“We were a punk band with Beatles melodies. We had no effects, barely any equipment, just loads of attitude, 12 cans of Red Stripe and ambition." Why Definitely Maybe will forever be Oasis' finest hour

By Paul Brannigan ( Louder, Classic Rock ) published 10 hours ago
The greatest rock album of the '90s was released on this day 31 years ago. Now a new generation is discovering its irresistible swagger


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Though it was rarely identified as such upon its release, being bracketed alongside inferior Britpop albums with which it shared precious little DNA - "I'd hear Blur or Pulp or Suede on the radio and think, Fuck these idiots" Noel Gallagher admitted in 2023 - it’s a punk rock album at heart, a collection of dole queue anthems which thrust two upraised fingers in the faces of a firmly entrenched establishment doing its level best to break the spirit and solidarity of working class communities from Burnage to Belfast. And as such, it’s the most fearless collection of attitudinal rock n’ roll to emerge from Britain since the Sex Pistols' incendiary debut Never Mind The Bollocks. In fact, in a 2023 interview with UK music magazine Mojo, Noel Gallagher, who wrote every song on the record, explicitly linked the two albums, boldly describing Definitely Maybe as “the last great punk album.”

“We were a punk band with Beatles melodies,” Gallagher stated. “We had no effects, barely any equipment, just loads of attitude, 12 cans of Red Stripe and ambition. If you listen to that and Never Mind The Bollocks, they’re quite similar. That album was about the angst of being a teenager in 1977. Fast forward to 1994 and Definitely Maybe is about the glory of being a teenager. It’s being down the park with a ghetto blaster distilled... There’s no bullshit on it. It’s an honest snapshot of working-class lads trying to make it. It’s about shagging birds, taking drugs, drinking and the glory of all of that."

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Best of all though is Live Forever, arguably Noel Gallagher’s defining song. Written as a response to (erroneous) ‘inkie’ music paper reports that Kurt Cobain was considering naming Nirvana’s third album I Hate Myself And I Want To Die, it’s the Oasis credo writ large, a surge of ‘Fuck you’ positivity and bullish self-belief standing as a grand secular hymn for the dreamers and schemers. Critics have often sneered at Oasis’ nursery rhyme lyrics, but Gallagher – like his nemesis Cobain – intuitively understood that there’s a beauty in simplicity, and Live Forever remains one of his most pure, perfect compositions.

On September 4, 1994, Definitely Maybe debuted at Number 1 on the UK album charts. That evening, Oasis played Belfast for the first time, receiving the news of their triumph as they sat backstage in the Limelight venue’s tiny dressing room. This writer was present that night, and recalls the Manchester band being greeted with an ovation which far exceeded the customary greeting for visiting bands, a reception which spoke of a shared belief that their chart success was a victory for ‘us’ over ‘them’. Even at their most cocaine-bloated and indulgent, Oasis managed to retain that sense of connection, as is being emphatically demonstrated in every sold-out stadium they visit this summer.