It’s hard now, in a world where Oasis’s name has become a synonym for predictable, stodgy dad rock, to recall the impact the band had when they first loped into view in the mid-90s. The indie charts had become a horrible place, full of vaguely new-wavey pop, the odd emo act and whiney, prepubescent-leaning jangle. Nothing much seemed to have any life to it.
Then came Shakermaker, a track that contained every single element of Oasis’s defining elements: a deafening swagger, loud guitars, Liam Gallagher’s absurdly over-Lennoned vocals (‘sheyyyiyine’), lyrics that made no sense at all, and a tune you’d definitely heard somewhere else already. Oasis were, in many ways, the Sex Beatles, melodic in a classic 60s fashion with epic power chord guitars.
Noel Gallagher wrote songs you’d heard before, but recast them for imaginary terraces, while Liam sang in a manner redolent of both John Lennon and John Lydon. And the confidence was marvellous, a cockiness and verve that made you think Oasis were good just looking at them. Their debut album Definitely Maybe didn’t disappoint.
- “The lyrics are quite nonsensical… I was hammered when I wrote it”: Noel Gallagher on the making of Some Might Say, the song that showed Oasis were set for the big time
- “An album misinterpreted by lesser talents”: What do Syd Barrett, Kevin Ayers, Peter Hammill and Robert Fripp have to do with Britpop? See Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish for details
From opening mission statement Rock’n’Roll Star, whose lyrics were entirely aspirational to the sardonic Kinksery of Married With Children, this was an album with its head in the clouds and its foot in your groin. Every track on it either was a single – Live Forever, Shakermaker, Cigarettes And Alcohol, Supersonic – or just acted like it was. Greater glories were to follow, but this remains a fantastic debut. The anniversary edition includes songs in early versions that weren’t considered good enough to release at the time.
