Definitely Maybe Atlanta GA

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

Epic Records, 1994

REVIEW BY: Sean McCarthy

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/07/2003

Let's face it, you're probably not going to like A Tribe Called Quest, Pavement or Bob Dylan if you first listen to them in your early teens. Some music, you eventually grow in to. To demonstrate this, allow me to use Oasis as an example.

In 1994, I thought they were a bunch of smartass Brits who ripped off the Beatles. I hated the fact that the lead singer wished AIDS on a member of the band Blur. Now, I can't stop listening to Definitely Maybe, their major debut statement, precisely because they are a bunch of smartass Brits.

Mainstream music is having such an identity crisis that record label gurus are actually having to put their entire faith in Omaha, Nebraska to become the next vital music scene (and hopefully make a Singles-type movie out of it as a result). But Omaha is so saturated with emotional rockers that it is being dubbed EMO-ha. The Strokes and the White Stripes are amazing, but they're almost overly modest to the point of madness.

That's what makes Definitely Maybe sound more fresh and vital now than it did in 1994. In the current age of fear and anxiety, it seems amazing that a band could actually get away with opening their album with a ridiculously silly ditty called "Rock 'n' Roll Star." Liam Gallagher snarls odes to cigarettes, alcohol and other substances throughout Definitely Maybe, but he sounds so passionate, it makes the declarations of debauchery seem profound.