‘Definitely Maybe’: The Oasis album that “appalled” Johnny Marr
At the dawn of the 1990s, the entire world was shaped by the grunge revolution. After years of going through the hair metal regime, the next generation of rock stars was more concerned about making music from the heart rather than playing up their looks for the camera. When the genre concaved in on itself following the death of Kurt Cobain, Oasis picked up where they left off by becoming the 1990s answer to The Beatles.
Pulling from his classic rock collection, Noel Gallagher began writing songs that were a mix between the ferocity of Sex Pistols and the tuneful sounds of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, while his brother Liam delivered them with his signature snarl. Although the band had the talent and the energy to become the best in the world, they nearly couldn’t get any of their tunes off the ground.
When working on their first album, Definitely Maybe, Oasis were woodshedding their live sound and would run into trouble every time they went into the studio. Recording the album three times, the band eventually settled on working with Owen Morris to produce the album, which made for musical magic when he added his signature brick walling aesthetic to the final mix.
Rather than focus on keeping everything clean, the psychedelic haze Morris created in the background of every song became one of the calling cards for the classic Oasis sound, with every track being upfront in the mix whenever it starts playing. Although Oasis finally had a sound that would work for them, it didn’t sit well with one of their idols.
Outside of the band’s inner circle, fellow Manchester legend Johnny Marr was also interested in seeing where the band would be going next. Loving what they brought to their live shows, Marr even gifted Noel one of his signature guitars, which he would later use to compose the ballad ‘Slide Away’.
Once Marr got to listen to the final record, though, he was appalled by what he heard. When talking about playing the record, Morris remembered Marr not liking the final mix, recalling, “I mastered the album at Johnny Marr’s studio. He was appalled by how in-your-face the whole thing was. He thought I was an idiot for what he perceived were mistakes – like the noise at the start of ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’”.
While that trademark noise may have seemed grating on first listen, it was functional for the band’s first outing. Looking to either cover up mistakes or bury unwanted parts of the mix, Morris would drown out most of the band’s foul-ups with the doubled hiss on ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. Since the song was an ode to the excessive rock and roll lifestyle, it’s easy to hear that hiss as the sound of going into a smokey underground club before Oasis starts playing.
Even though Definitely Maybe benefits from a punk rock approach to production, their next album would be Noel’s opportunity to expand his craft, creating classic rock masterpieces on tracks like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’. What’s the Story Morning Glory may be their crowning achievement, but they never sounded more ramshackle than on Definitely Maybe.
