#2 – Oasis vs Blur
Oasis and Blur were the two main bands at the forefront of British Music as it dominated the world stage during the mid to late 90’s. The distinctly different backgrounds of the two bands were latched onto by the media who pitted the bands against each other as complete opposites: Blur were public school boys and University graduates from the South headed by Damon Albarn; and Oasis were a loud and ‘mad for it’ band from a council estate in Manchester led by the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel.
The first conflict took place at a party with both bands present. Liam approached Damon and aggressively told him that Oasis would be number 1. A war of words continued as the bands both released singles on the same day in August 1995. Blur beat Oasis to the number 1 slot with ‘Country House’ selling 58,000 more copies than ‘Roll With It.’ Following the result, Noel harshly said he wished Blur would “catch AIDS and die.” He later apologized for the comment.