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33⅓ Main Series #95
Definitely Maybe
Oasis's incendiary 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe managed to summarize almost the entire history of post-fifties guitar music from Chuck Berry to My Bloody Valentine in a way that seemed effortless. But this remarkable album was also a social document that came closer to narrating the collective hopes and dreams of a people than any other record of the last quarter century.
In a Britain that had just undergone the most damaging period of social upheaval in a century under the Thatcher government, Noel Gallagher ventriloquized slogans of burning communitarian optimism through the mouth of his brother Liam and the playing of the other Oasis 'everymen': Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs and Tony McCarroll. On Definitely Maybe, Oasis communicated a timeworn message of idealism and hope against the odds, but one that had special resonance in a society where the widening gap between high and low demanded a newly superhuman kind of leaping.
Alex Niven charts the astonishing rise of Oasis in the mid 1990s and celebrates the life-affirming, communal force of songs such as "Live Forever," "Supersonic," and "Cigarettes & Alcohol." In doing so, he seeks to reposition Oasis in relation to their Britpop peers and explore one of the most controversial pop-cultural narratives of the last thirty years.
In a Britain that had just undergone the most damaging period of social upheaval in a century under the Thatcher government, Noel Gallagher ventriloquized slogans of burning communitarian optimism through the mouth of his brother Liam and the playing of the other Oasis 'everymen': Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs and Tony McCarroll. On Definitely Maybe, Oasis communicated a timeworn message of idealism and hope against the odds, but one that had special resonance in a society where the widening gap between high and low demanded a newly superhuman kind of leaping.
Alex Niven charts the astonishing rise of Oasis in the mid 1990s and celebrates the life-affirming, communal force of songs such as "Live Forever," "Supersonic," and "Cigarettes & Alcohol." In doing so, he seeks to reposition Oasis in relation to their Britpop peers and explore one of the most controversial pop-cultural narratives of the last thirty years.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 2014
15 people are currently reading
421 people want to read
About the author
Alex Niven
20 books23 followersAlex Niven is an English writer, poet, editor, and former musician.
Niven was a founding member of the indie band Everything Everything, with friends from Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, Northumberland. He played guitar with the band between 2007 and 2009 before leaving to study for a doctorate at St John's College, Oxford and pursue a writing career.
Niven's first work of criticism, Folk Opposition, was published by Zero Books in 2011. The book attempted to reclaim a variety of folk culture motifs for the political left, and excoriated the "Green Tory" zeitgeist that had accompanied the ascendancy of David Cameron's Conservative Party in Britain in 2009-10. His second book, a study of the Oasis album Definitely Maybe, was published in Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series in 2014.
Formerly assistant editor at New Left Review and editor-in-chief at The Oxonian Review, Niven has also written for The Guardian, The Independent, openDemocracy, Agenda, The Cambridge Quarterly, English Literary History, Oxford Poetry, Notes and Queries, The Quietus, and a number of collective blogs in addition to his own blog The Fantastic Hope. His first collection of poetry, The Last Tape, was published in 2014, and his poem "The Beehive" provided the epigraph to Owen Hatherley's 2012 architecture survey A New Kind of Bleak.
He is currently Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University and an editor at Repeater Books.
Niven was a founding member of the indie band Everything Everything, with friends from Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, Northumberland. He played guitar with the band between 2007 and 2009 before leaving to study for a doctorate at St John's College, Oxford and pursue a writing career.
Niven's first work of criticism, Folk Opposition, was published by Zero Books in 2011. The book attempted to reclaim a variety of folk culture motifs for the political left, and excoriated the "Green Tory" zeitgeist that had accompanied the ascendancy of David Cameron's Conservative Party in Britain in 2009-10. His second book, a study of the Oasis album Definitely Maybe, was published in Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series in 2014.
Formerly assistant editor at New Left Review and editor-in-chief at The Oxonian Review, Niven has also written for The Guardian, The Independent, openDemocracy, Agenda, The Cambridge Quarterly, English Literary History, Oxford Poetry, Notes and Queries, The Quietus, and a number of collective blogs in addition to his own blog The Fantastic Hope. His first collection of poetry, The Last Tape, was published in 2014, and his poem "The Beehive" provided the epigraph to Owen Hatherley's 2012 architecture survey A New Kind of Bleak.
He is currently Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University and an editor at Repeater Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
December 6, 2019
Definitely Maybe through a Marxist perspective. It is horribly, hideously new historicist in its argument ("Oasis were not musical geniuses who rose to fame and glory through sheer white-hot talent and mercurial creativity. Probably, no one ever is"), but it presents it with such a unity of thought and in such a cohesive way it feels utterly stimulating from start to finish, and never disappears up its own butt.
If that weren't enough reasons to love it, it mixes anecdotal recounting, close listening, critical comparison (this is the best-argumented game of Oasis VS Blur you'll ever read) and always but always historical and cultural rooting in a fine balance that's a pleasure to read.
But HEY, what's wrong with Digsy's Dinner? What a life it would bEeEeEe
If that weren't enough reasons to love it, it mixes anecdotal recounting, close listening, critical comparison (this is the best-argumented game of Oasis VS Blur you'll ever read) and always but always historical and cultural rooting in a fine balance that's a pleasure to read.
But HEY, what's wrong with Digsy's Dinner? What a life it would bEeEeEe
December 10, 2015
So much to like about this excellent, brief book - a model for how to reframe and refresh a classic record. The way Niven seals Definitely Maybe off from the rest of the band's career. The thoughts on elemental and water imagery in 90s culture. The precision of his explorations of Oasis' relationship to Manchester, indie music and the Labour Party. And the one-parenthesis-only dismissal of the record's worst track. The book is also as sly and provocative as the best Noel Gallagher interviews (and a lot more thoughtful than the worst) - tweaking the received wisdom of Oasis fans (sacking Tony McCarroll was the worst decision Noel made) and non-fans (Cigarettes And Alcohol is a work of startling originality). Mostly, Niven makes good on his calls.
But the best thing about the book is its simple, passionate central thesis - Oasis were, philosophically and practically, a socialist band and their music at its best is a remarkable and moving working-class response to the brutal politics of Thatcherism using forty years of rock music as fuel and weapon. The book is a polemic to advance this idea, and Niven presents it with total conviction. Never an Oasis fan, this book grabbed me and showed me what I'd missed.
But the best thing about the book is its simple, passionate central thesis - Oasis were, philosophically and practically, a socialist band and their music at its best is a remarkable and moving working-class response to the brutal politics of Thatcherism using forty years of rock music as fuel and weapon. The book is a polemic to advance this idea, and Niven presents it with total conviction. Never an Oasis fan, this book grabbed me and showed me what I'd missed.
June 11, 2018
As urgent and as direct as the Oasis classic that is it's subject, this book comes as close as any (that I have read) to realising the potential of the 33 1/3 format. Rather than serve as a love letter to the band, as many of them do, Alex Niven does an excellent job of placing the album in the context of the social and political climate in the early to mid nineties before the wheels fell off the Oasis bandwagon. While acknowledging that the band glowed white hot at the time, he also notes that they really didn't leave themselves with anywhere else to go. Still, in it's context, this is a wonderful exploration of what made Definitely Maybe what it was - an absolute firecracker.
June 16, 2021
In an era in which deconstructive cynicism was threatening the very existence of a counterculture and the mainstream left, Oasis offered an anomalous vision of radical positivity. And the fact that this was indisputably a working-class vision – one founded in the solidarity and fraternity of working-class lived experience – was crucial. As the band’s biographer once put it, Oasis were the sound of ‘a council estate singing its heart out’.
a really good analysis and summary of the sociopolitical and economic conditions this album was birthed in. i learned a lot about england in the 80s and 90s and how neoliberalism caused so much destruction that personally affected the gallaghers and their city, which bled to their lyrics and even liam's vocal performance. i think some parts were a little exaggerated or read too much into lyrics they probably just wrote for the hell of it, but the analyses still hold some merit bc of how basically anything can be read as a cry of help if you're living in conditions like that. its also a great counter critical reading of the album than what is usually written about the band, which one cant help but think comes off as sort of classist. oasis werent witty like blur and pulp, they were nowhere near creative like radiohead but their music resonated with the public, theyre still sung by so many. who is to decide that this commonness makes the art any less valuable? to quote niven himself, "some working- class kids were able to go to university and have the sort of art-school experience that supplied the premise of ‘Common People’. Most, however, never got the chance. Just because Oasis fell into the latter category, this doesn’t make their commentaries on the soaring inequalities of early-nineties Britain any less valid or poignant." which is why i think whats most heartbreaking is how they, specifically noel, turned out. past the obvious wealth and celebrity status fame gives someone, noel's lyricism in this period of his life is at complete odds to the conservative person he grew to be. noel never had a love for manchester which he made obvious but you'd expect him to at least go do a benefit concert after a terrorist attack in the city, which liam went to despite being out of the country. and defending the royals over prince harry when you're second gen irish is just so gross. i absolutely despise it when people lose connection to their roots and become the people they started their careers off hating once they become rich.
Oasis wrote about the overwhelming sadness of late-capitalist experience, of a drowned world in which definition and identity were being washed away by excess and human beings were tumbling headlong into a submarine solitude.
The irony was that Oasis themselves became the disaster.
Many of the songs on Definitely Maybe were written by Gallagher in a British Gas storehouse while he was recovering from a building site injury. Many of the songs on Morning Glory, and almost all of the songs on the dire third album Be Here Now, were written in lavish hotel rooms or on bacchanalian tour buses by a man who quickly embraced the Thatcherite ethos of wealth-worship, even as he made occasional gestures at his socialist roots. Truly, us had become them, and this is pretty much where we remain today. Gallagher is now one of the privileged rock aristocrats he once defined himself against
December 28, 2024
A classic album and a decent write up, often the 33 1/3 series tells a story about an album whether it be its creation, its social impact or its impression on the writer. This one contextualizes the best Oasis album in the post Thatcher Britain. Big dreams, stealing back the lights from heaven, beer and cigarettes. I never connected with the writing but I do believe any oasis fan would learn something interesting from this book.
June 26, 2025
It didn’t rewire my brain the way Let’s Talk About Love did but this is an impressive book by a true believer and I admire it
September 6, 2022
Biblical
November 18, 2016
Academic and intellectual musing aside, this book works because it has made me want to go back and listen to this album again, and again, and again.
Reading this book in late 2016, after a 'Brexit' vote and an unsuccessful bid by the other Clinton for the American Presidency, Alex Niven allows you to enjoy Oasis for what it is - rock music that just 'is' - a product of its time and place, which in turn shapes its time and place to the point that everything in the future will be just the same as it is now - just a little different.
Oasis, in their later (almost all of?) career, tended to be viewed as having just a whiff of a bad smell around them. Niven, through his intelligent and empathetic writing, highlights where and how this band emerged to become, by their own definition the biggest band in the world. In doing so, he manages to strip away the bombastic overtones for which the Gallagher's later became famous and reveals this debut offering as an album that ultimately resocialized us all into the cultural and political trends of the 1990s.
Using a simple, almost 'naff' structure of 'Earth, Water, Fire, Air', Niven allows the reader an insight into a half-forgotten world between the political hegemony of Thatcher, Reagan and the rule of 1980s conservative politics and the emergence of cultural hope in a political 'Third Way' exemplified in US President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair's 'New Labour'. Indeed, it is the astute choice of this 'tacky' structure which underlies the brilliance of Niven's thesis. Oasis, in the mid-nineties, tell the story of a socio-cultural group that was marginalized because there was, apparently, no such thing as society. Their story is that marginalized people are actually full of verve, soul and deep rooted cultural traditions that are worthy of celebration - they're just not 'yours'. But in recreating the historical world of a Mancunian working class culture that became symbolically integrated into that quintessential 1990s Blairite brand, 'Cool Britannia', he shows how that culture became 'ours'.
A masterful work of historical discussion on how the worlds of working class Britain, and in particular the Mancunian working class, gave life, form and breath to the album and band that became a sonic backdrop to mid-nineties Britain.
Reading this book in late 2016, after a 'Brexit' vote and an unsuccessful bid by the other Clinton for the American Presidency, Alex Niven allows you to enjoy Oasis for what it is - rock music that just 'is' - a product of its time and place, which in turn shapes its time and place to the point that everything in the future will be just the same as it is now - just a little different.
Oasis, in their later (almost all of?) career, tended to be viewed as having just a whiff of a bad smell around them. Niven, through his intelligent and empathetic writing, highlights where and how this band emerged to become, by their own definition the biggest band in the world. In doing so, he manages to strip away the bombastic overtones for which the Gallagher's later became famous and reveals this debut offering as an album that ultimately resocialized us all into the cultural and political trends of the 1990s.
Using a simple, almost 'naff' structure of 'Earth, Water, Fire, Air', Niven allows the reader an insight into a half-forgotten world between the political hegemony of Thatcher, Reagan and the rule of 1980s conservative politics and the emergence of cultural hope in a political 'Third Way' exemplified in US President Bill Clinton and Tony Blair's 'New Labour'. Indeed, it is the astute choice of this 'tacky' structure which underlies the brilliance of Niven's thesis. Oasis, in the mid-nineties, tell the story of a socio-cultural group that was marginalized because there was, apparently, no such thing as society. Their story is that marginalized people are actually full of verve, soul and deep rooted cultural traditions that are worthy of celebration - they're just not 'yours'. But in recreating the historical world of a Mancunian working class culture that became symbolically integrated into that quintessential 1990s Blairite brand, 'Cool Britannia', he shows how that culture became 'ours'.
A masterful work of historical discussion on how the worlds of working class Britain, and in particular the Mancunian working class, gave life, form and breath to the album and band that became a sonic backdrop to mid-nineties Britain.
April 27, 2025
Taking Oasis deadly seriously is exactly what we should be doing with these, even if I'm a little bummed with the outcome. The sell here is an easy one. It takes the conventional wisdom that reading too much into things like Noel Gallagher's lyrics or the obvious pastiche of his songwriting, and place them into the context they deserve alongside the close reading. The contextual stuff works a little better than the close reading, although Niven's respect for the central text here is very admirable.
This book lost me on a few fronts though. Some of the necessary context treads new grounds beyond Oasis' subsequent engagement with New Labour but the gaping holes in the analysis become more obvious when Niven goes beyond what the historical record reveals on its own. For example, even for what's sold as a tight read, it is very curious choice to omit any real engagement with the gender politics of Oasis. There is PLENTY left to say about Oasis and gender (maybe 33 1/3 will let me do Morning Glory), and this book does not want engage with that at all.
The other glaring frustration I had with the book was its insistence on showing its work on a passionate defense of Definitely Maybe as a rich work deserving study and praise, while being almost casually dismissive of Oasis' other work. I don't particularly care what Niven thinks about Oasis' other albums one way or the other, but to hear it repeated many times that Oasis' other material is not nearly as good became grating and repetitive, especially without much context of what made it bad beyond newfound wealth.
This book lost me on a few fronts though. Some of the necessary context treads new grounds beyond Oasis' subsequent engagement with New Labour but the gaping holes in the analysis become more obvious when Niven goes beyond what the historical record reveals on its own. For example, even for what's sold as a tight read, it is very curious choice to omit any real engagement with the gender politics of Oasis. There is PLENTY left to say about Oasis and gender (maybe 33 1/3 will let me do Morning Glory), and this book does not want engage with that at all.
The other glaring frustration I had with the book was its insistence on showing its work on a passionate defense of Definitely Maybe as a rich work deserving study and praise, while being almost casually dismissive of Oasis' other work. I don't particularly care what Niven thinks about Oasis' other albums one way or the other, but to hear it repeated many times that Oasis' other material is not nearly as good became grating and repetitive, especially without much context of what made it bad beyond newfound wealth.
October 6, 2018
I enjoyed Alex Niven's take on Oasis' 33 1/3: Definitely Maybe (2014). The book was divided into four sections: 1. Earth 2. Water 3. Fire, and 4. Air. Within each section was a detailed description of the tracks and how they were recorded. I liked how Niven gave the musical context from which the music was made as well as the sociopolitical context of place and time-i.e. Thatcher-ite blokes on the dole from Manchester in the early 90s. Niven also gave context of the band's first two releases and how they differed from the subsequent albums, of which he states only a half dozen songs are worthy of mention-a sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with. Another informative and entertaining look at a seminal rock album from Continuum.
July 31, 2014
(A full review will be forthcoming.)
I can't rightly give this book less stars, despite disagreeing with the majority of Niven's post-1995 assessment of the band (it's as though he didn't listen to Dig Out Your Soul at all), among a few other details. (Call 2000-onward members "session" musicians, yet talk about the influential effect of Ride? Who do you think was IN Ride?)
Still, I can respect the thoroughness in other areas and in dealing with Definitely Maybe itself. He is way more fair than a lot of music writers are about Oasis, but there will still be plenty to talk about when I write more on this.
I can't rightly give this book less stars, despite disagreeing with the majority of Niven's post-1995 assessment of the band (it's as though he didn't listen to Dig Out Your Soul at all), among a few other details. (Call 2000-onward members "session" musicians, yet talk about the influential effect of Ride? Who do you think was IN Ride?)
Still, I can respect the thoroughness in other areas and in dealing with Definitely Maybe itself. He is way more fair than a lot of music writers are about Oasis, but there will still be plenty to talk about when I write more on this.
August 28, 2025
excellent blend of political, sociocultural, musical and even mythic analysis of the last truly huge rock ‘n’ roll band. repeats its points a bit too often, but otherwise rock-solid
also a really great book to annoy people who think hierarchies of taste are real, and all music they like is Morally Good and all music they dislike is Bad and Tasteless
also also, Oasis were at least a little bit shoegaze, come on
also a really great book to annoy people who think hierarchies of taste are real, and all music they like is Morally Good and all music they dislike is Bad and Tasteless
also also, Oasis were at least a little bit shoegaze, come on
April 4, 2025
My only qualm: I didn't appreciate the author referring to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? as "mediocre" . . . That's a classic album, man!
November 4, 2025
Sentimientos encontrados con este libro. Intenta ser un análisis materialista de Definitely Maybe, ubicándolo en su contexto social para entenderlo como un producto de la Manchester del Thatcherismo, y su éxito como una expresión cultural del creciente rechazo de la clase obrera británica a las políticas neoliberales. Y todo eso se ha discutido, y es indudablemente cierto, pero... ¿y? Un poco me da la impresión de que con escuchar el disco y tener una noción vaga de la existencia del neoconservadurismo en el Reino Unido alcanza para conocer de punta a punta el contenido del libro; Niven no agrega prácticamente nada y lo que agrega me parece a menudo innecesario o incluso incorrecto.
En la primera mitad el defecto fundamental que le encuentro es una lógica un poco determinista, según la cual Definitely Maybe es un buen disco porque representa un sentir del proletariado mancuniano, y esto es así porque los miembros de Oasis son miembros de ese proletariado. Ergo, en cuanto la banda tiene éxito y deja de pertenecer a la clase trabajadora (¿deja de pertenecer a la clase trabajadora? dudoso, pero ciertamente deja de pertenecer a las clases populares), deja de representar un sentir del proletariado y pasa a ser una pésima banda que no tiene nada que ofrecerle al público. Me parece una argumentación un poco difícil de sostener, primero porque un poco parte de ignorar la existencia de la ideología y asumir que las clases sociales tienen perfecta consciencia de y para sí, y otro poco porque requiere pensar que (What's the Story) Morning Glory? es un peor disco que Definitely Maybe. Lo dejo ahí.
Tiene otros problemas, que para mí derivan un poco de éste. En cierto punto su defensa radical del arte proletario termina siendo hasta un poco condescendiente: los miembros de Oasis básicamente no tienen ningún talento y su éxito es puramente contextual. Entiendo que la intención es más un rechazo radical al concepto del individuo, con la cual acuerdo, pero en vez de reemplazarlo con la idea de un sujeto social pareciese que Noel Gallagher es básicamente un conducto directo del sentir obrero, Liam una máquina que lo traduce a sonido. "Las letras son simplistas y no tienen vuelo literario, pero esto funciona porque es el sentir del proletariado y no de los conchetos que fueron a escuela de arte, como los de Blur o Suede". Algo así. Creo que se entiende el problema, ¿no? Tipo, bueno, hermano, no me defiendas tanto.
Por lo demás, el análisis que hace tanto de las letras como del contexto histórico me parece correcto, si bien no necesariamente valioso (es más bien obvio). A veces se va un poco de mambo con su interpretación del uso del "nosotros", lo generaliza demasiado en un sentido clasista que creo que excede a la misantropía de Noel (que sí analiza, eh, ojo. De nuevo, su análisis me parece en términos generales correcto).
Lo que más saco de este libro es la interpretación del método un poco collage de Noel a la hora de componer en la misma línea del hiphop como una manifestación de la tradición creativa proletaria, una contextualización adecuada del lugar de Oasis en la Inglaterra de mediados de la década del '90, y una nueva percepción de algunas de las herencias sesentosas de la banda.
En la primera mitad el defecto fundamental que le encuentro es una lógica un poco determinista, según la cual Definitely Maybe es un buen disco porque representa un sentir del proletariado mancuniano, y esto es así porque los miembros de Oasis son miembros de ese proletariado. Ergo, en cuanto la banda tiene éxito y deja de pertenecer a la clase trabajadora (¿deja de pertenecer a la clase trabajadora? dudoso, pero ciertamente deja de pertenecer a las clases populares), deja de representar un sentir del proletariado y pasa a ser una pésima banda que no tiene nada que ofrecerle al público. Me parece una argumentación un poco difícil de sostener, primero porque un poco parte de ignorar la existencia de la ideología y asumir que las clases sociales tienen perfecta consciencia de y para sí, y otro poco porque requiere pensar que (What's the Story) Morning Glory? es un peor disco que Definitely Maybe. Lo dejo ahí.
Tiene otros problemas, que para mí derivan un poco de éste. En cierto punto su defensa radical del arte proletario termina siendo hasta un poco condescendiente: los miembros de Oasis básicamente no tienen ningún talento y su éxito es puramente contextual. Entiendo que la intención es más un rechazo radical al concepto del individuo, con la cual acuerdo, pero en vez de reemplazarlo con la idea de un sujeto social pareciese que Noel Gallagher es básicamente un conducto directo del sentir obrero, Liam una máquina que lo traduce a sonido. "Las letras son simplistas y no tienen vuelo literario, pero esto funciona porque es el sentir del proletariado y no de los conchetos que fueron a escuela de arte, como los de Blur o Suede". Algo así. Creo que se entiende el problema, ¿no? Tipo, bueno, hermano, no me defiendas tanto.
Por lo demás, el análisis que hace tanto de las letras como del contexto histórico me parece correcto, si bien no necesariamente valioso (es más bien obvio). A veces se va un poco de mambo con su interpretación del uso del "nosotros", lo generaliza demasiado en un sentido clasista que creo que excede a la misantropía de Noel (que sí analiza, eh, ojo. De nuevo, su análisis me parece en términos generales correcto).
Lo que más saco de este libro es la interpretación del método un poco collage de Noel a la hora de componer en la misma línea del hiphop como una manifestación de la tradición creativa proletaria, una contextualización adecuada del lugar de Oasis en la Inglaterra de mediados de la década del '90, y una nueva percepción de algunas de las herencias sesentosas de la banda.
January 20, 2024
3.5 Stars!
“When middle-class musicians resort to appropriation and collage it is often applauded as ‘allusion’ or ‘pastiche’, when working-class musicians do it they are dismissed as plagiarists or prosecuted as outright thieves.”
This is the most impressive instalment that I’ve come across so far in the 33 1/3 series, maybe it’s partly because this is by an English writer (the others have all been American). Yes he occasionally gets carried away with some of his political and academic assertions, conflating all sorts of events with the music of Oasis, but still…
This seems like the type of book that would come out through Zero/Repeater Books, he even names at least three people who have published there, including the founder in the Foreword. I later discovered that he is actually an editor at Repeater.
It’s not everyday a music scribe quotes Marx, Freud and Ezra Pound when talking about an Oasis track (“Live Forever”) but there we go. This did remind me that there appears to be certain genres and subjects (rap music and graphic fiction spring to mind) which are prone to avid fans writing about them in excessive, highfalutin and academic language, throwing quotes around from various intellectual giants, as if to over-compensate for the fact that their subject is traditionally not taken seriously enough by the bourgeois mainstream. There's certainly a bit of that going on here, which is understandable.
I thought he made a fair and semi-convincing point for the band’s sound being influenced by both grunge and shoe gazing genres, though I felt he was unduly harsh on “Digsy’s Dinner” and the follow up album. I’m not sure what he was trying to do with the whole elements angle, that felt bizarre and tenuous.
This is thoroughly researched, he digs deep and obviously knows his subject well, he even finds time for the technical aspects and various tensions behind the recording and aftermath of the album, like the sacking of the original drummer Tony McCarroll. Niven also dedicates airtime to the songs which didn’t make it onto the album, one thing many have forgotten about Oasis is the sheer quality of their b-sides. Like many British bands of the same era (The Wildhearts, Manics etc) they did so many great b-sides, which often sounded better than many of their contemporaries’ singles.
Although not always convincing or consistent this still has a lot going for it, and I would recommend it and its refreshing to see Oasis not written about in patronising terms by a music critic. This doesn't always hit its mark, but it's a good read and certainly worth your time.
“When middle-class musicians resort to appropriation and collage it is often applauded as ‘allusion’ or ‘pastiche’, when working-class musicians do it they are dismissed as plagiarists or prosecuted as outright thieves.”
This is the most impressive instalment that I’ve come across so far in the 33 1/3 series, maybe it’s partly because this is by an English writer (the others have all been American). Yes he occasionally gets carried away with some of his political and academic assertions, conflating all sorts of events with the music of Oasis, but still…
This seems like the type of book that would come out through Zero/Repeater Books, he even names at least three people who have published there, including the founder in the Foreword. I later discovered that he is actually an editor at Repeater.
It’s not everyday a music scribe quotes Marx, Freud and Ezra Pound when talking about an Oasis track (“Live Forever”) but there we go. This did remind me that there appears to be certain genres and subjects (rap music and graphic fiction spring to mind) which are prone to avid fans writing about them in excessive, highfalutin and academic language, throwing quotes around from various intellectual giants, as if to over-compensate for the fact that their subject is traditionally not taken seriously enough by the bourgeois mainstream. There's certainly a bit of that going on here, which is understandable.
I thought he made a fair and semi-convincing point for the band’s sound being influenced by both grunge and shoe gazing genres, though I felt he was unduly harsh on “Digsy’s Dinner” and the follow up album. I’m not sure what he was trying to do with the whole elements angle, that felt bizarre and tenuous.
This is thoroughly researched, he digs deep and obviously knows his subject well, he even finds time for the technical aspects and various tensions behind the recording and aftermath of the album, like the sacking of the original drummer Tony McCarroll. Niven also dedicates airtime to the songs which didn’t make it onto the album, one thing many have forgotten about Oasis is the sheer quality of their b-sides. Like many British bands of the same era (The Wildhearts, Manics etc) they did so many great b-sides, which often sounded better than many of their contemporaries’ singles.
Although not always convincing or consistent this still has a lot going for it, and I would recommend it and its refreshing to see Oasis not written about in patronising terms by a music critic. This doesn't always hit its mark, but it's a good read and certainly worth your time.
October 23, 2025
“Oasis wrote about the overwhelming sadness of late-capitalist experience, of a drowned world in which definition and identity were being washed away by excess and human beings were tumbling headlong into a submarine solitude.”(pp. 6-7)
Alex Niven looks under the bravado-clad bonnet to find something deeply humanistic and even Marxist in Oasis’ barnstorming debut, Definitely Maybe. It is the best kind of criticism: erudite, patient but passionate, but also fair. Niven situates the band in the currents of the post-Thatcher interregnum, rather than the hedonistic excesses of the New Labour era, and digs deep (though without much resistance) to find in songs like ‘Slide Away’, ‘Live Forever’, ‘Up in the Sky’, etc. a yearning for dreams of something forever out of reach in post-industrial Manchester. He goes song by song, arming himself with a decent amount of historical analysis to make a passionate case for this album as a strong sociopolitical statement, rather than merely a ‘greatest hits’ of post-‘50s rock (though it is certainly that, too). Niven’s suggestion of the four elements coursing through this album stands up well on its own, providing a solid framework through which to explore how this album is interpreting the fragments that lay around the band (both historical and, via punk and grunge, musical). It is a great piece of cultural criticism told with confidence (“Somewhat improbably, a gang of working-class everymen were suddenly thrust into a position where they were able to give expression to a kind of surging, utopian longing that was both a response to the suppressed rage of the eighties and an intimation that better times might be coming” - pp. 110-11).
There is also much to be said about how the band were situated in the ‘end of history’ Fin de siècle feeling around the mid-to-late 1990s. As Niven posits, “Oasis were a socio-political phenomenon that was premised on finality, eulogy, climax, catharsis” (p. 110); their songs are full of endings (‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’) but also filled with the radical power of solidarity and communion (‘Acquiesce’). Niven situates Oasis as a response to the social changes of the late century, making a case for the band as a nostalgic but also contemporary tribune of a popular consciousness and ‘end of history’ moment, washed down with champagne as well as by economic precarity. Above all, it is a moving, regenerative book with lots to say. Perhaps predictably, there is short shrift paid to the post-1997 Oasis that receives scorn or polite bemusement. Perhaps, then, this is for another book…
Alex Niven looks under the bravado-clad bonnet to find something deeply humanistic and even Marxist in Oasis’ barnstorming debut, Definitely Maybe. It is the best kind of criticism: erudite, patient but passionate, but also fair. Niven situates the band in the currents of the post-Thatcher interregnum, rather than the hedonistic excesses of the New Labour era, and digs deep (though without much resistance) to find in songs like ‘Slide Away’, ‘Live Forever’, ‘Up in the Sky’, etc. a yearning for dreams of something forever out of reach in post-industrial Manchester. He goes song by song, arming himself with a decent amount of historical analysis to make a passionate case for this album as a strong sociopolitical statement, rather than merely a ‘greatest hits’ of post-‘50s rock (though it is certainly that, too). Niven’s suggestion of the four elements coursing through this album stands up well on its own, providing a solid framework through which to explore how this album is interpreting the fragments that lay around the band (both historical and, via punk and grunge, musical). It is a great piece of cultural criticism told with confidence (“Somewhat improbably, a gang of working-class everymen were suddenly thrust into a position where they were able to give expression to a kind of surging, utopian longing that was both a response to the suppressed rage of the eighties and an intimation that better times might be coming” - pp. 110-11).
There is also much to be said about how the band were situated in the ‘end of history’ Fin de siècle feeling around the mid-to-late 1990s. As Niven posits, “Oasis were a socio-political phenomenon that was premised on finality, eulogy, climax, catharsis” (p. 110); their songs are full of endings (‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’) but also filled with the radical power of solidarity and communion (‘Acquiesce’). Niven situates Oasis as a response to the social changes of the late century, making a case for the band as a nostalgic but also contemporary tribune of a popular consciousness and ‘end of history’ moment, washed down with champagne as well as by economic precarity. Above all, it is a moving, regenerative book with lots to say. Perhaps predictably, there is short shrift paid to the post-1997 Oasis that receives scorn or polite bemusement. Perhaps, then, this is for another book…
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2021
To split the review into two halves: I learned a lot about Oasis that I didn’t know. I’ve learnt about the importance of Owen Morris to this album; I’ve learnt more about the political environment behind this album, and how it contributed to the songwriting and themes of the album; I’ve learnt about how Oasis came to be, and I’ve read some really interesting perspectives on the different songs and the imagery behind them. I found the persistence of themes of “sky” and “shining” to be especially interesting and something I hadn’t thought about before. For these things, plus other bits and pieces I learnt about, I commend Niven.
Unfortunately, the experience of this book was made slightly less enjoyable by Niven’s constant subjective opinions on the Gallagher brothers and the negative song opinions to be mixed with objective history recalling or context providing. Niven’s own opinion is used too much, making me (as someone who is not an Oasis expert) question the legitimacy of some of the claims made. I especially didn’t really care for the constant slights on their characters post Definitely Maybe - I didn’t feel that this was important to their debut album.
Despite these criticisms, I will return to Definitely Maybe with a new and more informed outlook on the album due to having read this book, so thanks to Niven for that, but this is definitely the weakest of the 33 and a third series I have read thus far.
Unfortunately, the experience of this book was made slightly less enjoyable by Niven’s constant subjective opinions on the Gallagher brothers and the negative song opinions to be mixed with objective history recalling or context providing. Niven’s own opinion is used too much, making me (as someone who is not an Oasis expert) question the legitimacy of some of the claims made. I especially didn’t really care for the constant slights on their characters post Definitely Maybe - I didn’t feel that this was important to their debut album.
Despite these criticisms, I will return to Definitely Maybe with a new and more informed outlook on the album due to having read this book, so thanks to Niven for that, but this is definitely the weakest of the 33 and a third series I have read thus far.
January 2, 2023
The claim here is that Oasis and their first album, "Definitely Maybe" were perfectly placed at the juncture between Thatcherite and Blairite Britain: The first album comes out of a Mancunian/Labour context and enunciates a yearning feeling of hope with the Thatcher/Major regime ending. What Niven is battling here is the idea of subsuming Oasis's worth with everything that came after, which is an easy critical gesture you see a lot with this band.
The trouble, though, is that this pitch is difficult to anchor in the lyrics, which are incredibly thin. The book tries really hard, for instance suggesting that a line in "Acquiesce" (a b-side not even on the album) somehow echoes a bit from Bill Clinton's 1992 convention speech (p. 86). Indefinitely maybe, I'd say. Notably, the book quotes nothing directly from the album -- maybe there was a fear of lawsuits. One thing I liked about the book is that it fights against the condescension to working class art. But the positive argument here -- that "Definitely Maybe" really meant something -- seems overdone. More likely it was: Right band, right moment; and Noel Gallagher had some of the stickest fingers of any musical thief of the 90s.
The trouble, though, is that this pitch is difficult to anchor in the lyrics, which are incredibly thin. The book tries really hard, for instance suggesting that a line in "Acquiesce" (a b-side not even on the album) somehow echoes a bit from Bill Clinton's 1992 convention speech (p. 86). Indefinitely maybe, I'd say. Notably, the book quotes nothing directly from the album -- maybe there was a fear of lawsuits. One thing I liked about the book is that it fights against the condescension to working class art. But the positive argument here -- that "Definitely Maybe" really meant something -- seems overdone. More likely it was: Right band, right moment; and Noel Gallagher had some of the stickest fingers of any musical thief of the 90s.
March 6, 2022
Er det rart vi lenger tilbake til den lune dyna som heter 1990-tallet, når 2000-tallet aldri slutter å gi oss dritt i stadig nye varianter?
Alex Nivens bok om Oasis´ debutplate fra 1994 er den beste jeg har lest i serien 33 1/3, om ulike viktige plater. Den handler selvsagt mye om Oasis, men mest om tida den oppsto i. Oasis var en gjeng arbeidsledige menn som sleit seg gjennom Thatchers 1980-tall i Manchester, og skrev sanger om en bedre framtid. De traff planken da de ga ut Definitely maybe i 1994, på et tidspunkt hvor økonomien i Storbritannia var i ferd med å bli bedre og alle visste at en Labour-maktovertakelse var rett rundt hjørnet. Definitely maybe gjorde Oasis til et av verdens største band, og de ble faktisk enda større med oppfølgeren (What´s the story) morning glory. Så gikk det rett nedover.
Oasis var bare relevante i noen få år, og underdog-perspektivet deres på verden forsvant så fort pengene begynte å flomme inn. Alex Niven portretterer en tid og et band på en akkurat passelig akademisk måte, hvor linjene han strekker på kryss og tvers gjorde meg både imponert og litt irritert.
Alex Nivens bok om Oasis´ debutplate fra 1994 er den beste jeg har lest i serien 33 1/3, om ulike viktige plater. Den handler selvsagt mye om Oasis, men mest om tida den oppsto i. Oasis var en gjeng arbeidsledige menn som sleit seg gjennom Thatchers 1980-tall i Manchester, og skrev sanger om en bedre framtid. De traff planken da de ga ut Definitely maybe i 1994, på et tidspunkt hvor økonomien i Storbritannia var i ferd med å bli bedre og alle visste at en Labour-maktovertakelse var rett rundt hjørnet. Definitely maybe gjorde Oasis til et av verdens største band, og de ble faktisk enda større med oppfølgeren (What´s the story) morning glory. Så gikk det rett nedover.
Oasis var bare relevante i noen få år, og underdog-perspektivet deres på verden forsvant så fort pengene begynte å flomme inn. Alex Niven portretterer en tid og et band på en akkurat passelig akademisk måte, hvor linjene han strekker på kryss og tvers gjorde meg både imponert og litt irritert.
July 19, 2025
FR:
Court essai d’Alex Niven paru en 2014 portant sur l’album « Definitely Maybe » du groupe Mancunien Oasis sorti 20 ans plus tôt, en 1994. Mon père me l’a offer en prévision du concert.
J’ai beaucoup aimé cet essai, que j’ai trouvé très intéressant, notamment dans le parallèle fait avec le contexte socio-politique Britannique de l’époque. On se rend compte que le groupe a voulu exprimer beaucoup de choses dans cet album plus profond qu’il ne paraît. L’auteur a également abordé les aspects plus techniques de l’album.
J’ai hâte de les voir à la fin du mois. 5/5.
EN:
Short essay by Alex Niven published in 2014 treating of the album « Definitely Maybe » released by the Mancunian band Oasis 20 years ago, in 1994. My dad offered me this book in preparation of the concert.
I really enjoyed this essay, that I found quite interesting, notably in the parallel with the socio-political context in the United Kingdom at that time. We realized that the band wanted to express a lot of things in this album that is deeper that it seems. The author also touched more technical aspects of the album.
I really look forward to see them at the end of the month. 5/5.
Court essai d’Alex Niven paru en 2014 portant sur l’album « Definitely Maybe » du groupe Mancunien Oasis sorti 20 ans plus tôt, en 1994. Mon père me l’a offer en prévision du concert.
J’ai beaucoup aimé cet essai, que j’ai trouvé très intéressant, notamment dans le parallèle fait avec le contexte socio-politique Britannique de l’époque. On se rend compte que le groupe a voulu exprimer beaucoup de choses dans cet album plus profond qu’il ne paraît. L’auteur a également abordé les aspects plus techniques de l’album.
J’ai hâte de les voir à la fin du mois. 5/5.
EN:
Short essay by Alex Niven published in 2014 treating of the album « Definitely Maybe » released by the Mancunian band Oasis 20 years ago, in 1994. My dad offered me this book in preparation of the concert.
I really enjoyed this essay, that I found quite interesting, notably in the parallel with the socio-political context in the United Kingdom at that time. We realized that the band wanted to express a lot of things in this album that is deeper that it seems. The author also touched more technical aspects of the album.
I really look forward to see them at the end of the month. 5/5.
November 23, 2024
Less a treatise on Oasis' debut album and more a tirade against 80's conservative Britain. Despite the fact that I'm absolutely on the same side of the political aisle as the author, and while it's normal to provide the social context around an album, I can't help but feel that far too much time was dedicated to the author's political diatribes and not enough to the songs themselves. And the analysis that does show up is fairly elementary. You won't find many 'making-of' stories here, but be prepared to be told that 'Up in the Sky' is bold, brash, and punky. Thanks for that. We're well aware. It's kind of a preexisting condition that you're well-acquainted with the album to be in the target audience for this book. If you're an Oasis fan, I don't expect you'll learn much anything new or gain any new insights from this book. And if you aren't, just go watch Noel Gallagher's interview instead! You can skip this one.
5/10
5/10
August 25, 2025
Really well-written and love the in-depth song analysis. However, you can tell Niven is essentially using the book as an excuse to rant about Tory governments and Tony Blair’s Labour.
His belief that Oasis released nothing good after Definitely Maybe is baffling, and shows nothing more than his own political beliefs blinding him.
What does he want a bunch of guys in their early 20s to do when they become millionaires - not spend their money?
He has a go at them for not writing any more working class anthems after they become rich - but surely he would also rant if they tried to do that when no longer working class?
What was the band supposed to do? Not evolve? Not try different styles? I’m baffled.
I’m glad that these days, people are starting to come around to the fact that Oasis’ later albums are actually pretty good.
Despite my rant, I actually did enjoy this book, and timed reading it with going to see the band in Dublin.
Could have done with about 100 extra chapters talking about Slide Away though.
His belief that Oasis released nothing good after Definitely Maybe is baffling, and shows nothing more than his own political beliefs blinding him.
What does he want a bunch of guys in their early 20s to do when they become millionaires - not spend their money?
He has a go at them for not writing any more working class anthems after they become rich - but surely he would also rant if they tried to do that when no longer working class?
What was the band supposed to do? Not evolve? Not try different styles? I’m baffled.
I’m glad that these days, people are starting to come around to the fact that Oasis’ later albums are actually pretty good.
Despite my rant, I actually did enjoy this book, and timed reading it with going to see the band in Dublin.
Could have done with about 100 extra chapters talking about Slide Away though.
February 7, 2024
I've never been particularly interested in Oasis and after reading this book my interest is about the same. That's not for lack of writing by the author, it's just that the Gallagher brothers kinda come off as arrogant dicks. It was the premise that sudden success changed them, but going from complaining about politics putting people on the dole to bragging about how much money they had was pretty much aimed to alienate. I always saw them as just kind of derivative, and this book actually pointed that out repeatedly.
It was interesting to see them placed in the context of Labor politics in the face of post-Thatcherism, and I loved the personal stories surrounding the band and things that happened to them. But breaking down songs by sound and trying to describe musical notes in writing always misses the mark with me.
It was interesting to see them placed in the context of Labor politics in the face of post-Thatcherism, and I loved the personal stories surrounding the band and things that happened to them. But breaking down songs by sound and trying to describe musical notes in writing always misses the mark with me.
January 4, 2024
This is the first book of the series that I’ve read where I wondered if the author actually liked the album being discussed (Wilson’s “Lets Talk About Love” experiment book being the intentional exception).
Niven has obviously done his homework, and he make some good points. But sometimes I was left wondering ‘does it actually matter?’ The writer is almost arguing that you can only enjoy this album if you know where the band originated from. That’s a little hyperbolic, but it’s not far off. He’s almost arguing that the only way for Oasis to have stayed successful was to not be successful. And while I can agree that their success may have messed them up in subsequent albums, I don’t care for the assumptive nobility of the underground.
Niven has obviously done his homework, and he make some good points. But sometimes I was left wondering ‘does it actually matter?’ The writer is almost arguing that you can only enjoy this album if you know where the band originated from. That’s a little hyperbolic, but it’s not far off. He’s almost arguing that the only way for Oasis to have stayed successful was to not be successful. And while I can agree that their success may have messed them up in subsequent albums, I don’t care for the assumptive nobility of the underground.
June 14, 2025
El libro busca funcionar como una reseña del disco más famoso y mejor catalogado de Oasis, desde el principio hasta el final, pero resulta en más de lo mismo todo el tiempo. Un poco de neoliberalismo de los 90 en GB, laborismo, y la justificación de todas sus letras como una banda de clase trabajadora que solo querían ser estrellas de rock pero que luego de alcanzar la fama perdieron todos sus “valores”.
El libro se parece más a un llanto del estilo “se olvidaron de sus raíces/de donde vinieron” que a un posible ensayo y exploración más cruda del impacto que tuvó ese Oasis inicial de un momento a otro y buscar entender el porque resultó así.
Para aquel fanático de la banda y que ya tiene un background medianamente incorporado de la misma, puede resultar aburridísimo.
El libro se parece más a un llanto del estilo “se olvidaron de sus raíces/de donde vinieron” que a un posible ensayo y exploración más cruda del impacto que tuvó ese Oasis inicial de un momento a otro y buscar entender el porque resultó así.
Para aquel fanático de la banda y que ya tiene un background medianamente incorporado de la misma, puede resultar aburridísimo.
September 6, 2025
After being very underwhelmed by Pretty Hate Machine, I turned to another 33 1/3 book on the OTHER band I saw live for the first time this week, and was redeemed.
Oasis was one of the biggest bands in the world in the mid 90s, but like every other supergroup, had to get their start somewhere. This book covers their history up through the release of their first (and in my opinion, their best) album, with analysis and interpretation on each song on it. The author goes for this weird 4 elements breakdown, which was only half thought out and I still don't think that Definitely Maybe has earth, fire, water and air themes. Water and air, sure.
Oasis was one of the biggest bands in the world in the mid 90s, but like every other supergroup, had to get their start somewhere. This book covers their history up through the release of their first (and in my opinion, their best) album, with analysis and interpretation on each song on it. The author goes for this weird 4 elements breakdown, which was only half thought out and I still don't think that Definitely Maybe has earth, fire, water and air themes. Water and air, sure.
October 31, 2025
A deep dive into Oasis's roots, exploring how their music, lyrics, and distinctive sound were influenced by the social and political climate of the UK in the '90s. The book took me through the entire first album, offering a fresh perspective and helping me understand the meaning behind some lyrics, as well as why Oasis achieved such widespread recognition and fame.
While I don't share all of the author's subjective viewpoints, this is still a professional and thorough analysis — a must-read for any Oasis fan.
While I don't share all of the author's subjective viewpoints, this is still a professional and thorough analysis — a must-read for any Oasis fan.
April 19, 2022
It's a well written book but I just disagree with about everything the writer says in his views about songs and albums. He might have gotten the context of the album right and the history at that time, but anyone who calls themselves an Oasis fan and slags off Be Here Now .. I just throw my hands in air.
October 3, 2024
This book stands as a cultural and social recount of Oasis 'Definitely Maybe' album. One of the highlights is the class importance of Britpop and the origin of oasis' first album as a statement of working class musicians in a post-Thatcher 90s Manchester. Words aside, some points are academic enough to forget at all that it's a book about a rock and roll album.
January 13, 2018
A mostly overthought (and often overwritten) account, added a childish and unnecessary bashing of other bands and later Oasis. That said, there are also great passages carried by a true love for the album.
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