The Battle of Britpop: A timeline of the greatest week in chart history
In August of 1995, a fierce war began. There were no casualties beyond some egos, luckily, but as Britain’s two biggest bands started fighting, the Battle of Britpop was a cultural moment.
In the 1990s, when guitar rock ruled and Britpop was a global sweeping obsession, the UK was back on the musical map in a way it hadn’t been since the British invasion of the 1960s. Spiking interest in homegrown bands again, guitar music was back on the charts and making celebrities again.
Oasis and Blur were the two kings of it. The Gallagher brothers were the gobby wild cards, while Damon Albarn was the handsome hedonist. By the time the middle of the decade rolled around, they were both hitting dizzying heights of fame. ‘Parklife’ had made Blur hugely popular, and Oasis’ debut album put them on top too. They were neck and neck as the two leading acts of the moment, but initially, there was no race; just a side-by-side pleasure ride.
That was until August, when a miscalculation of the release date meant that suddenly the two acts were in direct competition in a chart battle. After initially worrying that having the same release date would only wreak havoc, both acts quickly realised that perhaps this was an opportunity. Two songs, one winner. The Battle of Britpop began.
The Battle of Britpop – A timeline:
Pre 1995
Happy days, maybe
Initially, Blur and Oasis had no beef. Both leaders of the scene, both bands at the top; the two groups moved in the same circles. Up until this point, they’d, on the surface, been supportive of one another.
But a series of perhaps passive aggressive digs suggests otherwise. There have forever been questions as to whether the Oasis track ‘Digsy’s Dinner’ is about Blur as the band put on their best posh caricature. Their label boss, Alan McGee, always thought it was as 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.”
On Blur’s side, after that, there’s the question of whether their niceties were always fake. “‘This should be shared with Oasis’ Graham Coxon said when Blur beat them to a Brit award at the start of 1995, adding, “Much love and respect for them” in a perhaps mocking praise.
April 1995
The boiling over
It was April 1995 when things seemed to change. As the final attempt to feign friendliness, Blur went along to the party to celebrate Oasis’ number one victory with ‘Some Might Say’. Going over to the Gallaghers to share his well dones and his well wishes, Damon Albarn was irritated.
“When Oasis got to Number One with ‘Some Might Say’, I went to their celebration party, y’know, just to say ‘Well done’. And Liam came over and, like he is, he goes, ‘Number fookin’ One!’, right in my face,” Albarn told NME, “So I thought, ‘OK we’ll see…’”
And so it begins as McGee said, “Damon got on one about it and decided to take Oasis on. Oasis, being Oasis, decided to hate them. And Blur, being Blur, thought it was a game, but Oasis actually fucking hated them at the time!”
August 12th, 1995
The launch of the battle
With the two bands now openly and outrightly feuding, throwing their insults in the press, the battle began when the acts both acts announced their lead singles for their new albums – to be released on the same day, August 14th, 1995.
“British Heavyweight Championship” NME declared across their front page on August 12th. Suddenly, everywhere was picking it up and what was initially just a silly feud was levelled up to an all-out head to head war that went far beyond two bands.
14th – 20th August, 1995
The build up
After the release of the songs on the 12th, the weekly chart wouldn’t declare the winner until 20 August, meaning that for the week post-release, the press continued to foster the rivalry, prompting fans to pick a side and go buy as if the purchase was a vote.
It had quickly become about more than the music though. Oasis came to represent the working class north, while Blur were the posh south, or that’s how it was being spun.
Suddenly, it was a class war playing out between two rock songs. Oasis were keen to lean into that, however it made Blur uncomfortable, especially Graham Coxon who was the son of an Army man and very much not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
But the north vs south, working class vs middle class fight was an easy one to sell. It roped people in who previously wouldn’t have cared less about the two bands, levelling up not only their careers but the entirety of the britpop moment and UK guitar music.
August 20th, 1995
The victor
Then the moment came – August 20th rolled around and a winner had to be declared. At a time when the importance of the weekly chart, and especially people’s interest in it’s results, was beginning to dip, this battle reignited excitement for one brief moment.
It was genuinely tense as neither band actually knew who would kick into the lead. As a time where both were at the top of their game, even in the singles in question weren’t their strongest, there was no clear answer as to who might take the crown.
In an attempt to calm their genuine nerves around it, Blur did their usual routine; playing Sunday football in Regents Park. Half way through the game, their label executive, Andy Ross, showed up and in Albarn’s memory, the revelation was a semi anti-climactic one, telling NME, “Andy turned up completely pissed so I knew we’d won.”
In the end, ‘Country House’ sold 274,000 copies while ‘Roll with It’ trailed behind at 216,000.
20th August, 1995
Salt in the wound
To ensure that the feud would keep rolling on for a while longer, Blur got cocky and decided to well and truly rub it in. On the night of their victory, they appeared on Top Of The Pops to perform their winning song.
As they stepped onto stage, Alex James had made a clear sartorial choice by deciding to wear an Oasis T-shirt. So if all of this stemmed from a moment of Liam Gallagher boasting in Blur’s face, the band had well and truly got their own back.
