The Battle of Britpop | |||||||
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![]() Cover of the 12 August 1995 issue of NME advertising the battle between Oasis and Blur | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() Blur |
Oasis | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Damon Albarn | Noel Gallagher | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Graham Coxon Alex James Dave Rowntree |
Liam Gallagher Paul Arthurs Paul McGuigan Alan White |
The Battle of Britpop is the unofficial title given to the 1995 singles chart battle between two popular Britpop groups, Blur and Oasis.[1] [2] The two bands had had a long-running feud with each side expressing their opinions of the other. On one occasion Noel Gallagher of Oasis said he wished that Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die" (he later apologised for his comments).[3] The feud between the two bands came into the mainstream in 1995 when Blur and Oasis released singles ("Country House" and "Roll With It" respectively) on the same day. Blur won the battle by 58,000 sales: "Country House" sold 274,000 copies to 216,000 copies sold of "Roll with It".[4]