Backstreet Boys Blasted

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/03/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Oasis songwriter-guitarist Noel Gallagher, fresh from his divorce last week from his wife of three years, Meg Matthews, is clearly not humbled. The guitarist spoke up at a press conference in Venezuela, where he is part of a four-day music fest, and targeted Americans' lack of taste as the reason that British bands don't sell well in the U.S. "Americans have got very bad taste, hence the Backstreet Boys," criticized Gallagher . . . adding that Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson "can't sing, can't play, can't dance." Furthermore, he said, the songs of the Florida-based boy band are "rubbish," and he even blamed them for ruining kids' teeth by promoting soft drinks. "They should be shot," said Gallagher. Meanwhile, the Boys opened their world tour on Monday in Sunrise, Fla., where thousands of fans, most of them adolescent girls, joined baby boomers and their children for the first of 36 North American concerts. Oasis, on the other hand, will close the four-day Caracas Pop Festival on Sunday.