“Excellent”: Damon Albarn’s favourite Oasis album
The rivalry between Blur and Oasis was historic. In the 1990s, the beef that went down between the two bands was so juicy that it was dubbed ‘The Battle Of Britpop’, with one war for the top of the chart being so dramatic it was written into British cultural legend. But while Damon Albarn and the Gallagher brothers were fierce enemies, it seems the Blur singer always had a soft spot for one Oasis album.
The year was 1995, and the question on everyone’s lips was; “Are you team Blur or team Oasis?” After a few years of a jokey rivalry bubbling away between the two groups, they’d come to represent something even bigger. Albarn and Co were the rich kids, somehow standing in for the country’s cultural elite, while the Gallaghers were northern and staunchly working class, acting as the rebels breaking into the big time. So when they both had huge new singles out and began a neck-and-neck race for number one, it all kicked up a gear.
Plenty of insults were thrown. Oasis called Blur ”Chas & Dave chimney sweep music,” while Blur simply deemed the Manchester band boring and unoriginal, nicknaming them the ”Oasis Quo”. As ‘Roll With It’ and ‘Country House’ battled for number one, things got pretty nasty. In the years after, Damon said that the war actually hit a nerve, stating in a documentary, “Noel Gallagher used to take the piss out of me constantly, and it really, really hurt at the time. Oasis were like the bullies I had to put up with at school.”
But perhaps the hate from Oasis actually hurt because Albarn was a closet fan. While publicly wrapped up in a dramatic and years-long rivalry from the mid-’90s, both bands had previous releases. When it comes to Oasis’ earlier album Definitely Maybe, Albarn really liked the record.
When asked for his favourite Oasis track, the Blur singer said, ”Definitely something off the first record.” Praising the 1994 release, he continued, ”I thought the first record was excellent. It sounded great, it was a really great record.”
He took that even further when in a conversation with Newsnight, he held his hands up and admitted, “I think Oasis were better.” He explained, “They were better at communicating who they were than we were,” praising them for their strong identity that maybe Blur lacked.
That identity is set solidly on the debut record that Albarn loves. Kicking down the doors to the music industry and entering with one of the strongest first releases in history, the album housed hits like ‘Supersonic’, ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Star’. Delivered with their signature Mancunian twang and already anthemic in sound, it set the tone for Oasis’ career immediately.
However, Albarn’s favourite record from the band contains a veiled dig at him. Alan McGee, Oasis’ label boss, revealed the meaning behind one track to Radio X, claiming that ‘Digsy’s Dinner’ was perhaps the start of the rivalry. He called it a “piss-take of Blur,” adding, “I don’t think Noel’s ever admitted to that. It’s a piss-take of that Britpop thing. It was Noel proving that he could do that in his sleep.”
But by now, the rivalry has largely been put to bed. Even though Liam Gallagher still likes to throw verbal punches towards Blur, Albarn has spoken fondly about his relationship with Noel, respecting him as a peer, a musician and a friend. “I value my friendship with Noel because he is one of the only people who went through what I did in the Nineties,” the Blur singer said, proving bygones can be bygones.
