In an Oasis of Hyperbole

* “The only reason to beli e ve in rock ‘n’ roll in 1994 . . . .”

* “What the world has been waiting for . . . .”

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From those quotes, you’d think the British music press was writing about a band that’s changing the face of rock, right?

Not really.

It’s just Oasis, another perfectly gratifying but fairly mediocre pop outfit with fab sunglasses and mod hairdos.

This kind of hype is a tradition. Every few weeks, Britain’s music papers place a new band on a teetering pedestal, hail them with hyperbole, then eventually rip ‘em to shreds.

Just ask Morrissey, who actually once deserved the press. He was close to God in popularity in England in the mid-1980s, and now he can’t release an album there without being lambasted as a wimpy, whining mess.

“In England, if you don’t have the press on your side, you might as well give up,” says Noel Gallagher, the 27-year-old guitarist of Oasis. His ultra-cocky band, which plays catchy but predictable glam-punk, is the latest target of the papers’ inflated adoration.

“The press there has so much power,” he continues. “If they don’t like you, that’s it. If they do though, you get quite an easy lift.”

More like a blastoff.

Oasis’ new “Definitely Maybe” is one of the fastest-selling debuts in British rock history. It’s no wonder that Gallagher feels that the hype surrounding the Manchester quintet, which is fronted by his younger brother, Liam, is mostly beneficial.

“The only danger is if they push a band that doesn’t have good songs,” he says. “It’s like the emperor without any clothes. People read that this band is supposedly the savior of rock ‘n’ roll, then go to the show and say, ‘This is (expletive).’ ”

Gallagher, who has accused former press darlings Suede of being too serious and Anglo-centric, is confident his band will survive. “See, we have the songs to back up all the press.”

But even Gallagher, who makes his Los Angeles debut with Oasis on Thursday at the Whisky, feels the pressure from the ghosts of hypings past.

“It’s more difficult for us in America now because you’ve been told that Blur, Suede, Manic Street Preachers, Happy Mondays and Stone Roses were gonna be the British bands to break America,” he says.

“When they finally got here, they didn’t do (expletive). . . . So now we’ll come over and say, ‘Wait, we are the greatest,’ and people will be like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve heard it all before.’ ”

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Suede delivers its third album, “Dog Man Star,” this month. Last year, the English press referred to “Britain’s greatest band” as “sexy, mysterious and mesmerizing.” Now the group is already being talked about in London in terms of a comeback, although it was only out of sight for a year.

Singer Brett Anderson says he has practically stopped analyzing the press. “After the first month or so, the press didn’t make the least bit of difference (to us).”

The 26-year-old singer sounds a lot less stressed than he did after the release of last year’s breakthrough album. “I’m a firm believer that good music wins out. If we make good records, there’s nothing the press can do about it.”

* Oasis plays Thursday at the Whisky, 8901 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. $13. (310) 652-4202.