Apparently, the first rehearsal room Oasis practiced in soon had a giant Union Jack painted across one wall. Other bands occupying the same space would listen through the walls at the monster being created within. The fact they wore their musical heritage so brazenly on their sleeve mattered less than the fact that they were really, really fucking good. The initial menacing strain of 'Supersonic' (Tony McCarrol's lame duck drumming aside) was perhaps the grandest statement of intent in the history of popular music. Musical chops weren't enough now, the band's message was going to be delivered on stage or off, on your stereo or on the end of the broken bottle aimed directly at your throat. Rock's grand return needed to ride on a sneering 'don't give a fook' attitude which Oasis had in spades - or pints rather. Lots of them.

"I need to be myself" then, was a call to arms, a public address to a British music scene that had been left reeling in the wake of grunge. Ol' Blighty had no response to a wave of bands that were perhaps ultimately a flash in the pan, but until Kurt Cobain's decision to get out of the kitchen, the dominant force in popular music. Sure he brought along grunge, but I for one was never interested in hearing somebody sing about how sad they were. Cue two brothers from Manchester, not a record deal between them but already in possession of a cock-sure swagger based solely on the belief that the rest of the world was about to catch up.

It could be said that when Cobain arrived, he would have preferred a quieter reception, that he started a revolution he had no intention of seeing through. This would then make his successors as rulers of the known rock world direct polar opposites. The Gallaghers were mad for it, stepping off the fast train to rock history in Grand Central Station, throwing management out and starting a fight with the punters in the local. "We'll have you Eddie. We'll have you Ian Brown. We'll have you Bobby Gillespie. We'lloh just get out of the way would you? What? Who let that Albarn in the door, we'll have him too!"

It could be argued that Oasis became stars when nobody else had eyes on the throne, but the truth is nobody worked harder for it in 1994, and nobody was as willing to bring the beast to its knees line by endless line. "All your dreams are made when you're chained to the mirror and the razor blade" Noel would later write; and the Gallaghers went about making their dreams reality, touring relentlessly while recording their debut Definitely Maybe no less than three times due to continued studio balls-ups. They set the pace up and down the country with both music entrenched in core rock and pop values, production and song writing; and a lifestyle steeped in rock myth and folklore.

The ensuing war not only with the press, but with Blur themselves did little to dampen anyone's spirits, let alone the band themselves. Damon Albarn and co. had always aimed for the minds of the nation anyway, whereas Oasis fired surely at the hearts and feet of the punters. As the follow-up to their debut was readied, nobody had any idea of the behemoth the Gallaghers were about to deliver. The competition was over before 'Roll With It' had hit the radio, it just took them a while to catch on.

So, ten years on, Definitely Maybe sits atop the empire that was Britpop. 'Wonderwall' may be the band's crowning achievement, but 'Supersonic' and 'Live Forever' are the songs that, in one fell swoop, turned a stagnant music industry on it's head. That night and every night since, Oasis have been every bit the Rock 'n' Roll Stars they claimed they were.

In my mind, Morning Glory is a better album, but it wouldn't exist without Definitely Maybe. Out of the eleven tracks, six are bonafide classics that everyone knows the words to. Even with the tedious additions of 'Digsy's Dinner' and 'Married With Children', the album stands head and shoulders above anything else released in the decade since.

"It's just rock 'n' roll" Liam wails towards the end of the Definitely Maybe opener. It takes another 6 minutes to have Noel singing "You and I are gonna live forever", but he is already stating the obvious. Indeed this album will live forever, and not just as the greatest debut of all time. For while any collection of songs requires extenuating circumstances to lift it out of your stereo and into your life proper, Definitely Maybe is as relevant today as it was in 1994. For the culture at the time, for a country that needed to be kicked in the arse, for the gap that it filled, the confidence that it gave the Brits in their own industry once again, and for everyone the Oasis monster crushed in it's path, the greatest British album of all time turns ten this year. Young pretenders sit up and take note; this is how it is done.