The Debate: Who should have won the Britpop battle?
Everybody loves a good battle, and 30 years ago, the music world watched with bated breath to see which of Britpop’s favourite sons would reach the top of the charts.
In one corner, Oasis: Manchester’s working-class heroes, and the youthful self-determination of their era-defining single ‘Roll With It’. In the other, Blur: London’s distinctly middle-class harbingers of Britpop, and their light-hearted take on class politics, ‘Country House’. That vicious chart battle dominated the music press of August 1995, arguably reflecting the peak of Britpop’s mainstream relevancy and the commercial power of these two grassroots outfits.
Musically, the two songs are worlds apart, despite both being presented under the ever-vague parameters of Britpop. ‘Roll With It’ reflected the abrasive optimism of the Gallagher brothers, with distorted guitars and Liam’s impassioned delivery reflecting some of their more punk-influenced efforts, like Definitely Maybe’s Bring It On Down. ‘Country House’, in contrast, is much more light and airy, with Blur’s attempt at political commentary masquerading as their typical comedic twang.
Nevertheless, the two singles made for a good battle. After all, the chart race came to represent something much greater than those two singles; Oasis vs Blur soon became seen as North vs South, working-class vs middle-class, David vs Goliath. Of course, a lot of that fluff was manufactured by the record labels and their marketing departments, but the respective bands certainly seemed to enjoy playing into it themselves.
Ultimately, it was Blur who came out on top. ‘Country House’ became the band’s first-ever number-one single, and leaving ‘Roll With It’ hanging behind in second place. But is that how things should have played out? The music industry is a famously fickle place, and one which is rife with injustices. In a fair and just world, judged solely on the quality of those two singles, rather than the marketing battle that went on behind the scenes, who should have come out of that chart battle the victor?
With those questions in mind, I, Ben Forrest, will bravely go head-to-head with our very own Reuben Cross in order to decide once and for all which Britpop anthem should have won the battle all those years ago.
Who should have won the Britpop battle?
“Everybody likes an underdog…”
To kick-off: ‘Roll With It’ is the spirit of Britpop
Indie music is the music of misfits, outcasts, and underdogs, and the Britpop boom was no different. Oasis were always, at heart, normal working-class lads from Manchester, and the rebellious optimism of ‘Roll With It’ captures that spirit perfectly.
There is no phoneiness when it comes to the track, it is raw, distorted, but with a core message of hope and lust for life. It was, and continues to be, a rallying cry for the younger generation. Isn’t that what Britpop was all about?
Meanwhile, ‘Country House’ might as well have been a novelty song – it starts with the Batman theme, for Christ’s sake. Its hard to see how the hopes of an entire generation could be pinned on Damon Albarn’s grating faux-cockney whine.
“The numbers don’t lie…”
More like Goliath vs Goliath
Nothing says underdog like already having had a number one single before the supposed Goliath did, and the fact that Oasis’ debut album has shifted almost double the units of Blur’s first three combined only goes to show that they weren’t exactly entering as a minnow. Yes, the Gallagher brothers stand for something working class in their presentation, but you can hardly call the song a working-class call to arms, because it’s practically nonsensical.
Also, let’s not bring the North vs South accent debate into account here, because Liam has a more whiny Mancunian drawl than anyone that’s ever emerged from the city, and this is a place that produced Mark E. Smith.
“Don’t bring Mark E. Smith into this…”
It’s a novelty song
You can argue to your heart’s content that ‘Country House’ is actually a profound statement on class politics and wealth inequality, but I simply don’t buy it. Even if you’re in the camp of psychopaths who reckon that rock and roll doesn’t need to have a message, do the unendingly bland lyrics of ‘Country House’ stir up any emotion inside you at all? It’s a novelty pop song masquerading as an indie anthem.
In contrast, ‘Roll With It’ is a life-affirming anthem. OK, it might not be Gallagher’s most profound songwriting effort, but at least he is speaking directly to the audience. “Don’t ever stand aside, Don’t ever be denied, You wanna be who you’d be.” These defiant lyrics aren’t merely a collection of light-hearted musings on English eccentricity, they reflect the core message of Oasis existence: be yourself, don’t change for anybody else. Surely that’s a much more important message for young music fans to hear than “Watching afternoon repeats and the food he eats in the country.”
Aside from anything else, ‘Roll With It’ continues to resonate with audiences to this very day, three decades on from its original release, while ‘Country House’ is resigned to the setlists of vacuous ‘indie disco’ club nights and the songs you hear while browsing shopping centres.
“You just don’t get it…”
It isn’t all sunshine and Sambas
Maybe I don’t learn anything about myself from ‘Country House’, but I certainly learn about the world around me. For one, the ability to conjure up a story about a character you can picture is one thing, but to also make it clear enough who the satirical jabs are being made at is another.
It’s very blatant in how it pokes fun at the sad sack sort of individual who thinks he’s the big kahuna because he’s got a job in the city and has loads of money, but in actuality, there’s a sadness to him because the one thing he seems to be lacking is any sort of fulfilment. It’s a cautionary tale about how success isn’t always what you make it out to be, and if anything, should have been heeded as a warning by Oasis, who seemed more hell-bent on winning the battle than Blur did in the first place.
“The win was down to marketing…”
Where are Blur’s indie credentials?
‘Country House’ might have won the chart battle back in 1995, but that wasn’t down to quality of the music. With the amount of marketing gimmicks Blur pulled out of the bag, it is no surprise that they came out on top. A big budget music video, a celebrity appearance from George Dawes, and all the corporate power of Parlophone were supporting the single.
Whereas, like with the rest of Oasis’ early offerings, ‘Roll With It’ was an independent affair. Creation Records weren’t in the business of corporate marketing, its focus was also entirely on the music, as it should have been.
Make no mistake, ‘Country House’ reaching number one had nothing to do with any musical quality in the song. The quickest way to the top of the charts has always been marketing and money – LadBaby has had multiple number ones, and even I would take ‘Country House’ over that.
Once again, it’s a case of the North of England being far superior to the South, even if all the money tends to get spent down your way.
“Oasis never shied away from marketing…”
Neither band were exactly independent
Matt Lucas as George Dawes is hardly a huge coup when you compare it to some of the names that Oasis would go on to feature in their music videos – they shrank Robert Carlyle for goodness sake.
In terms of there not being a corporate backing, Creation were hardly small fry when it came to independent labels, and considering the band’s rise was masterminded by industry svengali Alan McGee, who had had previous success with Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine (admittedly not to the same degree), and was also best buddies with Bill Drummond of The KLF, the masters of manipulating chart success from nothing.
Oasis were as much of a brand, if not more so, than Blur.
“Who won the war?”
Oasis came out on top, long-term
Not every battle is critical to win a war, and even if you still think that ‘Country House’ was the rightful winner of the race to the top of the single’s chart, even you must concede that Oasis won the war, in the long run. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory far outshines The Great Escape by virtually every metric.
Musically, Gallagher’s songwriting was at its absolute peak during that time, whereas Albarn’s greatest work certainly lies elsewhere. That difference in quality was already audible on ‘Roll With It’ and ‘Country House’, but the full album releases only widened that gap. Once you’ve heard the likes of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’, the competition flies entirely out of the window.
Even on a purely commercial basis, if that’s what the Britpop battle truly was, the Oasis album spent 10 weeks at the top of the album chart, and was at that time the second fastest-selling album in British music history. Blur’s record wasn’t a flop, by any means, but it didn’t come close to competing with the Mancunians.
“Have you forgotten ‘Heathen Chemistry’?”
Save your blinkered view, Blur’s discography reigns supreme
Morning Glory is indeed a superior, and better performing album than The Great Escape, I’ll give you that. Pit any other Oasis album against a Blur one, however, and it’ll end up in a crushing defeat. The Battle of Britpop was just a singular event in a larger head-to-head between two bands, and the overall conflict is more like a game of chess, where the two sides were constantly trying to counter their opponent’s move with something of greater importance. This particular moment was won by Blur, other moments were won by Oasis.
The overall winner entirely depends on whether you want to measure success by artistic adventurousness or as a popularity contest, and at the end of the day, I think I’d much rather spend my time listening to a band that was consistently looking to evolve their sound over a band that maintained their success based on ripping off the Beatles and wearing a parka.
