Welcome to the inaugural column of “British Invasion.” In this column, I will discuss moments in British music history. For my first rodeo, I’ll talk about the “Battle” of Britpop that went down during the week of Aug. 14, 1995, since Oasis, one of the bands involved, is currently touring. To celebrate, I’ll talk about the one time they lost the U.K. No. 1 spot to a song about herbal baths.
First, some background on the two main protagonists of this story. Blur, fronted by Damon Albarn, released their third album “Parklife” the year before, which was met with resounding success thanks to songs like the bi anthem “Girls and Boys,” “Parklife,” which has verses about everyday people and the punky “Bank Holiday,” which is my personal favorite off here.
This album marked the beginning of the “Britpop” genre, as bands like Blur, Suede and Pulp took influence from British guitar pop of the 1960s-1970s and included lyrics commentating on British culture and society of the time.
Oasis, spearheaded by the infamous Gallagher Brothers, was on the other side of the canyon. There was Liam, the band’s cocky, arrogant frontman/lead singer, and Noel, the main songwriter of Oasis, who was also cocky and arrogant. The public loved Oasis, not just for the brash egos of the Gallagher brothers, but for all the stadium rock bangers – do “Supersonic,” “Live Forever” and “Cigarettes and Alcohol” ring a bell? They were all compiled on their 1994 debut album, “Definitely Maybe,” which has the distinction of being the fastest-selling album in the U.K. at the time.
Heading into 1995, Blur and Oasis were the biggest bands in the U.K. and each other’s biggest competitors. When Oasis went to No. 1 with “Some Might Say,” Albarn went to a label party to congratulate Oasis on their achievement, only to be mocked by a victorious Liam Gallagher. It was an insult Albarn took to heart, and it eroded any friendly feelings he had for them earlier.
Outside of each other, both bands were also under massive scrutiny from media and fans alike for their respective follow-ups. As both bands geared up to release advance singles for their albums in the fall, the media attention was so fierce, NME said, “Yes, in a week where news leaked that Saddam Hussein was preparing nuclear weapons, everyday folks were still getting slaughtered in Bosnia and Mike Tyson was making his comeback, tabloids and broadsheets alike went Britpop crazy.” But what singles would each band bring into the fray?
Blur’s challenger was “Country House,” a novelty song about Blur’s former manager that sounded like a Britpop standard. Oasis’ weapon of choice was “Roll with It,” described by Noel Gallagher as “simple rock ’n’ roll tune.” With the power of hindsight, these were not the best songs each band had to offer.
“Country House” was slated to be released on Aug. 21, 1995, but those plans went awry once Blur’s management learned that Oasis was pushing up the release date for their new single to the week before theirs. This wouldn’t fare well for Blur, as Oasis was likely to go to number one again and keep it the next week thanks to increased exposure, harming Blur’s chances of getting their first chart-topping single. In response, Albarn decided to push the release date up to go head-to-head with Oasis, thinking Blur would have a better chance at reaching the number one spot.
When this became public, the media hyped up a “Battle of Britpop” between both bands, believing that whoever was Top of the Pops the next week would be the undisputed kings of the Britpop genre. It also gave editors a reason to put Oasis/Blur in their headlines, in the hopes fans or music enthusiasts would pick it up. It’s half the reason the title of this column has quotes around “battle”: this was a manufactured sensation that both bands didn’t partake in. Because while they had singles released on the same day, the albums were still released during separate months.
So, who became No. 1? With 274,000 copies sold, the winner was “Country House,” by Blur! Their Top of the Pops performance was the victory lap, as when Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker introduced them, he said “They said it’s the taking part that’s important, not the winning, they’re gonna want a civil war but tonight there’s no denying: Blur are Top of the Pops!” Blur’s Bassist Alex James wore an Oasis t-shirt to antagonize them even further.
But while Blur had won the battle, Oasis won the war. The highly anticipated “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” dropped on Oct. 2 and sold like hot cakes worldwide. Any album that contains “Don’t Look Back in Anger” deserves to do so — it’s the magnum opus of Oasis’ career. Blur dropped “The Great Escape” on Sept. 11, and it sold well in U.K. but not anywhere else, nor at the same scale as what Oasis would do a month later.
The ultimate loser in this may be Britpop as a genre, as this represented the peak of the genre. Oasis continued in their maximalist, stadium rock ways with their third album “Be Here Now” in 1997, but it dropped like a rock compared to Oasis’ first two projects. People didn’t really like the eight-minute Beatlesque pastiches and Liam singing for world peace. Blur would eventually move away from their British influences and into more American ones when they released their self-titled in 1997. Other genres also got popular as well, as bubblegum pop soon came into vogue during the late 90’s.
It’s not like the Britpop mainstays of yesteryear still aren’t around. Oasis is on a stadium tour right now, Pulp was at Glastonbury last June and Blur released a new album two years ago. For all we know, we might have round two on our hands soon.