Definitely Maybe by Oasis

Definitely Maybe, the debut album from Oasis, came out on Creation Records on 29 August 1994, and it swaggers in like it already owns the place. Liam Gallagher sings, Noel Gallagher plays lead guitar and wrote the songs, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs thrashes the rhythm guitar, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan holds down the bass and Tony McCarroll drums. It's the only Oasis record that all five of them saw through from start to finish: McCarroll was shown the door in April 1995.

Getting it on tape was a slog. The first go, at Monnow Valley near Rockfield in January 1994 with Dave Batchelor, an old acquaintance from Noel's roadie days with the Inspiral Carpets, went nowhere, and Batchelor got the sack. A second attempt at Sawmills in Cornwall, with Noel producing beside Mark Coyle, still didn't sound right. In the end manager Marcus Russell called in Owen Morris, who mixed the thing at Loco Studios in Wales and the Matrix in London, where Liam redid some vocals, and it was mastered at Johnny Marr's place in Manchester.

What came out is a wall of fuzzed-up guitars with big, daft, gorgeous tunes riding on top, all sneer and sunshine. "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and "Live Forever" went out ahead of it, and where grunge stared at its shoes, this lot looked up and wanted everything. It went straight to number one in Britain as the fastest-selling debut in the country's history up to then, and has since sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. Critics credit it with helping kick-start a British guitar revival, and in 2006 NME readers voted it the greatest album ever made.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.