The ROTTEN Issue: Battle for Britpop: From the Charts to the Pitch

WORDS BY NOLAN MAJEROWSKI, ART BY IAN HOFFMAN

Throughout the early 1990s britpop consistently topped the UK charts. Two bands, Oasis and Blur, stood atop the rest. Given their similarities, they were often compared to each other, competing for the same awards and attention. It's hard to know for sure whether the rivalry between the two bands began as a product of overblown news stories, but their distaste for one another was well known thanks to tabloids and news headlines. Infamous moments like Oasis changing Blur's lyrics from "Parklife" to "Shitelife" during an award speech caught the attention of millions, and helped mold the public sentiment that being a fan of one was being the enemy of the other.

Blur were said to have initially taken on the rivalry as more of a joke than the Gallagher brothers of Oasis, who, according to their manager, "actually f ** king hated them at the time." Even beyond the competitive music, Liam Gallagher despised Blur, frontman Damon Albarn. The true reason to which was largely a mystery until 2019, when Noel Gallagher confirmed that — at the time — Albarn had been involved with Liam's girlfriend. This made the Oasis frontman absolutely irate. He went in front of photographers and told Albarn to his face that his band was "full of sh*t," which prompted Blur guitarist Graham Coxon to give Liam a smooch on the cheek. A fitting interaction given the stars' differing attitudes toward the beef. After more jawing back and forth, it appeared that Blur started to get seriously fed up with Oasis and wanted to put them in their place.

In August of 1995, Oasis' single "Roll with it" was scheduled to release on the 14th, while Blur's "Country House" was set to debut on the 21st. Albarn was so sick of Liam that he moved the release date for "Country House" up one week, so that everyone could see who the best band was. The stage was set for the "Battle of Britpop." Whoever claimed the top spot on the charts would be the winner. 

Media extensively covered the competition leading up to the release date, and the event was so monumental, it is still widely considered the peak of the britpop genre. After a week, Blur was the winner, outselling Oasis by nearly sixty thousand copies, but the glory was short-lived.

Oasis won the next battle later in the year after their album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? sold nearly one million more records than Blur's The Great Escape and ended up winning the British Record Industry Trust (BRIT) award for best British album. Albarn has gone on to state that he dislikes The Great Escape due in part to his feeling that the band was trying too hard to repeat their previous success, yet the crushing loss to his rivals likely adds to his distaste for the album.

The success of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Appeared to go to Oasis' heads, as the month after the chart battle, Noel commented "the bass player and the singer I hope the pair of them catch AIDS and die because I fucking hate them two." He would go on to apologize for this statement, and a couple weeks later said "although not being a fan of their music, I wish both Damon and Alex a long and healthy life." Needless to say, tensions were still high after August. Blur had won the battle, but the war was not over.

The "Battle of Britpop" was the climax of the beef between the bands, but the event that happened a year later is perhaps even more interesting. In another clash of the titans, Damon Albarn and Liam Gallagher duked it out on the soccer pitch at Mile End Stadium in London as a part of England's Soccer Six Tournament.

The tagline for this tournament is "where the stars come out to play," apt given the list of names that have competed. Early participants included Jarvis Cocker, Emma Bunton [Baby Spice] and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai. Classic rock legends from Def Leppard and Iron Maiden have laced up their cleats to compete, and where were you in 2000 when Rod Stewart scored a hat trick? Even non-musician celebrities like Jason Statham, Jude Law and KSI have competed in Soccer Six in front of thousands of fans eager to see a new side of their favorite celebrities. I have always been jealous of "football" culture in the UK. The fans are more loyal to the local clubs they are born into than anything else, with a passion that no American sport can come close to rivaling. No matter how badly someone's favorite club performs, changing teams is not just frowned upon, it is sacreligious. There is no grace between fans of opposing teams, as every match is a battle with the same ferocity that constituted the conflict between Blur and Oasis.

With the bands, the battle was about the music, but even moreso, a battle between North and South. Oasis, representing Manchester in the North, were more earnest, and made anthems that resonated with the hardmen from the north. Blur, representing London in the South, were the sarcastic "pretty boys" who made music that was viewed as "artsy." This match was essentially Manchester City versus Chelsea, and it drew rabid fans that were foaming at the mouth to support their favorite band and their hometowns.

The soccer match drew a crowd of 6,000, well above the capacity of the stadium, which proved troublesome as many fans and streakers had to be held back by security after running onto the field. Antics continued throughout, especially from Liam, who stole the foam off of a reporter's microphone while being asked a question after the match and splashed beer toward a photographer.

Albarn and Blur ended up on top, winning with a score of 2-0 but ultimately failing to advance far in the tournament. They got their revenge the following year, with a championship title helped by Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, who scored three goals in the final.

The match was a sort of symbolic truce between the two singers, who put their egos aside to participate in a tournament that raised money for Nordhoff-Robbins music therapy, a method of using music as a way to engage special education students. The two were videoed shaking hands, which probably seemed impossible at the time, but something that a friendly game of soccer allowed them to do.

After this moment, the rivalry between Albarn and Gallagher was mostly just carried out by fans and media members who still wanted to grab attention, as the two had reportedly made up. This one match's legacy extends beyond the pitch. It shows that sometimes a rotten situation can be cured with a little bit of whimsy.