The Oasis vs. Blur Thing

     You've probably figured out from my blog that I'm a bit of an anglophile. I love The Beatles, Monty Python, The Prisoner, Black Adder, The Young Ones, Fawlty Towers, Little Britain, Martin Clunes, Tolkien, Michael Moorcock and Yuck, to name a few. I'm also a huge Doctor Who fan. In fact, I was in the Doctor Who Fan Club of America thirty years ago (Tom Baker was my first Doctor). As an American, I never got the Oasis vs. Blur thing. Over here Oasis were everywhere and Blur weren't. The only song or video I remember by Blur in the 90's was Song 2. Oasis were always on the radio and their videos were on MTV in heavy rotation. I own most of Oasis' cds and "Supersonic" is one of my all-time favorite songs. Until last year, I didn't own any Blur. Maybe these bands had genuine animosity toward each other. Maybe it was a load of rubbish to get them in NME. Maybe both bands were consumed by wanting to win British music awards. At any rate, I never got it.
     Last year, I decided to buy Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur, which is a 2 disc best of collection. I loved the song "Beetlebum" straight away and the rest of it was good too. Then my friend Mike played the self-titled cd at work one day and I liked it, so I bought it. Recently, he bought the big whoopty-doo Blur boxed set and gave me a bunch of his old Blur cds. So I've been listening to them the past few days and now I have some thoughts on the Oasis / Blur thing. I know the last thing the world needs is someone elses opinion on this topic, but they are in my collection so it can't be helped.
     Oasis seem to be a working class band with a Beatles obsession, which is right in my wheelhouse. Their songs are straight forward rock songs with traditional structure. Blur seem to be more art school-y and their songs are very diverse. You can't really say that they copped someone elses sound. Their songs are more hit or miss for me, but that's alright. Sometimes I need to be pushed musically and maybe some day I'll like Blur more than Oasis. But not today. You even notice this difference with the Gallagher brothers solo albums and Damon Albarn's project Gorillaz. Beady Eye (Liam's band) and High Flying Birds (Noel's band) both play straight forward rock with a traditional band structure and still sound like Oasis. Gorillaz is a cartoon band that sounds nothing like Blur.
     So, it seems to me that Oasis and Blur weren't fighting over the same piece of ground. They were just fighting for attention and awards. Musically, they weren't really doing the same sort of thing as each other. They were just two good bands who were popular at the same time. But, NME needed stories and they were glad to provide them. I think it worked out well for everyone. As for my collection, I recommend Definitely, Maybe and Morning Glory as jumping off points for Oasis. For Blur, I'd start with the self-titled album, then Parklife, Great Escape and the best of cd. Thanks again to Mike for the Blur cds. He also gave me a bunch of Smiths cds when he got the boxed set of those. Finally, the playlist in my car is; The Refreshments The Bottle and Fresh Horses, The Vines Winning Days and the Essential Michael Jackson. Peace.