10 Perfect Debut Albums In Rock Music History
7. Definitely Maybe - Oasis
Just as grunge was sweeping up the entire rock music scene in America, there was something a little bit different going on on the other side of the Atlantic. Right before Kurt Cobain’s reign of the rock charts, the Madchester scene started to pick up steam as well, bringing bands like the Stone Roses out of the seedy clubs and into the conversation as some of the best bands that England had to offer. Nothing really exploded just yet…until the Gallagher Brothers talked about their need to be rock and roll stars.
Granted, you can’t say that they didn’t work to get Definitely Maybe off the ground, recording the album three separate times until it sounded right and bringing in Owen Morris to make the whole thing sound massive. Even without the massive amount of psychedelic noise, these songs are more than enough to stand on their own, as Noel Gallagher calls his shot as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation on tracks like Rock N Roll Star and Up in the Sky.
Some of the songs might seem a little derivative like Shakermaker, but the real heart behind this album is in songs like Live Forever and Slide Away, as Liam delivers some of his best vocal performances, fitting somewhere between the punk snarl of Johnny Rotten and the tunefulness of John Lennon. The band would eventually prove their legendary status even more when Wonderwall took over the world, but this is probably the closest that Oasis ever sounded to a raw punk band.