Battle of the Britpop

Our UK marketer Charlotte Rose weighs in on the eternal Britpop question.

blur2-1000x600Calling all Britpop fans! This summer will see the release of the much anticipated 33 1/3 volume on Oasis’ Definitely Maybe, (stay tuned, people, it’s a good ‘un) an album which was originally released in 1994. That’s TWENTY years ago. Feeling old? Me too.

Being a Brit of a certain age, I’m terribly excited about this, and in my flurry of excitement started reminiscing about Oasis, which in turn got me thinking about Blur and the battle of the Britpop that ensued between them (don’t pretend you didn’t have a side. Everybody did).

In 1995, at the peak of their popularity and at a time when TOTP [Ed Note: for the unitiated, this is UK pop TV show Top of the Pops] and the Top 40 Singles Chart meant something (like, really meant something), Blur’s and Oasis’ respective record labels decided it would be fun to release their new singles on the same day. Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition, right? Cue battle of the bands. Blur V Oasis. North V South. “Country House” V “Roll With It.”

The fact that Blur pipped Oasis to the number one post (by 58,000 in case you’re interested) is neither here nor there.

Twenty years on, fourteen studio albums, two break ups and one reunion later, allegiances remain and the question still remains…team Blur or team Oasis?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuh1WE-RVw]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADarLbF7Nsk]

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