The 90’s, Britpop, and its influence on modern music

The 90s discovered a whole new genre of music. It was the decade of grunge, alternative rock, and Britpop. Britpop has had a major influence on modern British music and culture, specifically lyrics, storylines of songs, and artist’s use of guitars in their music. For example, bands like Pulp, Oasis, and Blur revamped the use of guitars, making them the main sound in their songs while also utilising catchy choruses which became very popular with the public. This caused the band's songs to reach number 1 multiple times. Britpop music techniques evidently influenced modern indie rock artists such as the Arctic Monkeys who kept the guitar-based music trend alive. We can also see that the Arctic Monkeys were influenced by Britpop lyricism. Britpop bands would constantly talk about day-to-day life in their music which influenced Alex Turner - Arctic Monkeys frontman, as his lyrics often talk about relationships, British life and his personal experiences. Britpop artists such as Blur would also come up with witty, clever lyrics that influenced modern indie artists such as Lily Allen whose lyrics are very sarcastic and humorous.

August 14th, 1995, was one of the most important days in pop culture and music history. It was the day of the battle of Britpop. Everyone knows about the two bands' rivalry, but how did it start? Damon Albarn, the frontman of Blur, claims that the two bands never had a problem with each other until Damon attended Oasis’ celebration party for scoring their first number 1 hit ‘Some Might Say’ in April ‘95. Albarn claims that he went to the party to congratulate the Gallagher brothers but instead of thanks, Liam spent the whole night bragging and being cheeky. But there is other evidence of this rivalry starting before that. Creation label’s boss ‘Alan McGee’ mentioned in an interview that Oasis’ song ‘Digsy’s Diner’ was made as a piss-take of Blur - and that wasn’t the only time the band is thought to have made a piss-take of Blur’s music. Oasis’ album ‘What’s the Story Morning Glory?’, 1995, includes a song ‘Boneheads Bank Holiday’ which many fans believe is another parody of Blur.

So, what was the real battle? The whole Blur vs Oasis commotion began when Blur moved the release date for their single ‘Country House’ to the same date as Oasis’ single ‘Roll with It’. This caught the media and the public’s attention as two of the biggest song releases of the year were being released on the same day. Naturally, this caused people to start wondering whose song would hit number one. The public also viewed this battle as the battle of the North vs the South since Oasis are from Manchester and Blur is from London.

Who won the battle? The result was released on August 20th when the charts announced that Oasis sold 216,000 copies of ‘Roll with it’ and Blur 274,000. So yes, blur won the battle of Britpop.

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