OASIS vs BLUR: The Battle Of Britpop & Beyond (and how it all started)
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- Опубліковано 3 січ 2023
- Join me to retrace the entire story of Oasis' biggest band rivalry, how it all started, the Battle of Britpop, and what happened in the end.
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Many thanks, JH.
![Woo-hoo!: How Blur Mocked Grunge & Destroyed Britpop ["Song 2"] | New British Canon](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q29G7YDCq9Y/mqdefault.jpg)
The Roll With It video wasn’t a Top of the Pops recording. It was shot in a location behind Kings Cross station. I know because I was in it. It was a great afternoon, the band played live and hung out and were on top form. Great video by the way.
Lucky you, it was a great song.
I loved Parklife great album
I wasn't into oasis atall.
My friend said he had 2 tickets for oasis 95 earls court I said I'm not interested.
He come back a week later saying come on go with me.
I said ok.
Best concert I've ever been to.
Still love blur though
But oasis at that point were on another level live.
I'd kill to see them at earls court 95' haha
I always do things like saying if this album and that album were combined. So imagine if instead of releasing The Great Escape in 95, Blur released their album 1 year later and added the tracks Beetlebum and Song 2 on it, which may have been possible if they were recorded around that time. I honestly think that would have matched up with Oasis at that time. Which would have then made Oasis release a better 3rd album than they did, which was still a good album. Oasis were just able to get 5 or more top songs on one album which makes people go crazy. Although they obviously did that twice in a row. But Damon Albarn was always a more confident operator that Liam and Noel so they did have some swagger and would have a great chance of evening up the battle if that 96 scenario happened😄
Wish you sold them to me 😂, but funny thing is when I saw them at knebworth I lost my ticket on the day, after a panic mr middle age ticket tout my his presence and sold my another hurray.
Father Ted even mentioned it, that's how big the rivalry got! Fr Damo asked Dougal "Owayyssis" or "Bloor", and freaked when he was told Blur 😂 Great vid!
No way OSW lol. Good UA-cam channels recognize good UA-cam channels I suppose
What bar is Liam Gallagher?
Remember this era like it was yesterday - 1995/1996 were my last two years at school and this is all we listened to….. Oasis/Blur/OCS/Charlatans/Cast/Sheds. They were the days 👌🏻
James you're probably the best story-teller of Oasis. The huge amount of research you've done on behalf of the band is bloody insane! You really deserve that title of "Official Oasis Fan", fair to say ; )
If its Oasis vs Blur then you have to concede that Oasis won. If its Noel vs Damon, then you have to concede that Damon won. The Gorillaz are as big as Blur in their own way, and Damon has reached people who don't even know or care about Britpop. At the end of it, both bands were brilliant and both songwriters are capable of genius.
@digital dirtbag I disagree that Blur and Oasis aren't relevent today, but you have a point when you say the Gorillaz could arguably be considered bigger than Blur. The problem is that Blur's massive popularity was before spotify and youtube and the Gorillaz' popularity began as records sales and chart placement were become less relevant, so there's no way to compare the two that isn't apples to oranges.
Yeah I think Gorlillaz’ first album sold 5 times as many copies in America than blur’s entire back catalogue had by that point.
@@justineddy5306 in terms of cash it’s unarguable that Gorillaz are bigger than blur. Blur had much more cultural impact though in my opinion - Gorillaz have never been the most popular and influential band in the country for example.
Even if I was living in another country and only 13 at the time I was following everything as I could. Magazines, rented cds, television, music videos. I was obsessed. Good times indeed. Well done, once again James: your channel became one of my favourites for sure.
I wasnt even born back then lmaoo
I didn't think this subject, which has been coverred to death, needed another video. But as usual didn't disappoint :). I think I see just one detail missing, and maybe you just didn't think it was necessary. There's an interview of Graham Coxon from the past 10 years, if I'm not mistaken, where he says how crap he felt after Blur's Top of the Pops appearance to celebrate their chart victory. I think he said he tried to jump out of a window after drinking too much, because this whole thing blew up too much and was distracting from the music making. I thought this was also quite an interesting piece of information about what was going on behind the scene. Cheers!
I remember Coxon threatening to jump out a window too - he was a very odd, spiky wee character though and was very publicly nasty about Damon when he left the band in the early 2000s.
Another intersting bit is how complimentary Noel was of Graham's guitar playing.
Wasn't that incident with Graham at a record company party that they put on for Blur??
Yes, I have my finals coming up next week but this just matters more 😂 Seriously as a gen z who became a massive Oasis fan last year I find the videos James makes incredibly insightful and entartaining. He is such a good stroyteller. They make me wish that I was a teenager in the 90s though.
I grew up in the 90s, imagine having no mobile phone or internet..... Was great for indie music but you couldn't just go on UA-cam or Spotify you had to buy the albums or at least go to the library. Tough times ;)
@@thesingingaccountant1 You're probably right. Esspecialy considering that I live far away from the UK. If I didn't have Spotify, UA-cam etc. I wouldn't even hear Wonderwall in my entire lifetime... Also thanks for making me feel better :)
@@thesingingaccountant1 Getting rid of the mobile internet would improve real life tremendously.
I was born 1960. No question the net is marvellous, but I notice people hardly interact any more. All stuck in their phones. Me too.
It’s been a terrible change as it’s wrecking human interactions and it’s being used to control us. Just watch. Very soon we will lose all the freedoms which make life worth living.
@@GT380man maybe but then we are communicating with people with similar likes such as oasis from all over the world. Can find out about any topic, read any book, listen to any album. Plus trying to contact people before mobile phones was a pain - I guess there's pros and cons
@@cansueceklc7745 You would definitely have heard Wonderwall wherever you lived in the world. MTV, VH1 and other music channels blasted band music 24/7 and there were a lot more music shows on regular television channels before UA-cam. Oasis were globally successful.
Who remembers Father Damo the laddish priest asking Dougal in Father Ted: "Who do ya prefer - Oasis or Blur?" Dougal replied "Blur", and when Damo reacted furiously, Dougal was all "I mean Oasis! Oasis!"
Oasis featured lots in 90s on classic programmes. Like Alan Partridge too. Shows how big they’d become.
@@BarnsleyMatchdayDrinkers Harry Enfield's Kevin & Perry sketch where Perry comes back with a Liam-esque swagger after a weekend in Manchester is a classic. The Fast Show did a sketch too where an Oasis-type band played their record company boss a song completely slating him - it was an original tune, and actually really good..!
@@awkwardhoorsthat was amazing. And Perry was carrying a bottle of Oasis the drink haha
Liam knows full well the story, he just doesn’t want to relive it. I don’t blame him, this is over 25 years ago!
Great video and great channel.
I can add an interesting bit to the 1994 timeline. I remember going to the 1994 Blur gig at Manchester Academy and Liam was in the crowd. A quick check shows the date of this as 19th May 1994 which puts it right in the middle of the first rumblings of the Blur / Oasis tension. I would guess it had to be before the Good Mixer incident with Graham Coxon otherwise I very much doubt Liam would have come the gig, but the timelines must have only been a matter of days apart. So Liam was definitely checking out Blur in May 1994 before they met in person.
If you’re wondering how I can be so sure Liam was at this gig it’s because Peter Hook was there as well and I managed to briefly speak to him, so I remember the night very clearly.
Was Liam just in the crowd with everyone else? Or in like a VIP area? Very interesting!
@@mchoneyofficial4761 He was just in the crowd and seemed to be with a load of his regular Manchester mates. Oasis were still pretty up and coming then even in Manchester so he didn't seem to be attracting too much attention.
I spotted him at the end of the gig when everyone was leaving.
@@officiallyjhf That's so cool, would love to have been there! Such a rgeat memory to have just before everything exploded!
@@officiallyjhf I wonder if he was with Big 'Un and the other people who he was knocking around with in Manchester at the beginnings of Oasis. The bloke he was working for, doing the car washing for the Manchester United players in 1992/93.
@@mrkipling2201 It could well have been. From what I remember they certainly weren't your typical showbiz types 😀.
34:27 Liam winning “most desirable human being” is fucking hilarious
You're a great story teller. I really enjoy these video essays of yours; thank you.
Bloody love your channel, the information you give is fantastic. Well done for all your research & time spent. Best of luck for 2023 👍
It’s amazing how stories like this are still being uncovered. Great video, James.
One of the best channels on UA-cam. Thanks a lot, James!!!
Even though I’ve heard of the battle of Brit pop several times it was awesome to hear even more in depth moments. Great video!
Excellent video once again. Very interesting. I think both bands helped each other to get better; nothing is more motivating than rivalry!
Brilliant video man, thanks for the time and effort to put all that togeather.
Great storytelling. Remember buying both singles at Woolworths in Sidcup. I miss these heady days.
THANK YOU !!!!! Since I recorded that interview on TV with Noel wearing that Quoasis t-shirt (I was eleven, and Oasis was the main part of my life !) I always wondered where this came from. Didn't have a clue, not that I really bothered to look it up, but I suppose you wouldn't have found the answer on the internet before the 2010's. But it popped into my mind from time to time, and I always felt frustrated not knowing what that meant. You're the best Oasis nerd out there James, keep on going !
Loved this video, James. Took me back to the feverish heights of Britpop and I also learnt something new. Super research sir!
Brilliant video! Massive blur fan since '93. Loved MLIR and Parklife. Saw oasis a few times back in the '90s loved their debut too. I think it was really all down to Damon's competitiveness (which he still has to this day) which caused the falling out. 1995 was such a mad year. I'm so glad I lived through it! Both bands are fantastic!
This is the one we’ve all been waiting for!
I always remembered Noel saying he used to sit in for the Inspirals in interviews, I could never find any proof though. As always, James doing the hard work so we don't have too.
Heard a clip once - think Clint boon played it on his radio show
@@tvgcmma9215 I should really listen to more of Clint, always enjoy his interview clips on here.
Going to London July 4 week - got tix for Blur at Wembley - Noel’s album drops a month before shooting across the pond from NY - hoping for the ultimate two-fer! Great video - love ‘em all - keep it up man!
And me..👍
This is another brilliant video James! I would love to see a breakdown of Headshrinker sometime, if you're feeling up to. Cheers!
This was interesting to watch and a lot research has gone into it. Well done.
Class content as always James. I learn something new every time. Thanks so much for all your hard work.
Not being cheeky at all, but one piece of content that I think would be good to see would be a “why did beady eye not stick?“
Forgive me if you’ve already done something similar. I’ve watched most of your content but I’m prone to forgetting.
I always felt that this whole thing was more Liam/Noel vs. Damon/Alex than Oasis vs. Blur. Even in that infamous "catch AIDS and die" interview, Noel said nice things about Graham and Dave. Deep down, both sides probably knew it was childish, because even at the height of the rivalry they were okay with both being involved in the "War Child" charity compilation. In that interview with Dermot O'Leary, Noel said something interesting about a mixture of egos, cocaine and all of them moving in the same circles being the prime reasons for the rivalry, and that made sense to me. In every local music scene, there are always petty rivalries between people who see each other at the same clubs every weekend, and many of them have to do with personal grudges and jealousy. Amplify that with fame, cocaine, Top 10 hits and a tabloid press willing to milk it dry, and you get something like the Battle of the Bands.
Two very interesting things in this great summary: I remember Lisa Moorish had a minor hit in 1996 with "Mr. Friday Night", but I never knew she was involved with both Liam and Damon. And I'm really wondering which European bands Noel was referring to when he described them as "surreal" at the festival wearing the Quoasis shirt...
Yeah Liam has a kid with moorish she’s mollys mother she’s also got a kid with Pete Doherty aswell I think loves a rock cock does moorish 😂😂
Finalley Thank You, I have been waiting for this video
Bravo! Another fantastic video! Your channel is the Best!
Great video James, really enjoyed it
Wow. That was really good man. Great investigative work & really in depth. You just got another Sub & love from NZ.
Thanks and welcome
@@JamesHargreavesGuitar Noel is single again!!!!Maybe we will get a reunion.....🤣🤣🤣I hope so.....
James, every of your stories about Oasis and the whole BritPop music is a pure brilliant. Move on!
Ah, fantastic hearing all that....brings back some fantastic memories. Wish it was 1996 again. Thanks James.
Jomes a love your channel !!!! Man keep up the good work ❤❤❤
“Babe, not now, new James Hargreaves Oasis video just dropped” 🤣
Great work as always James! Cheers from the states. 🎉
Love your content James !!
Great video James. You should do one on Ritchey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers
A great video as usual James. Only disagree with one point: “Damon looking very photogenic and handsome and Liam looking like an absolute muppet”. In my opinion the camera can’t take a bad picture of Liam - he’s like Marilyn Monroe in that regard lol
Hello James, i come from Hong Kong and i am also a big Oasis fan, great work mate~
Awesome as always James. 👍👊🇳🇿
This should be watch on school. This is history. Thank you James.
Love your channel James, just a heads up pal, nice woon……..keep ‘em coomin.
Wicka loov Mahn!💪
As always brilliant video
I really wish you would have also gone over Blur's performance of Country House on Top of the Pops and Graham's depression at the time.
And I though I knew where it all began, how foolish of me...
This is amazing piece of knowledge. Hats off to Mr.Hargreaves.
Absolutely love you Mister !!!
I can remember this being on the news back in the day when I was at school! Great publicity for all around - I bought country house I think but oasis album was far better than great escape
same here and your right about the albums but i still preffer blur over oasis
I was hoping you'd talk about that 91 interview seems as if not enough people know about that
This is great! Thanks bro.
I remember it all but not the timeline- nice video man.
yes - another James H special..love it
9:48 Guigsy says something, truly groundbreaking work James!
Another thoroughly entertaining video.
What a great time to be a teenager, I loved it all!
I was team Oasis but never had anything against Blur, they've banged out some amazing songs, even if I find their albums a bit spotty. I just preferred Oasis's music and identified more closely with them.
Love your videos man. I think it would be cool if you do a video that talks about Oasis' relationship with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. That would be interesting; especially with the comments George made about Liam at the time.
Great video, recently watched the Robbie one too.
In my more simplistic mind I can't help but imagine Liam with an Andy Capp style fight cloud forming around him and Damon/Robbie once a dispute re a lady happens, Noel gets dragged into it and eventually Liam rolls out first and makes up with Damon/Robbie, leaving Noel in the fracas a bit longer 😅
I remember another fallout that happened as a result of Noel's AIDS comment - Miranda Sawyer, the original Observer interviewer, spoke to Melody Maker about it and called Noel a dick, so when Melody Maker quoted her on this she wrote into their letters page accusing their staff of lying about her words, of being a big lads club and weirdly accused their sales as having a case of 'the bends' - probably thinking it was a cool phrase to use since Radiohead's The Bends was released earlier that year. The Melody Maker journalist (can't remember his name now) then replied to her letter telling her he had their entire interview on tape and was could prove he had not misquoted her, then ended his reply with "if you are accusing me of being a liar then I'll see you in court for defamation of character". Sawyer went very quiet after that made no further reply. Her piece in the Observer with Noel's original quote though was just one giant hit piece though - I remember the tone of the whole feature was one of total disdain of Noel, Oasis and everything they stood for.
James nice vídeo, but there was a victory by Blur that you didn’t mentirinha moon: the success of “Song Two” in America. Thanks for another great video.
"Mentirinha moon"
@@CasperLD “mentioned” 🤣🤣🤣
Erm Morning Glory sold millions of copies in America, going Top 5, and going 4 times platinum in no time. Wondewall was a smash Top Ten hit in the US, much bigger than Song 2. Oasis also sold 10m albums in America.
this is the greatest video i’ve ever seen
Brilliant stuff 👏 👌
Great video m8.
I remember it well. I always preferred Blur but liked both bands.
I miss the 90’s it was such a rich period for art in many different areas. I don’t think it will ever be emulated. I’m glad I lived through it in my teens and twenties.
According to Noel, the reason why Be Here Now got 5 star reviews from all the journalists and music papers, is due to Morning Glory getting very lukewarm reviews. Just goes to show how much music journalists knew back then!!!
James, what are your top 5 blur songs?
Great video mate, really indepth and ik your a big oasis fan but it didnt come across as biased or anything just told the facts. Ill always be a blur fan just because they made more great albums, after be here now with oasis i just kinda detest it. i hope you do a video on the oasis vs bloc party beef. Bloc party are my second fav artist and that beef was so funny and would like to hear your thoughts on the band too
Maybe a cool idea for a video James, would be to imagine if Noel hadn’t wasted loads of songs as b-sides, try and work out what their third album could’ve been.. and how good it could’ve been… a few from be here now with acquiesce master plan etc… just a thought mate if you were short of ideas
There's a similar photo from probably the same shoot, with a depressed looking Liam and an creepy smiling Damon behind him, both holding up their awards.
Damon and Liam were like Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant. It was hard to pick a side. But Graham Coxon is a guitar god and nobody can touch him.
You also had noel gallagher and his songwriter and guitar playing
Which one was Hulk Hogan and which one was Andre the Giant?? Unfortunately the Silverdome is no longer there. ....
Love your channel
You are amazing bro
Amazing video. It would be cool to make a video of you talking about other bands like blur, manic street preachers, stereophonics, Travis, Coldplay, the verve and Radiohead / if you’re a fan of the mentioned bands, you can talk about their history and what favorite albums and songs from them that you like. Big fan of you.
The video that introduced me to you was the „Oasis And Robbie Williams“ video. Keep it up. ❤
Noel made the AID's comment tongue in cheek after being asked by a reporter what he thought of Blur for the 100th time. I remember an interview he did saying he said it sarcastically cos he was tired of being asked it and that it looked worse written down.
Thanks for the content, James. I was not a big fan of oasis back in the day but I liked a good chunk of their b sides. I really disliked blur but I'm a northerner so that was a given.
It's great to the insights to what seemed so important to our culture back then.
I was always a blur fan (grew up down south, GC was my guitar hero, and was I hard into music and blur are a much more musical band), but I grew to love some of the oasis stuff too. Slide away is probably in my top 10 combined bloasis - their bigger more famous ones I don’t like so much, many of them really do just sound like a Beatles tribute band from a parallel universe. I liked that Gorillaz concert with GC, NG and Damon in it - unimaginable!
Love your videos
I went to a screening of supersonic and McGee gave a Q&A after it and my mate asked what started it all and he said Damon slept with liams misses after the wtsmg launch party. 👍🏻
Learnt all my guitars skills from a tab end noel threw on floor back in day, I stole Liam voice that's when he sounded like a duck for a bit, iv combined these with blurs haircuts and ended up with 0 bookings? Any tips? Thank you for the videos iv enjoyed lots of them ❤
I clicked so fast lol this is gonna be good 👍
Great vid
.👍👍
Would you ever consider doing a video on the Manics ?
Bro you are amazing
There is much of the britpop film I’ve not seen - is it an extended edition?
Well, i like both bands, and i'm gonna be honest, i'd rather listen to Blur than Oasis for some personal reasons and my own musical taste, but i will not deny it, Oasis was a cultural impact in the UK music history and music in general, and i respect their works as a band.
But, it wouldn't be a bad idea if you make a video explaining the "second chance" Damon Albarn had in the world of music after 1998 with Gorillaz after Blur and all the chaos with the battle of Britpop in the mid 90's, it would be an interesting topic, great video btw. :)
this brought back some good memories. I always liked both bands and found the whole thing just entertaining. I was 15 at the time and at a good age and in an era when new music still meant something. It was a fun time. We used to get the NME and all sit round it slagging off the bands haircuts. But blur and oasis usually got a pass for the most part. Its sad that young people today live in such a boring era. Sad for me too.
mega channel this absolutely quality
I remember Blur playing a big outdoor show at the Mile End athletics ground, just across the road from where I used to work. First half of 1995 wasn't it?? It's quite a weird venue for a show, even back then, I thought.
Howdy! Im new to your channel, its great by the way. I just had a request if possible. As far as ive seen, and again, im new so i could be wrong, but I havent seen anything about Liams fued with Mark Lenegan. If im offbase here please point me in the right direction. Im interested in the events concerning the fued as accounted via Liams point of view. As ive only ever heard of it but through the accounts of Mark, R.I.P. Something tells me it may vary quite bit than that of Liams. Anyhow, again love the channel, brother, thanks again!
Great video James but I believe that Led Zep hold the record for most ticket demands with 20,OOO,OOO for their O2 gig in 2007 😉
Brilliant!!👍
As Alex James once put it:
Blur won the battle (single).
Oasis won the war (album).
Blur won the campaign (career output).
💯
Blur has like 1 and a half good songs Oasis has like 40 all time great songs
Blur even with gorillas is still in second place for career output
Yay new oasis video!
Please can I request a video on Suede
Are you going to do a video on Pete Doherty now? That would be cool!
_"ah the barcodes didn't work"_ sounded like a convenient mishap to save face. I'm a massive Oasis fan, I don't know why they brought out Roll With It to face Blur. It's just _alright_ , with the same friggin note played over and over during the verse. WONDERWALL, an iconic and enduring song that every guitar player knows, could've beat Country House. Roll With It never stood a chance, CH is an absolute banger.
Noel is dissing Damon, and then says he’s defensive! Haha, what a laugh
IKR
What a time to be alive. So grateful i grew up in the last moment in time before the internet ruined everything.
Brought back many happy memories watching this. God I’m sad :( brilliant though. Cheers