The album that changed the course of British pop music
It’s from a couple of days ago the news that the Gallagher brothers have buried the hatchet and, after a large financial incentive (we obviously also hope thanks to a newfound family peace), they have convinced themselves, after 15 years of insults and arguments, to get back together Oasis announcing a tour in 2025. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the English band’s first album, “Definitely maybe”. One of those albums for which you can talk about a before and an after, a milestone. To give an idea of the importance of this album, in 2006 the British magazine NME conducted a survey among its readers on which was the best album of all time and it was indicated “Definitely maybe”.
“Definitely maybe” was released on August 29, 1994 and, as reported in the volume ‘Rock: 1000 dischi fondi. Più 100 dischi di culto’, edited by Eddy Cilia and Federico Guglielmi (with Carlo Bordone and Giancarlo Turra) published by Giunti in 2019, “Whatever the detractors say, in 1994 we were all waiting for these songs. For a certain part of the Western world, the ’90s were the last truly happy era, and Oasis’ songs – derivative, repetitive, predictable and nevertheless absolutely irresistible – represented the ideal soundtrack of cool Britannia. Party-goers, singable at the top of your lungs and r’n’r, because life seemed like one endless advertising party; but also with an aftertaste of melancholy and nostalgia, because even back then we were looking back, predicting that the party would soon be over.”
In an interview last year given to Mojo magazine Noel Gallagher talking about “Definitely maybe” he compared it to the iconic punk album of 1977 “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols” (read the review here) of the Sex Pistols: “In many ways “Definitely Maybe” was the last great punk album.
We were a punk band with Beatles tunes. We had no effects, almost no devices, just a lot of attitude, twelve cans of Red Stripe and a lot of ambition. If you listen to this 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 no accident that it’s lasted this long. Maybe there have been better or bigger records since then, but that album is serious. No bullshit. It’s an honest snapshot of working-class kids trying to make it. Fucking girls, taking drugs, drinking and the glory of it all.”
“Definitely maybe” It is the album that in the mid-90s changed the course of British pop music and imposed the presence of the Oasis on the world stage. Liam Gallagher he is a singer who is a cross between John Lydon And John Lennonas he was defined at the time, brother Noel is an author/guitarist who has learned the lesson of the musicians of the past, whom he quotes abundantly, and possesses a very happy melodic streak. “Definitely maybe” It’s a revelation and brings rock back to its essence of fun, proletarian music.
The numbers of “Definitely maybe” can be summarized in the release of five singles (the first “Supersonic” (April 1994), over 15 million copies sold worldwide, number one in the UK sales charts and platinum in the US.
