he is a f***ing nipple. And if I ever meet him, I outta f***ing tell him. And if you are watching, (leans in toward the camera and enunciates carefully) NIPPLE. [500k QuickTime]

MTV: "Nipple," for those not of the English persuasion, means "idiot," which apparently sums up brother Noel Gallagher's take on another Beatle recently knighted Sir Paul McCartney.

NOEL GALLAGHER: I haven't got any plans to work with anyone, especially Paul McCartney.

TOBY AMIES: Has there been a bit of trouble in that department?

NOEL: No, I just think he's going senile, isn't he?

Also butting heads with some elder rock statesmen lately, has been the English band The Verve, whose current hit, "Bitter Sweet Symphony," swipes a sample from an old orchestral version of the 1965 Rolling Stones hit, "The Last Time," which was featured on the soundtrack of an ancient Stones film called "Charlie Is My Darling." Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft had earlier insisted to us that the sample in question was almost impossible to detect in the finished recording. But if that's the case, how come he's being forced to turn over all royalties from the track to the Rolling Stones? Here's why.

RICHARD ASHCROFT, The Verve: What's important is, if you're building a wall of sound, like "Bitter Sweet Symphony," then if you take one thing out of it, it isn't the same, because music is about other music hitting each other, which makes up the sound. So I was in a position if I took it out, even though it's subliminal, the subliminal can be important, so I was in a no-win situation.

MTV: As it turns out, the resemblance between The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and the original from which it samples -- which is the work of former Stones producer, Andrew Luke Oldham, and of songwriters Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and which is controlled by the famously, not-to-be-messed-with former Stones manager Allen Klein -- is anything but subliminal.

Clearly, if things go on like this, musicians will soon have to start coming up with their own tunes again. What a scary thought.