"You can have it all, but how much do you want it?"
Definitely Maybe is the debut studio album by English rock band Oasis, released on August 29, 1994.
Noel Gallagher joined his little brother Liam's band in 1992. They worked on demos and played numerous live gigs. They finally released their first song, "Columbia", in late 1993. Much to their surprise, it started getting played. The band then decided it was time to record an album. After two ill-fated attempts and going through a few producers, they finally settled on producer Owen Morris and recorded the album in a few weeks. Prior to the release, they sent out two singles: "Supersonic" and "Shakermaker".
Members:
- Liam Gallagher – vocals, tambourine, production
- Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, piano, backing vocals, production, bass on "Up in the Sky" and "Slide Away"
- Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs – rhythm guitar, piano, production
- Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan – bass, production
- Tony McCarroll – drums, production
Tracklist:
- "Rock 'n' Roll Star" (5:23)
- "Shakermaker" (5:10)
- "Live Forever" (4:38)
- "Up in the Sky" (4:28)
- "Columbia" (6:17)
- "Supersonic" (4:44)
- "Bring It on Down" (4:17)
- "Cigarettes & Alcohol" (4:50)
- "Digsy's Dinner" (2:32)
- "Slide Away" (6:32)
- "Married with Children" (3:12)
"Whatever" (6:21) was included on the 1996 Mexican edition, and "Sad Song" (4:30) was included as track 3 of side two on vinyl editions of the album.
"I live my life for the tropes that shine":
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Liam seems to have an issue with the word "shine":
- "Rock 'n' Roll Star":I need some time in the sunSHEEYINE
- And again in "Up in the Sky":I heard the shEYINE's gone out of your life
- And again in "Cigarettes & Alcohol":I could wait for a lifetime
To spend my days in the sunSHEEYINE
- "Rock 'n' Roll Star":
- Broken Record: "I can't tell you the way I feel cause the way I feel is oh so new to me, I can't tell you the way I feel cause the way I feel is oh so new to me, yeah yeah yeah! Yeah yeah yeah! Yeah yeah yea! I can't tell you..."
- Buried Alive: Tony McCarroll in the British video for "Live Forever".
- Epic Rocking: "Columbia" and "Slide Away".
- Fading into the Next Song: "Bring It on Down" —> "Cigarettes & Alcohol".
- Loudness War: While not nearly as bad as (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and Be Here Now, this album is one of the worst offenders, for sure.
- Limited Lyrics Song: "Live Forever".
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Married with Children".
- Mood Whiplash: Let's see... the hard-rocking "Cigarettes & Alcohol" goes into the lighthearted novelty tune "Digsy's Dinner," which goes into the sprawling, anthemic ballad "Slide Away", and then the acoustic ditty "Married With Children".
- Non-Appearing Title: "Shakermaker", "Columbia", "Digsy's Dinner", and "Married with Children".
- Ode to Intoxication: "Cigarettes & Alcohol"
- One-Word Title: "Shakermaker", "Columbia", "Supersonic".
- Pep-Talk Song:
- "Live Forever"I think you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever - Also this line from "Supersonic":You need to Be Yourself, you can't be no one else
- And this one from "Whatever":Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Yeah, I know it's alright.
- "Live Forever"
- Rock-Star Song: "Rock 'N' Roll Star".
- Shout-Out: "Shakermaker" is based around the melody of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)". Yes, the song from the vintage Coke commercial in The '70s.
- The lyrics also name drop Mr Soft, the mascot from the Trebor Soft Mint adverts of the time (and whose theme tune was sung by Steve Harley of Cockey Rebel.)
- Splash of Color: During the black-and-white scenes in the "Live Forever" music video, the only color that is shown is the green in the bushes and plants,
although it doesn't appear it's supposed to mean anything important. - Take That!: "Live Forever" was written in response to the Nirvana song "I Hate Myself and Want to Die"; although Noel Gallagher admired Kurt Cobain, he found the song too depressing for his tastes:Noel Gallagher: At the time ... it was written in the middle of Grunge and all that, and I remember Nirvana had a tune called 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die', and I was like ... 'Well, I'm not fucking having that.' As much as I fucking like him [Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain] and all that shit, I'm not having that. I can't have people like that coming over here, on smack, fucking saying that they hate themselves and they wanna die. That's fucking rubbish. Kids don't need to be hearing that nonsense.
- Word Salad Lyrics: "Shakermaker". Noel wrote it by sitting in front of the television one day and just jotting down whatever words or phrases came on.
