In 1994, Oasis offered a reset for British indie rock. While the title of their debut album, Definitely Maybe, may have hinted at uncertainty, the siblings at the heart of the record were never anything less than 100 percent cocksure.
"We were ready to wipe everybody out," the band's most natural raconteur Noel Gallagher later revealed to Mojo. "However loud they were, we were louder. However fast they were, we were faster. However good they were, we would trump it."
It was this unbridled bravura that helped the Manchester-based brothers Noel and Liam (who were renowned just as much for their musical talents as their uncanny ability to pick a fight with each other), as well as bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan, guitarist Paul "Bonehead"Arthurs, and drummer Tony McCarroll fulfil such lofty ambitions. Oasis quickly became the U.K.'s biggest guitar band of the ‘90s with a no-nonsense sound which incorporated the spirit of punk, the swagger of Madchester, and the songcraft of Beatlemania.
The rest of the world soon started to take notice, too. The album's "Live Forever" hit No. 2 on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart, and Definitely Maybe reached platinum status in the States, paving the way for a GRAMMY-nominated mainstream breakthrough with 1995's follow-up (What's The Story) Morning Glory.
Read more: Looking Back In Appreciation: 25 Years Of Oasis' '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?'
Just before Oasis released a 30th anniversary edition of their debut album, they gave fans an even bigger surprise: a reunion tour announcement. The band will perform 14 shows across the UK and Ireland from July 4 through Aug. 17, 2025, including four hometown shows at Manchester's Heaton Park and four shows at London's famed Wembley Stadium.
As you dig into Definitely Maybe's latest re-release — filled with outtakes, B-sides and live performances — revisit the original release and learn why Definitely Maybe is considered such a game-changer.
It Brought Back Showmanship
As its name suggests, the shoegaze scene that defined British indie in the early 1990s desperately struggled with eye contact. Oasis, on the other hand, burst out of the blocks determined to connect with every single member of their audience. In the bold and bolshy form of Liam, they had the most magnetic frontman around.
The younger Gallagher brother wasn't a Mick Jagger-style showman; you'd never catch him bouncing from one end of the stage to the other. In fact, he'd often stay rooted in the same spot for the entire set. But his now-iconic pose — hands behind his back, sporting a duffle coat, sneering into the microphone seemingly placed a few inches too high — was such an ebullient display of swagger it left fans continually transfixed. Just look at their Glastonbury 1994 performance two weeks after releasing their second single for proof.
It Reflected The Working Class
While Britpop progenitors Blur and Suede emerged from the bohemia of London's art college scene, Oasis' roots were in the deprived Manchester suburb of Burnage. Noel spent his early adulthood as a roadie for neighboring indie favorites the Inspiral Carpets, while Liam had once joined his father laboring on building sites. As a result, they were able to reflect the lives of the masses far more effectively and authentically than most of their peers.
Hailed as “one of the greatest social statements of the past 25 years” by manager Alan McGee, "Cigarettes and Alcohol" advocates hedonism as a means of escaping the drudgery of the 9-5. And "Slide Away," written by Noel about ex-girlfriend Louise Jones, proved that Oasis could even talk about feelings in a manner relatable to those who wouldn’t normally touch love songs with a 10-foot pole.
It Wasn't Afraid Of The Obvious
Unlike Blur's Parklife, Pulp's Different Class, or the majority of albums that defined the Britpop era, Definitely Maybe wasn't dripping in post-modernism, irony, or knowing winks. "What you see is what you get" was essentially Oasis' default approach. And while their lyrics were often of the "moon in June" variety (see "What a life it would be/If you could come to mine for tea" on "Digsy's Dinner"), their refreshing simplicity only added to their universal appeal.
The Mancunians also weren't afraid to wear their influences firmly on their parka jackets' sleeves. The Beatles' fingerprints are all over the record as you'd expect from such devout acolytes. But Oasis also brazenly borrow from the New Seekers' Coca-Cola anthem "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" ("Shakermaker") and T-Rex's glam rock classic "Get It On" ("Cigarettes and Alcohol"). "Never be afraid of the obvious," Noel once reasoned. "Because it's all been done before."
It Turned Everything Up To 11
It took three attempts to nail Definitely Maybe's towering Wall of Sound. The band first entered Wales' Monnow Valley Studios with the Kinks producer Dave Batchelor. But he struggled to replicate the energy of their live shows and apart from "Slide Away," all of his contributions were scrapped.
Noel then took on producing duties alongside Mark Coyle, but their overdubbed attempt proved to be unsatisfactory, too. In the end, it was left to engineer Owen Morris to salvage from the sonic wreckage in a studio owned by Johnny Marr. Drawing upon techniques he'd learned from Phil Spector, Tony Visconti, and Bernard Summer, his final mix was so "in your face" that it apparently left the Smiths guitarist appalled.
That was a lone voice of dissent, however, for a dynamic record which on the likes of "Bring It On Down," "Up In The Sky," and "Columbia," proved that sometimes, you just need to turn everything up to 11.
It Had Ambitions Of Grandeur
Brits aren't exactly renowned for their self-aggrandizing. So the Gallagher brothers raised several eyebrows when they immediately began shouting from the rooftops about their quest for world domination. "We don't want to be an indie band from England who've had a couple of hits," Noel told the Observer shortly before Definitely Maybe's release. "We want to go on and be an important band," he added before claiming that people would still be buying the record 20 years on.
It wasn't just in broadsheet interviews where the Gallaghers blew their own trumpets, though. After all, Definitely Maybe opens with "Rock 'n' Roll Star," a clearer statement of intent you'd be hard pressed to find. Luckily, such unwavering confidence was justified. The album sold 86,000 copies in its opening chart-topping week, making it the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history. It also spawned four Top 40 hits in their homeland, helped Oasis win the Best New Artist BRIT, and boasts a worldwide sales tally of 8.5 million.
It Reinvigorated The B-Side
As its various special editions have further highlighted, the Definitely Maybe campaign kickstarted arguably the greatest run of B-sides of the ‘90s. Only Oasis would have the audacity to tackle the Fab Four's psychedelic collage "I Am The Walrus" — fully aware that they'd be inviting tribute act comparisons in the process — and then somehow make it their own.
Best-known in the UK as the theme to slice-of-life sitcom "The Royle Family," "Half The World Away" is a beautifully melancholic acoustic ditty which proved the Mancunians were just as compelling when they dropped all the male bravado. Meanwhile, "Fade Away" channeled the filth and the fury of punk icons Sex Pistols on a bittersweet ode to growing up. All would make the cut for 1998's The Masterplan, the compilation of B-sides which outclassed most of their peers' A-games.
It Single Handedly Saved An Iconic British Label
From Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque to Primal Scream's Screamadelica, Creation Records was responsible for releasing several truly seminal guitar records in the late '80s/early '90s. But thanks to the spiraling costs for My Bloody Valentine's opus Loveless and founder Alan McGee's issues with substance abuse, the label was at the risk of going under until they somehow managed to wrestle a certain Mancunian band from under the noses of all the majors.
Definitely Maybe's domestic sales of 2.4 million proved to be a lifeline for Creation, allowing them to release acclaimed efforts such as Super Furry Animals' Fuzzy Logic, The Boo Radleys' C'mon Kids, and Saint Etienne's Good Humour. It also issued Oasis' follow-ups (What's The Story) Morning Glory and Be Here Now before McGee decided to pull the plug at the turn of the century.
It Converted A Whole New Audience
For better or for worse, Oasis' remarkable ascent coincided with the rise of laddism, a British — and typically white straight male — subculture in which sex, alcohol, and soccer (not necessarily always in that order) were the ultimate priorities. And unsurprisingly, the beer-swilling, Manchester City-supporting Gallagher brothers were soon adopted as its soundtrack.
Oasis, or rather their marketing team, were particularly canny in how they reeled in legions of new fans who previously wouldn't have dreamed of spending their hard-earned cash on an album, placing Definitely Maybe advertisements in publications more focused on sport and clubbing than indie music. Such tactics created a loyal following who, thanks to singalong anthems like "Live Forever" and "Cigarettes and Alcohol," could replicate the atmosphere of the terraces at any gig. It's unlikely that the Britpop movement would have gathered such pace had Oasis not thought outside the box first.
It Made Indie Music Headline News
Oasis' increasingly bitter rivalry with Blur famously graced the BBC's Six O'Clock News on the eve of their historic 1995 chart battle. But the former had already made headlines several times during the Definitely Maybe campaign, and sibling rivalry was often the cause.
Indeed, the Gallaghers quickly became a tabloid editor's dream, particularly during a Stateside tour in which the pair mistook crystal meth for cocaine, Liam hit his brother with a tambourine, and Noel briefly quit the group. Such was the fascination with the pair's fraught relationship that a recording of an argument — "Wibbling Rivalry" — even entered the lower reaches of the UK charts.
Definitely Maybe put indie music on the map in places that previously wouldn't have gone near it. And for the next three years, they dominated both Britain's charts and newspaper columns like no other guitar band since or before.