We are in the middle of the second coming of Oasis in the UK. They are midway through a stadium tour that most thought would never happen. It feels like the country is in two moods right now, well, three if you include that we are going through another heat wave. Number one, you are fortunate to get a ticket to see the band, or number two, you are desperate to get a ticket to see the band.
Although they seem to be the kings of Britpop now, it wasn’t always that way. They had rivals to their crown. Blur, a four-piece from Essex who were the kings before them. They weren’t going down without a fight. This week, The Beats Marches On to the 20th August 1995, when Blur and Oasis battle for the number one spot in the charts and to rule all of Britpop.
It was dubbed as the biggest chart rivalry since The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but they got along. This was more than that. Oasis vs Blur wasn’t just about who was better; it was a class battle. Oasis were the ragtag working-class boys from Manchester, and Blur were the middle-class college students from Essex. It was the zenith of Britpop.
When Oasis released their first single in April 1994, Blur were fans of them. Guitarist Graham Coxon had met and got along with many members of the band. Even when the two bands went head-to-head at the 1995 Brit Awards, which Blur won, vocalist Damon Albarn said in his speech that they and Oasis should have shared the award.
At the 1994 NME awards, both Blur and Oasis won big and at the photoshoot, being taken backstage is when the first argument started. Liam Gallagher, the lead singer of Oasis, had an issue with Blur bassist Alex James. For some reason, he wound up the singer, just for being himself.
With both band’s stars rising, it was only a matter of time before one of them would go to number one in the charts. That would go to Oasis in April 1995 with Some Might Say, but at that time, it felt like any song they released would go to number one as they were so popular.
The record label, Creation Records, threw a party to celebrate the achievement and label boss Alan McGhee invited Blur’s Albarn. The two were quite friendly and attended Chelsea football matches together. This moment was when the two bands were rivals on and off stage.
Gallagher, celebrating a little bit too hard perhaps, got into Albarn’s face and chanted ‘we’re number one, we’re number one’. Which would cause a stir with the most docile of people. This especially riled the Blur singer. If it’s a war they wanted, it’s a war they’ll get.
There was an unwritten rule at the time in regards to releasing singles. Don’t release them at the same time. Let you and your rivals get the plaudits because most of the time the rivalry is superficial.
As Albarn was angered by Gallagher’s actions, he decided to go along with the idea of releasing the next single on the same date as Oasis’ to see who really was number one. Oasis didn’t want to go head-to-head with Blur and tried to push the release date back, but whatever date the band chose, Blur would change their release date. The fight was on.
It was big news in the UK. NME called it the British Heavyweight Championship Showdown. It was featured on the front of all the daily newspapers. It even featured as the top story on BBC News. Which song will win: Blur’s Country House or Oasis’ Roll With It?
Both bands said things in the heat of the moment. Albarn said in a radio interview that Roll With It sounded like a Status Quo song. Noel Gallagher, Oasis’ main songwriter and lead guitarist, hit back, hoping Albarn and James would catch AIDS and die (he would put out an apology for that statement)
Not knowing who was going to win, NME produced two different front covers, one for each band. No one knew who was going to win; everyone knew it was going to be close.
In the best-selling week for a decade, Blur pipped Oasis to the number one spot, selling 270,000 singles to 220,000. Most fans of Britpop mostly brought a copy of each, but as Blur had the better song of the two, they won the battle. When the band appeared on the TV show Top of the Pops the following week, Alex James rubbed it in by wearing an Oasis T-shirt.
Later in the Autumn, Oasis released the album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory, which raised the bar in the Britpop genre. Blur’s album The Great Escape, released a month earlier, was fine, but compared to what Oasis had produced, it was lacklustre.
The singles from …Morning Glory were just better. Oasis saved the best for last with gargantuan hits like Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger, which are now timeless despite being released 30 years ago. Compare these to Blur’s singles off The Great Escape, Charmless Man and The Universal, you could argue that they were fortunate to release Country House against the less popular single Roll With It.
In the thirty years since the battle of Britpop, a lot has changed. Both bands have since broken up and reformed, and one of them broke up again, but not the one you think. You would think the band with the vulnerable brothers would be the ones to split; however, they are currently touring the UK on a reunion tour. Blur did reunite in 2022 for an album and a tour, but have since split again. The amount of extra dates Oasis have added to their reunion tour, it’s safe to say that Blur may have won the battle thirty years ago, but Oasis have won the war.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for nine years, specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
The Beat Marches On has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Beat-Goes-On-Blog-107727714415791 and an X page: @TheBeatGoesOnB1
Websites used for research were:
Blur and Oasis’ big Britpop chart battle – the definitive story of what really happened
Blur Vs Oasis: The True Story Behind The Battle Of Britpop – Dig!
The book Don’t Look Back In Anger: The rise and fall of Cool Britanna told by those who were there by Daniel Rachel was also used for research.
If you want to request a story for The Beat Marches On blog, you can contact jwhiteheadjournalism@gmail.com. We cannot guarantee that the story will be published, but it will be considered.