What is Definitely Maybe?
Short Answer:
Oasis’ 1994 debut. Loud, cocky, imperfect, and absolutely necessary.
Long Answer:
What is it?
Definitely Maybe is the first Oasis album, released on 29 August 1994 by Creation Records. It went straight to Number One and became the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history at the time. Eleven tracks with no safety net. It didn’t ask if you were ready. It told you to get out of the way.
Tracklist
Rock ’n’ Roll Star
Shakermaker
Live Forever
Up in the Sky
Columbia
Supersonic
Bring It on Down
Cigarettes & Alcohol
Digsy’s Dinner
Slide Away
Married with Children
Every song pushes forward. Even the daft ones carry weight. Digsy’s Dinner might be a pisstake, but it sounds like they meant it at the time, which is what counts.
Where was it recorded?
First at Monnow Valley Studios in Wales. That version was binned for being flat.
Redone at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall with engineer Mark Coyle. Final mixing at Eden.
Then redone at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall with engineer Mark Coyle.
Owen Morris came in and smashed the safe mix to pieces.
Who played on it?
Liam Gallagher – vocals
Noel Gallagher – guitar, backing vocals, songs
Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs – rhythm guitar
Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan – bass
Tony McCarroll – drums
The classic five. The version of Oasis people see in their heads even now. It wouldn’t last, but that was part of the point.
Sound and Style
The guitars punch you in the ears. The lyrics veer between wide-eyed dreaming and lad-drawl nonsense. It sounds like a gang who’ve had just enough to believe they’re invincible and too little to consider being careful. You can hear the fight in every track. Not anger. Urgency.
Reception
Critics tried to be clever about it. Fans didn’t bother. They bought it, believed it, and wore it like a badge. Suddenly, Oasis were everywhere. And no one could shut them up.
Legacy
It set the template for everything that followed. Every lad with a guitar after 1994 owes it something, whether they admit it or not.
The production was rough. The band were barely holding it together. The lyrics are half nonsense. And yet it all works because they meant it. Every last note.
This was the record that made ambition sound normal again. Not forced. Not curated. Just something you shouted because no one else was listening.
You Should Listen to Definitely Maybe Right Now
You should listen to Definitely Maybe right now because it still sounds like the last time a band walked into a studio with nothing but belief and walked out with something unstoppable.
The guitars are too loud, the drums barely hang on, and Liam sings every line like he’s got something to prove and no patience left to explain it.
There’s no caution, no clever production tricks, no irony. Just the sound of a band charging straight at the world, convinced it owes them a hearing. It captured a moment when ambition wasn’t stylised or managed.
It was raw, noisy, and yours if you were bold enough to take it. That moment hasn’t come back since.
