Blur vs Oasis

Part of the reason for Britpop's appeal to the mainstream media, in particular the tabloids, was the rivalry between Blur and Oasis, and everything that represented. Obviously, it gave good headlines to the newspapers, although sometimes things went too far, like when Noel said he wished Damon Albarn would die of Aids. Having such a rivalry at the heart of the Britpop scene certainly brought attention to the bands and their music and in turn boosted their sales. I thought at the time that a lot of it was done for publicity and nothing that has happened in the intervening years has made me think otherwise.

One of the most interesting things about the rivalry was that it represented a class war of sorts. Oasis were the tough, working class northerners, whereas Blur were the clever, middle class southerners. Oasis's ability to appeal to working class people definitely expanded the popularity of "indie" music and Britpop; without them Britpop wouldn't have been anywhere near as big. This disparity between the two bands and their appeal was noticeable to me a little bit at school, though not massively. Many people who liked Oasis were not people you would normally associate with listening to indie music and I found that a lot of people at my school on the Blur side were middle class girls. I would add though that a lot of kids listening to Britpop music at the time seemed to like both bands and weren't that bothered by the rivalry as you would perceive it from the media. The class war also had a somewhat negative effect on Blur, or at least on the perception of Blur. There was a period post-"Parklife" when Blur were viewed by many as middle class "fakers", profiting from and patronising working class culture. This was something that Oasis definitely played upon, declaring themselves as "real" working class, and decrying Blur's attempts at understanding anything of "their" world.

Listening back to the music of Blur and Oasis, as I have over the past couple of weeks, it is interesting to hear how the bands evolved over time. Funnily, both bands changed almost according to cliche: Oasis got more and more retro as they went along, almost defiantly staying "true" to their rock 'n' roll roots, whereas Blur were creatively restless, changing their sound and approach with almost every album. That's not to say that Blur's music was necessarily any better, just because they had a more expansive sound doesn't mean they had better songs.

Overall, I would call the rivalry between them a draw, it it's possible to quantify in such a way, even if the general consensus of opinion at the time was that Oasis won, though I think that has changed a bit in recent years, certainly amongst music writers who now seem to side with Damon Albarn. I would say that Oasis's "Definitely Maybe" was the best album either of the bands made, but I think that Oasis also had a bigger creative slump (on their last few albums) than Blur ever had. Ultimately, both bands made a couple of very good albums and a bunch of mediocre-to-terrible albums. Perhaps the best way to enjoy their music now would be to get the two-disc best-ofs that both bands have released since their demises, "Midlife" by Blur, and "Time Flies" by Oasis.