User:A Thousand Doors/Battle of Britpop

The Battle of Britpop was a "chart battle" between the British rock bands Blur and Oasis.


 * The "Ross" here is Andy Ross, boss of Food Records


 * McGee interview: Blur were the bigger band; Beatles vs Stones; battle gave Oasis national exposure that they otherwise would not have gotten; barcode issue; McGee heard the result from NME at midday, he told Oasis


 * Britpop borrowed from British music of the '60s and 80s; Suede and Blur were pioneers (Suede debut and MLiR); rejection of grunge; Britpop tackled British subject matter; NME's Heavyweight Championship cover; regional showdown; Oasis won the war and broke America; Blur's next album embraced grunge and lo-fi; Be Here Now received less favourable acclaim


 * "Heavyweight Championship"; Beatles vs Stones; WtSMG didn't receive critical acclaim, but outsold TGE; Knebworth; Blur's next album embraced alternative rock and lo-fi Americana; it received acclaim but was overshadowed by Be Here Now; battle was also about class and regional differences (Southerners vs Northerners); Britpop embraced 60s fashion and music


 * Neither's best work; Blur (1997) was lo-fi, alt-rock; CH has Benny Hill-style video and was directed by Damien Hirst; info about singles' B-sides and single covers; TOTP performances


 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages/events/indie/blur-vs-oasis/
 * Neither song was strongest effort; class war
 * http://www.thejournal.ie/britpop-blur-oasis-singles-charts-change-2262766-Aug2015/
 * Instigated by Food Records; major prominence in press ("silly season"); "British Heavyweight Championship"), Noel AIDS comment about Albarn and James; TOTP hosted by Jarvis Cocker; Alex James wears Oasis T-shirt; Blur (1997) saw end of Britpop(?); Noel and Albarn at Teenage Cancer Trust
 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wvk3s
 * http://www.masterton.co.uk/2015/08/the-battle-of-britpop-the-result/
 * http://uk.complex.com/music/2015/08/battle-of-britpop-oasis-blur-20-year-anniversary
 * Beatles vs Stones; Alex James wears Oasis T-shirt; Noel AIDS comment; Noel denies claim that they engineered it all (unneeded?); Oasis broke the States; Oasis won the war; The Magic Whip vs Chasing Yesterday
 * http://www.spin.com/2015/08/blur-vs-oasis-who-won-last-20-years/
 * Neither was their best work; Noel and Damon Teenage Cancer Trust (see link); WtSMG outsold TGE; Oasis broke the States;
 * http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/05/pop-lost-tribal-fever-liam-gallagher-new-blur-single
 * CH tells story of record executive (reference to Balzac, etc.); north-south divide; Britpop was reaction against American grunge, return to British 60s music, such as Smiths, Kinks or Who; Oasis won war; Blur reinvented themselves on Blur (1997)
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cK-gFIUijQYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ts-hAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=%22working+class+heroes+lead+art+school%22&source=bl&ots=xgT7gznaN5&sig=FLTI3H-APMTe50FEceuof_VwtkY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAWoVChMIoYCBpqKQyAIVwUAUCh33lgkR#v=onepage&q=%22working%20class%20heroes%20lead%20art%20school%22&f=false
 * Class war, Blur (1997) embraced grunge
 * http://www.independent.co.uk/news/blur-roll-over-rivals-to-hit-the-no-1-spot-1597218.html
 * Only third time that top two had been new entries; comparable to Beatles vs Stones in sales terms; Albarn statement on Sunday night
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HYUifI9rdsoC&pg=PA232&dq=%22battle+of+britpop%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22battle%20of%20britpop%22&f=false
 * CH video directed by Damien Hirst; class conflict; Balzac reference
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RewtBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT566&dq=%22battle+of+britpop%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22battle%20of%20britpop%22&f=false
 * Summer 1995 was peak of Britpop; Beatles and Stones comparison (who staggered release dates); class war; neither's best work; Oasis won the war; TGE received critical acclaim and won Best Album at Q Awards
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9hSNCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT5&dq=%22battle+of+britpop%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22battle%20of%20britpop%22&f=false
 * AIDS comment; Noel and Liam sing Parklife at BRITS, changing lyric to "Shitelife"; Be Here Now didn't live up to expectations
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UPmf0Kr8tR0C&pg=PA54&dq=%22battle+of+britpop%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22battle%20of%20britpop%22&f=false
 * Beatles vs Stones; Six O'clock News; both bands booked gigs across the street from each other, the police were forced to step in to prevent violence; Liam antagonizes Damon at NME Awards; AIDS comment
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-oBzTaoZciEC&pg=PA198&dq=%22battle+of+britpop%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22battle%20of%20britpop%22&f=false
 * Beatles vs Stones; Noel Gallagher comment about winning the war
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6xmq82qoq70C&pg=PA329&dq=%22roll+with+it%22+%22country+house%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22roll%20with%20it%22%20%22country%20house%22&f=false
 * During filming of the video, Coxon began to consider quitting the band


 * http://www.officialcharts.com/who-we-are/nineties/
 * History of UK Singles Chart during 90s, sales of singles increased by 40% during battle week

NME Blur special series 2014: or


 * https://web.archive.org/web/20050910153046/http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/culturevulture/archives/2005/09/02/the_importance_of_being_idols.html
 * https://web.archive.org/web/20060219042918/http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,,1546968,00.html
 * https://www.hotpress.com/music/on-this-day-in-1995-oasis-and-blur-face-off-in-the-battle-of-britpop-22824987
 * https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/ham-high-podcast-with-matt-everitt-1-6790280
 * https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/oasis/inside-britpops-biggest-battle-blur-vs-oasis/


 * http://slackr.uk/blurcentral/chousevsrollwithit.htm (unreliable)

Britpop

 * Britpop overview

The music genre Britpop had begun life in the early nineties, as a reaction to the American grunge that was dominating the UK charts at the time. Britpop was defined by its ... and the "Britishness" of its subject matter. Many bands originated in the Camden Town area of London, with early pioneers of the genre including bands such as Blur and Suede with their 1993 albums Modern Life is Rubbish and Suede respectively.

1995 is seen as the "Summer of Britpop"  Masterton Battle 20-11 Alex James: "the music scene in the nineties was two good bands, and a lot of crap bands copying them"

Alan McGee, Creation Records founder, [when?]: "Britpop was shite, Britpop was fucking awful apart from Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Britpop was terrible."

Blur–Oasis rivalry
At the start of 1995, Blur were seen to be the more successful of the two bands: their 1994 album Parklife had sold approximately three times more than Oasis's equivalent, Definitely Maybe, released four months later.
 * https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4RqsOMdfzcIC&pg=PA104&dq=%22battle+of+britpop%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22battle%20of%20britpop%22&f=false

The relationship between the bands began to sour at the 1995 NME Brat Awards on 24 January, where Blur won four awards and Oasis won three. Backstage, Albarn and Liam were asked to pose together with their awards for a photograph by Kevin Cummins that would form the cover of the 4 February issue of NME. While Damon accepted, Liam refused, and reportedly described Blur to Damon as being "full of shit". Ultimately, Cummins instead photographed Albarn with Noel Gallagher and Martin Rossiter, the lead singer of British indie band Gene. Liam was photographed with Coxon giving him a spontaneous kiss on the cheek.

Four weeks later, the 1995 Brit Awards took place at Alexandra Palace in London. Blur won four awards and Oasis won one. Despite the altercation at the NME Brat Awards, the relationship between the groups remained amicable: while collecting Best British Group award, Albarn declared "I think this should've been shared with Oasis", with Coxon adding: "Yeah, much love and respect to them". At a post-ceremony press conference, Albarn reiterated that he felt that the award "should have been a joint thing" with Oasis.

On 24 April 1995, "Some Might Say", the first single taken from Oasis's forthcoming second album—(What's the Story) Morning Glory?—was released. It topped the singles chart that Sunday, becoming the band's first number one in the UK. To celebrate, a party was thrown at the Mars Bar in Covent Garden, at which Albarn was in attendance. At the party, Liam Gallagher reportedly began taunting Albarn, chanting "We're number one, you're not" and "Number fookin' one" in his face. According to McGee, Albarn "got on one about it and decided to take Oasis on".

Prelude
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? was due for release on 2 October, and it was expected at Food Records that Oasis's next single, "Roll With It" would be made available a week or two before then. In actuality, "Roll With It" was instead given a release date of 14 August, six weeks earlier than anticipated, and one week ahead of the release date of the lead single from Blur's upcoming fourth studio album The Great Escape. Sensing an opportunity, Albarn asked Food Records to bring the date of their single forward by a week, to deliberately coincide with that of Oasis's. ["If we go after them then we compete with

The track "Country House" from The Great Escape was chosen to be the song that would compete with "Roll With It" in the chart. Despite reluctance from within the band for the song to be released as a single, Andy Ross felt that it was the track that most "sounded like a Number One single". He argued: "It's certainly not the best song they ever did, or probably even the best song on that album, but it served a purpose."

The follow-up to "Some Might Say", "Roll With It", was due to be released on 14 August, in anticipation for the release of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? seven weeks later. Meanwhile, Blur's next single, "Country House", was set for a release date of 21 August, ahead of the release of their fourth studio album The Great Escape in a month's time.

Noel Gallagher to Mark Lawson: "[The whole Blur vs. Oasis thing] was manufactured by the NME and people in Blur's camp, who moved their single to coincide with ours". Gallagher felt that everyone was blaming the situation on them, as they were seen as "media manipulators". He described that whole Blur–Oasis thing as being "the media's wet dream".

Damien Hirst directed the music video for Country House. His degree show was Blur's very first gig. Afterwards, he offered to manage the band. Keith Allen, Page 3 girls

NME cover

Barcode problem.

Battle
On Monday 14 August, "Country House" and "Roll With It" were released to the British public; both singles were available in CD, 7-inch and cassette tape formats. Crucially, Blur had released an extra CD format of "Country House" that featured a series of live recordings taken from a concert earlier in June. Sales of each format contributed towards the singles' chart positions. Both singles were sold for £2.99 each. [or was CH sold for £1.99 while RWI was £3.99?]

With the battle taking place in the late summer—referred to as the media's "silly season"—many news outlets latched onto the rivalry and reported on it. Coverage went as far as the national news, with the BBC Six O'Clock News broadcasting a report by Clive Myrie. Introducing the report, news anchor John Humphries described the battle as the "biggest chart war in thirty years", noting that "the music industry hasn't seen anything like it since The Beatles fought it out with The Rolling Stones in the Sixties". [Media claimed you could tell what class you were based on which you bought?]

By Tuesday morning, Oasis were edging ahead of Blur, with a regional split having emerged amongst consumers: record buyers in the north of England were preferring Oasis's record, while those in the Midlands chose Blur's. In London, the split was roughly equal.[Masterton ref] Speaking on Monday night, Noel Gallagher remarked: "Blur can't be taken seriously by anyone but 10-year-old kids." On Wednesday evening, BBC Two broadcast "Britpop Now", a 45-minute Late Show special featuring performances from Britpop acts such as Elastica, Menswear, Supergrass and Pulp. Presented by Albarn himself, "Britpop Now" was opened with a performance by Blur of their single. Oasis were not involved.

By the time Friday morning arrived, Blur had now pulled ahead of Oasis. 

In a break from tradition, Mark Goodier recounted the entire Top 40 before announcing number two. 

Blur 274,000, Oasis 216,000

1.7 million singles sold that week, highest in a decade

Only third time ever that top two singles were new entries.

TOTP was presented by Jarvis Cocker the week that both singles came out. He later claimed to have "no recollection of [it] whatsoever". Noel mimed to Liam's vocals. Alex James wore an Oasis T-shirt.[source]

Aftermath
Both singles remained in their respective positions the next week; the week after that, Michael Jackson climbed to number one with "You Are Not Alone".

TGE was released on ... and reached number one that week Sunday.

(WtS)MG sold 347,000 copies in its first week, becoming, at that time the third-fastest selling album ever. It outsold The Great Escape that autumn, and went on to be the biggest-selling album of the decade. McGee estimates that, worldwide, it outsold The Great Escape as much as fifteen times over. , it is the UK's fifth best-selling album of all time.

Both bands were initially down to play the same night (September 18) in Bournemouth. Did the police have to step in? Or did Oasis cancel their tour? "Battle of Bournemouth" (unreliable?)

At the 1996 Brits, Oasis went on to collect three awards, while Blur received none. Collecting the award for Best Album, Liam and Noel sang a rendition of "Parklife". Six months later, the band played to 250,000 across two nights at Knebworth, for which 2.6 million people had applied for tickets. Watching from the front row, Loaded editor James Brown turned to Alan McGee and remarked: "We've won [the music war]".

Legacy
"Peak of Britpop"[source]

Emma B: "You did have arguments with people over whether they were a Blur fan or an Oasis fan."

Alex James: "It was pantomime, darling. ... I think it captured the people's imaginations, didn't it, for a brief moment."

David Massey: "I don't think anyone cared about the fact that Blur won that particular battle becase the war was inevitably going to be won by Oasis."

Alex James: "Blur won the battle, Oasis won the war, then Blur went on to win the whole campaign."

Importance of Being Idle / Dare: ."

Albarn: The songs were "both shit".

Alan McGee's thoughts: wouldn't happen in 2015, "Did I think it was stupid? Yes. Do I think that it worked? Unbelievably. Am I glad it happened? Completely."

John Harris: "The Blur–Oasis war signified where this music had gone. If you imagine that happening seven years before, it never would. ... It just wouldn't have happened. It would've been see as being crass and kind of huckster-ish and all a bit of a swindle."

Liam calls Lonestreet Street song of the year => war/feud is over>

Tension rose between the groups, with Noel Gallagher of Oasis saying he wished that Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die" (he later apologised for his comments saying "AIDS is no laughing matter"). The feud between the two bands came into the mainstream in 1995 when Blur and Oasis released singles ("Country House" and "Roll With It" respectively) on the same day. Blur won by 58,000 sales: "Country House" sold 274,000 copies to 216,000 copies sold of "Roll with It".