Damon Albarn: the true winner of the Britpop war
The entire story behind ‘The Battle of Britpop’ has always been the tale of multiple massive – and almost nauseating – egos going back and forth. The genre may have been born from Britain having a great retort to what America was doing at the height of the grunge movement, but seeing Oasis and Blur become musical sparring partners made for some of the most entertaining and ugliest insults that any two bands have ever hurled at each other. While it’s easy to look back at this episode as a footnote in both bands’ stories, it’s clear that Damon Albarn came out as the true victor in the court of public opinion.
Then again, it’s not like this wasn’t a fair fight. Noel and Liam Gallagher were proudly displaying themselves as two of the greatest rock stars alive in the 1990s, and considering how many of their songs still receive massive airplay to this day, it’s hard to argue with them as one of the classic acts of the decade. And compared to what Blur were doing, Oasis were far more immediately accessible, usually focused on that massive singalong rather than trying to put an ironic twist on British rock and roll tropes as Parklife did.
Looking back on how each group evolved, though, it’s far more interesting looking at the way Blur structured their career. Listening back to Oasis’ first three albums feels like watching a musical fireworks that edged towards disaster on Be Here Now, but while Blur had their high points with Parklife and The Great Escape, there’s never any album that was an outright dud in their catalogue.
Even when they got out of their Kinks worshipping phase, a song like ‘Beetlebum’ worked as a perfect slice of British rock, and while played as a joke, ‘Song 2’ is still far more entertaining than the millions of other post-grunge act that came out past 1994. But Albarn had something else up his sleeve beyond being one of the greatest frontmen of his time.
Although people loved the idea of him strutting across the stage singing ‘Charmless Man,’ what pushed Albarn over the edge was his willingness to experiment. Despite the internal hell going on within the group, 13 is still one of the finest albums they made because of how much they embrace that internal tension, which can’t really be said for Oasis’ Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. While the Manchester legends still crafted a fine album, it was never going to be as adventurous after Noel decided to make things more low-key.
And a special mention needs to be paid to everything that Albarn has done outside of Blur. Even though he has written operas and has popped up with Blur for various comeback albums, no project the Gallaghers ever made comes close to Gorillaz’s level of creativity, whether that be the outrageous visuals running throughout their music videos or Albarn’s willingness to go against the grain and make some strange blend of hip-hop, rock, and whatever the hell else he fancies.
You have to remember that both bands came out of the indie scene that emphasised alternative music before anything else. But while Oasis started off as an indie band and became another case of a superstar stadium rock act, what Albarn does is the true definition of alternative music, always reaching for new sounds and seeing where his muse will take him on any given day.
That’s not even at the expense of Oasis’ recordings. There are still legions of fans that are going to be passing down ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ to their loved ones for generations, but there are only certain kinds of artists that can make something as infectious as ‘End of A Century’ in one decade and have an entirely new generation of kids learning the bassline to ‘Feel Good Inc.’
Not all of it is aces from back to front as long as The Good, The Bad and The Queen records still exist, but looking at the way Britpop turned out, Albarn has shown himself to be the almighty victor of that era. Some may have been more vocal about their own self-worth, but even though Albarn didn’t shy away from his own praise every now and again, he doesn’t need to talk himself up when he can let his art speak for him.
