We’ve seen plenty of “this band stole that band” arguments over the years, but the one making the rounds right now has real staying power: listeners are convinced Foo Fighters’ “Your Favorite Toy” carries an Oasis shadow, with the loudest comparisons targeting Noel Gallagher’s “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down.”
Whether you call it influence, coincidence, or something more deliberate, it matters because Foo Fighters are at the stage where every new release gets measured against the entire modern rock canon and fans don’t hesitate to call out anything that feels too familiar.
Foo Fighters ripping off Noel Gallagher?
What pushed this from casual chatter into a full-on talking point is how specific the comparison has become, as it could be singled out Noel Gallagher’s version of “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down” as the closest match for “Your Favorite Toy.”
Foo Fighters’ last song sounds like Tool, too, so we could take a wild guess that they are intentionally or unintentionally borrowing from a few bands.
Our take is that “ripping off” is probably too blunt a weapon here, but we also don’t think people are imagining things. In rock music, it’s rarely about one identical riff, it’s about the overall shape of the song: the momentum, the melody’s contour, the way the guitars and rhythm section lock into a certain strut. When those bigger elements line up, it triggers that instant “wait, I’ve been here before” feeling, and that’s exactly why this debate is spreading.
Uncomfortable truth
Here’s the uncomfortable part for Foo Fighters: they’ve built a career on writing big, traditional, arena-ready rock songs, and that’s a strength—but it’s also a trap. When a band lives in that classic framework long enough, the odds of drifting into someone else’s lane go up, even if it’s unintentional.
And Oasis isn’t just any reference point; they have such a distinctive stamp that even a passing resemblance can feel loud once your brain catches it.
Ultimately, we don’t think this will “cancel” a song or derail Foo Fighters, but we do think it’s a reminder that listeners want more than competence and volume—they want surprise. If the conversation around a new track becomes “which older song does this sound like?” that’s not just fan nitpicking; it’s a sign the audience is hungry for the band to take a bigger creative swing next time.
