Definitely Maybe
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Definitely Maybe is the highly acclaimed debut album of Britpop band Oasis, first released in 1994 on Creation Records. Many of the songs had originally appeared on their "Live Demonstration" demo recorded in Liverpool the year before with Chris and Tony Griffiths of The Real People. The main recording sessions took longer than expected, with the bulk of the album having to be recorded three different times with Mark Coyle producing, before Owen Morris came up with a mix that everyone was satisfied with. The album cost nearly £85,000 to produce, a huge amount of money for an album at the time. It was an immediate commercial and critical success, having followed on the heels of singles "Columbia" (which only saw a limited radio-only release), "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and particularly the popular "Live Forever". Though the title is seemingly oxymoronic, it, in actuality, is not — it implies a certain possibility, depending on context, in the same way that "definitely not" is not oxymoronic.
In 1994 Oasis were seen as a distant echo of the moribund 'Madchester' scene which had exploded in the early 1990s; unlike other Madchester bands they eschewed experiments with funk, dance or hip-hop, and presented themselves as a relatively straightforward rock and roll band. Along with bands like Blur and The Verve they seemed to encapsulate a new wave, one which did not yet have a name. The album folded in elements of jangle pop, shoegazing, New Wave, and indie; in the aftermath of their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the media coined the term Britpop, of which Definitely Maybe retrospectively became the source.
Definitely Maybe went straight to number one in the UK Album charts on the week of release. It went 7x platinum in the UK. Surprisingly, the album sold over 700,000 copies in America; on the American Billboard magazine charts Definitely Maybe hit #1 on the Heatseekers chart and #58 on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.
The album was followed the next year by (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, which propelled the group to even greater fame, dominating the music press throughout 1995.
In 1997 Definitely Maybe was named the 14th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. It achieved the same placing in a 1998 Q magazine readers' poll. In 2005 Channel 4's '100 Greatest Albums' countdown placed the album at number 6.
Contents |
Track listing
- All tracks written by Noel Gallagher.
- "Rock 'N' Roll Star" - 5:22
- "Shakermaker" - 5:08
- "Live Forever" - 4:36
- "Up in the Sky" - 4:28
- "Columbia" - 6:17
- "Supersonic" - 4:43
- "Bring It on Down" - 4:17
- "Cigarettes & Alcohol" - 4:49
- "Digsy's Dinner" - 2:32
- "Slide Away" - 6:32
- "Married with Children" - 3:11
- "Sad Song" appears as the sixth track on the vinyl version of the album.
Singles
| Cover | Information |
|---|---|
| Image:Oasis supersonic sleeve.jpg | Supersonic
|
| Image:Shakermaker sleeve.jpg | Shakermaker
|
| Image:Live Forever Single Cover.jpg | Live Forever
|
| Image:Oasis' Cigarettes & Alchohol single cover.jpg | Cigarettes & Alcohol
|
Personnel
- Paul Arthurs - Guitar (Rhythm)
- Liam Gallagher - Vocals
- Noel Gallagher - Guitar, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
- Tony McCaroll - Drums
- Paul McGuigan - Guitar (Bass)
- Anthony Griffiths - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
- Oasis - Producer
- David Batchelor - Producer
- Mark Coyle - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
- Anjali Dutt - Engineer
- Owen Morris - Producer, Mastering, Mixing, Production Concept
- David Scott - Engineer
- Roy Sping - Engineer
- Roy Spong - Engineer
- Dave Scott - Engineer
- Brian Cannon - Art Direction, Design, Concept, Cover Design
- Michael Spencer Jones - Photography
Charting singles
Album - Billboard (USA)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Heatseekers | 1 |
| 1995 | The Billboard 200 | 58 |
Singles - Billboard (USA)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Supersonic" | Modern Rock Tracks | 11 |
| 1995 | "Live Forever" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 10 |
| 1995 | "Live Forever" | Modern Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1995 | "Rock 'N' Roll Star" | Modern Rock Tracks | 36 |
DVD
The DVD edition of Definitely Maybe marked the tenth anniversary of the album with a behind the scenes look at the making of it. The DVD includes the album in its entirety plus Sad Song from the vinyl release. The DVD received the NME award for Best DVD, beating Nirvana’s With The Lights Out, Pixies’ Pixies, Scissor Sisters’ We Are Scissor Sisters And So Are You and The White Stripes’ Live Under Blackpool Lights.
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