Anniversary Album: 30 Years of ‘Definitely Maybe’ by Oasis

Has it been only 30 years since the release of Definitely Maybe, the monumental debut album by Oasis? It seems like we’ve been hearing about a potential band reunion for a few decades longer than that. But, yes, it’s true, August 1994 was the month when most of the world discovered the Gallagher brothers and company.

Definitely Maybe is that rare debut album that was more than just a stepping stone. Instead, it’s a definitive statement from a band that succeeded in spite of humble beginnings through talent, swagger, and ignorance of the notion that it wasn’t supposed to be this easy for a new band to conquer the music world.

Defining Definitely

Definitely Maybe would have been a massive album regardless of when it was released or the context surrounding it. But it is important to consider that the album was released in the middle of an era when grunge was dominant. And it’s perhaps especially germane that it came out just a few months after the death of Kurt Cobain, that movement’s leading light.

Obviously, Definitely Maybe was in the works for a few years, so it’s impossible to call it a reaction against anything. But it is telling that the chief architect of the record, Oasis’ songwriter Noel Gallagher, had blinkers on when it came to the music the rest of the world was making at that time. He was instead imbibing a steady diet of Beatles, Rolling Stones, and T-Rex, old-fashioned rock and roll that was unapologetic about its good-time purpose.

Noel Gallagher might not have had the chance to honor those influences if the Manchester, England, band known as Rain, which featured his brother Liam on lead vocals, had been able to find another songwriter that could hold their own. Instead, older brother Noel began feeding his hook-laden songs to Liam, and Rain transformed into Oasis.

Oasis also showed a confidence about their talents well beyond their experience level, and that quality came into play when they went in to make Definitely Maybe. The initial sessions with producer David Batchelor didn’t capture the live energy of the group, and Oasis pushed back against the results instead of just letting them slide. Creation Records stuck with the group and allowed them to go back in with different producers until they got it just right.

Like The Beatles, Oasis first conquered the UK before they truly took hold of the U.S. It’s not that Definitely Maybe went unheard in the States, but the true impact in America didn’t come till the release of the “Wonderwall” single. As a result, Definitely Maybe is an album that many fans in the U.S. discovered in retrospect, rediscovering the band as scrappy underdogs after they had already beaten the world.

How Definitely Maybe Holds Up Today

What’s striking about a fresh listen to is how full-throttle it is. There’s no “Wonderwall,” or “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” or “Don’t Go Away” present. Everything is uptempo and filled with thrashing guitars. It’s almost as if they weren’t expecting a broader audience that would want to hear those changes of pace; they were playing what they knew and loved.

The other thing that’s inescapable is the power of Liam Gallagher’s vocals. There aren’t a lot of open spaces in these songs, meaning he often has to make his present felt amidst a cacophony. Yet there’s never a moment where he doesn’t sound completely at ease, and he does it all without resorting to anything showy. Instead, he relies on his unmistakable bray to carry him through, and it does so without fail.

Definitely Maybe kind of speeds by in a blur, and truth be told, some individual songs get lost in the shuffle. But there are plenty of moments when you can hear evidence of the dynamism to come, most notably on the two breakout tracks “Supersonic” and “Live Forever.” The latter song proved that Noel could go beyond aping his heroes and deliver something those heroes would have wished to write themselves.

Considering how quickly their level of quality fell off, Definitely Maybe holds a more prominent place in the catalog of Oasis then most debut albums do for other notable artists. We thought at the time it was showing what was to come. In many ways, it ended up being what might have been for this volatile group.

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