Weird tunings in my opinion are for guitarists who like to show off that they can use them. Jimmy Page is the classic example.....ok the guys a ****ing genius in my book, but what was the point in using all those weird tunings? I've never found a led zep song that i couldnt play a decent version of with standard tuning. I can see there's a definite advantage to changing your tuning for slide guitar....but that doesnt matter to me because i never ue slide.
The plagurism thing is true about oasis...i've seen that thing about Noel wishing Macca would sue him thrown about on a number of message boards, but at least he admits it and credits his influences. We're all gonna copy stuff from the people we like, its inevitable. The people we're copying copied others before them too......although maybe 'copy' is the wrong word....i always try and ask myself 'Did X influence what I've written or have i just written my own version of X's song/solo/riff, or whatever.
Moral of the story: Its better to be inspired than workman-like.
'There's no such thing as bad weather, there's only the wrong clothes...'