But their backgrounds and desire to escape are what gave Oasis its superpower, connecting them to millions of people desperate to escape their everyday lives.
In the songs he wrote for Definitely Maybe, Noel captured the golden possibilities of adolescence, a time when all that mattered was your friends, your favourite bands and counting the days to the weekend. The timing was fortunate: Britain was emerging from an economic recession, Tony Blair had been elected leader of the Labour party and a change of government was on the horizon. Change and optimism were in the air.
“In my mind, my dreams are real,” Liam sings on album opener and statement song, “Rock and Roll Star.” “Tonight I’m a rock and roll star.” This wasn’t just Gallagher bravado, it was an invitation for all to turn the ordinary into magic, if only for 52 minutes. “You can have it all, but how much do you want?” the band asks on “Supersonic.”
Stratospheric success
Oasis emerged during a revival of British guitar music that saw bands such as Blur, Pulp and Suede gain popularity and provided an antidote to the dominant American grunge scene of the early 90s. But Oasis were never content to be just one band among many, and were unashamed about their ambition to be the biggest band in the world.
Record Collector editor Paul Lester was working at music weekly Melody Maker at the time of Definitively Maybe’s release, and reviewed the album calling it “a record full of songs that resonate with life, made by a band of reckless northern thugs who will easily make it into the league.” But he says that despite the band’s obvious hype, it was hard to predict just how successful they would become. “Oasis came from a different place – a popular place,” he told the BBC. “They were the people’s band, rather than the critics’ band. Certainly the critics sang their praises, but we didn’t really know how deeply these songs would become ingrained in the public’s mind.”
The band would have bigger theme songs later on – “Wonderwall,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova” would appear on their sophomore album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? – but it’s the 11 tracks on Definitely Maybe that really capture the spirit of Oasis.
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No one’s going to belt out “Bring It on Down” at a wedding, but nothing sums up the excitement of the band’s early days quite like Liam growling, “You’re an outcast, you’re down under, but I don’t care ’cause you’re living fast.” Noel Gallagher It was definitely called that at one time. “In many ways it’s the last great punk album… there were very few effects, very little equipment, just a lot of attitude, 12 cans of Red Stripe and ambition,” he said. If Never Mind the Bollocks was about teenage angst, Definitively Maybe is about its glory.
Noel has drawn influences from some unexpected places: Beatles-esque melodies, T-Rex-esque riffs, and Sex Pistols-esque attitude. “The great thing about Oasis is that their songs were inclusive,” he says. “They were never elitist. For me a lot of it comes from acid house. [that] That sense of community, that we’re all in this together, that anthem.”
You can feel that in “Live Forever,” the band’s third single and arguably their best. The lyrics (“Maybe I can’t be everything I want to be… I know you’re like me, we see things they never see”) encapsulate the feeling of anything being possible, of us at odds with the world, even when the odds are stacked against us. Noel wrote the song as a response to Nirvana’s “I Hate Myself and I Want to Die.” “We had nothing, and yet we still thought waking up in the morning was the best thing ever, ’cause you never know where you’re gonna end up.” He said.
It wasn’t all drunken provocation; on songs like Slide Away, the band showed a more sentimental side. There was an undeniable romanticism to Noel’s lyrics, but coupled with Liam’s raw, sharp voice – often described as the perfect combination of two of rock’s most famous Johns, Lennon and Lydon – the songs became more than the sum of their parts. “It was the delivery and tone and attitude of his voice,” Noel said, reflecting on his brother’s charisma. “What he did was inspire kids in the front row to do things. If he could do it, I could do it. And he’s still doing it today.”
