In the mid-1990s United Kingdom, alternative rock was the most famous music genre while the United States was enjoying grunge music. This cultural and musical movement was referred to as ‘Britpop,‘ and it was best represented by four bands, with Blur and Oasis being the main ones that gave life to the genre.
Although many Britpop artists disbanded or moved towards new genres during the late 1990s, the legendary chart battle between Oasis and Blur, known as ‘The Battle of Britpop,’ in 1995 was the biggest highlight of the movement. Let’s see who won this music battle and which one was named as the greatest Britpop band of all time.
Was Oasis Or Blur The Biggest Britpop Band Of All Time?
The rivalry between two British bands began when they both started to gain recognition in the mid-1990s, with Blur receiving four awards during the 1995 Brit Awards and Oasis having a single named ‘Some Might Say’ that reached No. 1 on the charts. It was pretty clear that one of them could be the greatest Britpop band and the competition got very heated.
Both Oasis and Blur had their albums scheduled for a release date in Autumn of 1995 with one month apart. Blur’s fourth studio album, ‘The Great Escape,‘ would drop in September and Oasis’ second studio album, ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?‘ in October.
Furthermore, two bands set their singles, ‘Roll With It‘ and ‘Country House,’ to be released on the same date. While many fans believed that Oasis would probably win this duel, Blue came victorious by selling 58,000 copies. Later, the band performed a concert to celebrate their victory, and bassist Alex James even wore an Oasis t-shirt, making fun of the whole situation.
This victory wasn’t the end since the records were just around the corner. When both bands released their albums, Blur’s ‘The Great Escape’ hit No. 1 as expected. However, it didn’t receive the same recognition as Oasis’s ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ in the following years since it has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
In addition to this, ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ became the UK’s No. 5 best-selling album and No. 3 best-selling studio album of all time and is currently the No. 4 longest-charting studio album in the UK. Talk about success. In the 1995 Brit Awards, Oasis won three awards, leaving Blur with nothing. In their acceptance speech, the band made fun of their rival by singing one of their songs, ‘All the people, all the people, so many people…’
There’s no doubt that Oasis enjoyed winning the battle of Britpop, sweeping all the awards and charts as well as expanding their music to the United States in the following years. Although both bands are inactive now, they had their prime time competing for one another, even if it was a short time.
