Oasis

Oasis are way out on top - definitely, not just maybe

Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Friday June 2, 2006

The Guardian

It's the one thing on which the notoriously volatile and self-confident Gallagher brothers would almost certainly agree. Their debut album with Oasis, Definitely Maybe, has been voted the best of all time in the latest attempt to rank musical history.

The 1994 album, which sold more than 7m copies around the world and set them on the road to becoming the most successful British band of the 90s, was placed ahead of their heroes and inspirations the Beatles in the poll of more than 40,000 music fans.

The Beatles came second and third in the poll - organised by the book of British Hit Singles and Albums and NME.com to celebrate 50 years of the official UK albums chart - with their 1967 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and its predecessor Revolver.

But the news that Definitely Maybe, which featured Supersonic and Live Forever, is now considered the best of all time may also sound a bittersweet note for guitarist Noel and singer Liam.

Their ascension to the top spot confirms that the Britpop era has passed on to the nostalgia circuit, with all the albums in the top 10 being 10 years or more old. The highest placed from this century is Up the Bracket, the 2002 debut by The Libertines, at 15.

"Only two albums in the top 20 were released in the last five years, so the voters have clearly thought long and hard about their decision," said David Roberts, the editor of British Hit Singles and Albums. "We believe our readers are the most knowledgeable music fans in the country, so for them to have decided that Definitely Maybe should be the number one album is really something."

The Stone Roses' self-titled debut, which often tops critics' polls to find the best album of all time, is placed at number seven.

The higher echelons of the chart are taken up by classic names - mostly white, male and middle-aged - that will be familiar to regular students of such lists, with Radiohead, Pink Floyd, U2, The Smiths and Nirvana all featuring in the top 10, and the even bigger selling follow up to Definitely Maybe, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, making the list at number five.

But there are some surprises lower down the top 100:, with the debut album by the Spice Girls ranked above Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, and Shania Twain's Come on Over ahead of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Prince's Sign 'o' the Times.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006