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(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Covers)<\/p>\n
Tue 10 February 2026 9:00, UK <\/p>\n
The summer of 1995 represented the very heights of the Britpop<\/a> movement. The streets of Britain were awash with music fans revelling in the liberated madness of the times, largely spearheaded by two bands whose rivalry became the heavyweight bout that defined this exciting new era.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a byproduct of the unbridled Britpop excitement, Oasis and Blur were pitted against each other, representing some form of North and South divide through music<\/a>. And while art is largely devoid of competition, the labels intervened and brought a definitive meeting place for these two behemoths to finally lock horns and put this squabble to bed.<\/p>\n During the long, hot summer of 1995, both bands released singles on August 14th to finally see who would take the throne of chart supremacy. Rather surprisingly, it was Blur, who history has shown won the battle, but not the war<\/a>. But nevertheless, it was an exciting moment for British culture, if not pathetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was ridiculous, really,\u201d Noel Gallagher reflected in 2019. \u201cThat whole part of the Britpop thing was so unnecessary. This was gonna be our single from the record, then some people from Creation said Blur are putting a single out on that date too, so we decided to put it back a week. Then they called and said they\u2019ve put theirs back a week too.\u201d<\/p>\n But Albarn has since explained exactly why he chose to go toe-to-toe with the Manchester band. Watching their rise to popularity and noticing it was somewhat at the expense of him and his own band, he decided to fight back. He explained, \u201cNoel Gallagher used to take the piss out of me constantly, and it really, really hurt at the time. Oasis were like the bullies I had to put up with at school.\u201d<\/p>\n It was probably right that Albarn and Blur ended up winning the battle, for it likely gave him some sort of personal closure. But Gallagher further elaborated on his discontentment with the entire thing, providing something of a backhanded compliment to Albarn and his song \u2018Girls & Boys\u2019.<\/p>\n