{ "id": "epjcpepvfk", "slug": "definitely-maybe", "title": "Definitely Maybe", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.music", "label": "Music", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music" }, { "id": "culture.music.works", "label": "Musical works and recordings", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.works" }, { "id": "culture.music.works.recordings", "label": "Albums and recorded releases", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.works.recordings" }, { "id": "culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums", "label": "Studio albums", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums" }, { "id": "culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums", "label": "Indie and alternative albums", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums" }, { "id": "culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums.studio-albums-of-the-1990s", "label": "Studio albums of the 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums.studio-albums-of-the-1990s" }, { "id": "culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums.studio-albums-of-the-1990s.british-and-irish-albums", "label": "British and Irish albums", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums.studio-albums-of-the-1990s.british-and-irish-albums" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Indie and alternative albums", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.music", "label": "Music", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.music" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works", "label": "Musical works and recordings", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings", "label": "Albums and recorded releases", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums", "label": "Studio albums", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums", "label": "Indie and alternative albums", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Definitely Maybe is Oasis's 1994 debut album on Creation Records, produced by the band with Mark Coyle. It topped the UK chart as Britain's fastest-selling debut at the time, after abandoned Monnow Valley sessions and a Sawmills re-recording.", "snippet": "Definitely Maybe is Oasis's 1994 debut album on Creation Records, produced by the band with Mark Coyle. It topped the UK chart as Britain's fastest-selling debut at the time, after abandoned Monnow Valley sessions and a Sawmills re-recording.", "node": "culture.music.works.recordings.studio_albums.indie-and-alternative-albums.studio-albums-of-the-1990s.british-and-irish-albums", "markdown": "# Definitely Maybe\n\n**Definitely Maybe** is the debut album by the English rock band [Oasis](https://www.edgepedia.org/oasis-band), released through [Creation Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/creation-records) at the end of August 1994. It went straight to number one on the [UK Albums Chart](https://www.edgepedia.org/uk-albums-chart) and became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history at that point, making the band national stars[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98) • [2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/definitely-maybe/1517506402?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4). Most sources give the release date as 29 August 1994[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98) • [3](https://oasisinet.com/music/definitely-maybe/), while the band's own discography and UK release listings give 30 August[4](https://oasisdiscography.com/album/definitely-maybe) • [5](https://www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk/definitely-maybe-discography.html).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Artist and status | Debut album by Oasis, released through Creation Records[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98) |\n| Release date | 29 August 1994 (some sources list 30 August)[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98) • [4](https://oasisdiscography.com/album/definitely-maybe) |\n| Chart performance | Number one in the UK; Britain's fastest-selling debut album at the time of release[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98) • [6](https://themmf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/COTY-2024-v1.pdf) |\n| Production | Produced by Oasis and Mark Coyle[4](https://oasisdiscography.com/album/definitely-maybe) |\n| Recording | Abandoned Monnow Valley sessions (January 1994), re-recorded at Sawmills Studios[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/definitely-maybe/1517506402?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4) • [6](https://themmf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/COTY-2024-v1.pdf) |\n| Lead singles | \"Supersonic\", \"Shakermaker\", and \"Live Forever\" preceded the album[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98) |\n| Anniversary | A 2024 30th Anniversary edition included selected tracks from the Monnow Valley sessions[7](https://oasis-live.net/shows/1994/1994-01-xx) |\n\n## Recording history\n\nThe album took more than one attempt. Oasis had already established themselves as a ferocious live act when they entered Monnow Valley Studio in Wales in January 1994 with the aim of knocking their debut out of the park; the inlay of the resulting rough mixes lists the recording dates as January 8–26, 1994, though other sources place the band at Monnow Valley in late 1993[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/definitely-maybe/1517506402?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4) • [7](https://oasis-live.net/shows/1994/1994-01-xx). Those sessions failed to capture the live energy of the band and were shelved, and Creation Records sanctioned a new round of recording, binning the original sessions at a cost of £50,000[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/definitely-maybe/1517506402?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4). The album was then re-recorded at Sawmills Studios[6](https://themmf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/COTY-2024-v1.pdf), with the finished record credited to Oasis and Mark Coyle as producers[4](https://oasisdiscography.com/album/definitely-maybe).\n\n**An earlier false start.** Before Monnow Valley, the band had worked with producer David Batchelor, who was in his 50s while [Noel Gallagher](https://www.edgepedia.org/noel-gallagher) was in his early 20s; the two shared a love of the same bands, and Noel respected the older man's past production work. Creation head Alan McGee attributed the failure of that attempt to Batchelor recording the band's instruments separately, \"something that never works for our bands\". Batchelor stood by his own account, saying the band probably learned a lot from the experience[8](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/recording/you-know-how-he-goes-nyyyyyyyaaaaaaahh-and-he-keeps-holding-on-and-holding-on-i-mean-he-sounds-great-but-jesus-christ-original-definitely-maybe-producer-david-batchelor-on-the-difficulty-of-capturing-the-oasis-sound).\n\n## Songs and songwriting\n\nThe album arrived on the back of the singles \"Supersonic\", \"Shakermaker\", and \"Live Forever\"[1](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98). Next to the T-Rex-inflected glam-punk of \"Cigarettes & Alcohol\" and the sweeping desire of \"Slide Away\", the album fused a '60s wistfulness with a [Sex Pistols](https://www.edgepedia.org/sex-pistols) snarl, setting urgent anthems about escape and getting free of everyday routine beside tracks that felt like being dropped into the middle of a wild, chaotic night on the town[2](https://music.apple.com/us/album/definitely-maybe/1517506402?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4). AllMusic's retrospective describes a chemistry that would soon rip the group apart, but which on the debut is an addictive energy, calling it a rare thing: an album with the foundation of a classic wrapped in the energy of a band that could not conceive a future beyond the sunset[9](https://www.allmusic.com/album/definitely-maybe-mw0000117851).\n\nBorrowing followed Noel Gallagher across the era. In a Sound on Sound interview about the band's later work, it is recounted that [Gallagher](https://www.edgepedia.org/gallagher) said he was astonished he was never sued for ripping off the \"Get It On\" guitar riff by T-Rex/[Marc Bolan](https://www.edgepedia.org/marc-bolan), which he used as the basis for \"Cigarettes & Alcohol\" on Definitely Maybe. Charges of plagiarism leveled at some of the album's material returned when the follow-up was released[10](https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-oasis-wonderwall).\n\n## Reception and standing\n\nThe album was an immediate commercial and critical hit[3](https://oasisinet.com/music/definitely-maybe/). On the aggregate site Best Ever Albums it ranks 2nd of 12 Oasis albums, with a Bayesian average rating of 80.1/100 from 1,901 votes, an overall rank of 117th calculated across 60,000 charts, 23rd for the 1990s, and 5th for 1994[11](https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?a=189).\n\nA 2014 Time review of the 20th-anniversary reissue, packaged with demos, live versions, and lost tracks, judged that the album remains classic enough, recalling that upon its 1994 release it sounded messy and thrilling[12](https://time.com/110546/review-oasis-definitely-maybe/) • [13](https://metacritic.com/music/definitely-maybe-remastered/oasis). NME's retrospective framing placed the album in its social moment: Gallagher's songs from the period are full of references to dead-ends, blocked exits, and denied opportunities, but these were obstacles to overcome, and the album remains a celebration of a social caste rather than a leftist musical soapbox[14](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/2014/NME-2014-08-23.pdf).\n\n## Legacy and reissues\n\nThe album's standing has been renewed through anniversary releases. A remastered 20th-anniversary edition appeared in 2014[12](https://time.com/110546/review-oasis-definitely-maybe/), and in 2024 Oasis released a 30th [Anniversary](https://www.edgepedia.org/anniversary) edition whose second disc carried selected tracks from the Monnow Valley sessions[7](https://oasis-live.net/shows/1994/1994-01-xx); the anniversary edition was on sale alongside the renewed attention the band received that year[8](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/recording/you-know-how-he-goes-nyyyyyyyaaaaaaahh-and-he-keeps-holding-on-and-holding-on-i-mean-he-sounds-great-but-jesus-christ-original-definitely-maybe-producer-david-batchelor-on-the-difficulty-of-capturing-the-oasis-sound). The 30th anniversary coincided with the announcement of the Oasis Live 2025 tour, whose response was described as momentous, with a blanket major international profile for weeks[6](https://themmf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/COTY-2024-v1.pdf).\n\nThe album is also a reference point in writing on Britpop: a 2022 academic account of the movement notes that while Oasis's debut was marking an unprecedented moment, rival Blur had also made chart history in the same period[15](https://zenodo.org/records/5784609/files/mara.pdf).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Definitely Maybe by Oasis (1994): tracklist and credits, Riffology Vault](https://vault.riffology.co/album/oasis-definitely-maybe-451dca98)\n2. [Definitely Maybe – Album by Oasis, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/definitely-maybe/1517506402?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4)\n3. [Definitely Maybe – Oasis, oasisinet.com](https://oasisinet.com/music/definitely-maybe/)\n4. [Definitely Maybe, Oasis Discography](https://oasisdiscography.com/album/definitely-maybe)\n5. [Definitely Maybe Discography, Oasis Recording Information](https://www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk/definitely-maybe-discography.html)\n6. [Oasis — Big Brother Recordings Ltd, Campaign COTY 2024 document](https://themmf.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/COTY-2024-v1.pdf)\n7. [Oasis: Definitely Maybe Recording Sessions / Monnow Valley Studios, oasis-live.net](https://oasis-live.net/shows/1994/1994-01-xx)\n8. [Original Definitely Maybe producer David Batchelor on the difficulty of capturing the Oasis sound, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/recording/you-know-how-he-goes-nyyyyyyyaaaaaaahh-and-he-keeps-holding-on-and-holding-on-i-mean-he-sounds-great-but-jesus-christ-original-definitely-maybe-producer-david-batchelor-on-the-difficulty-of-capturing-the-oasis-sound)\n9. [Oasis: Definitely Maybe Tracks & Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/definitely-maybe-mw0000117851)\n10. [Classic Tracks: Oasis \"Wonderwall\", Sound on Sound](https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-oasis-wonderwall)\n11. [Definitely Maybe by Oasis, Best Ever Albums](https://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?a=189)\n12. [Review: Reissue of Definitely Maybe, Time](https://time.com/110546/review-oasis-definitely-maybe/)\n13. [Definitely Maybe [Remastered] by Oasis, Metacritic](https://metacritic.com/music/definitely-maybe-remastered/oasis)\n14. ['Definitely Maybe' at 20, NME (23 August 2014)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/2014/NME-2014-08-23.pdf)\n15. [Britpop academic account, Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/records/5784609/files/mara.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Indie and alternative albums › Studio albums of the 1990s › British and Irish albums*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Definitely Maybe\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Definitely Maybe](https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe](https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Definitely Maybe\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/definitely-maybe. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Definitely Maybe is Oasis's 1994 debut album on Creation Records, produced by the band with Mark Coyle." }