Thirty years ago, the UK was gripped by a battle of the bands – reminding us that the past really is a foreign country and they definitely do things differently there.
Blur and Oasis, the pre-eminent Britpop music acts of the era, released their respective singles Country House and Roll With It on August 14, 1995.
Such was the popularity of the two bands at the time that if the release dates of their songs had been staggered, then both would have claimed the coveted number one spot in the weekly charts. But when Blur and Oasis chose the same day for release, only one could claim top spot.
In this pre-streaming era of 1995, weekly sales were the hard currency of the day and the Blur-Oasis contest ensured nearly 500,000 copies of the two singles combined were sold that week, a huge number in a time when about 70,000 sales pretty much guaranteed a number one hit in the UK. The rising tide lifted all the boats that week, as single sales raced to record heights for the decade. Country House won out, with the UK finding out the results through the Sunday evening radio broadcast of the chart countdown.
Anyone old enough to recall the “Britpop battle” in the UK will have a memory of the extraordinary late summer of 1995, when those two bands occupied the entire cultural space. Maybe your memory might be jogged still further when the moment is dramatised in The Battle stage play, which will open in the UK next year.
The contest set up the most binary moment in households across Britain, particularly as it tugged at the class and geographic schisms of UK society, apparently pitting northern, working-class Oasis against southern, middle-class Blur – or surly Mancunians and chirpy Londoners, as some described it. Yes, the mid-90s really were a peak moment in derogatory labelling.
John Harris’s 2003 book, titled Britpop: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock, describes the week in which the bands locked horns as a period that birthed “an outpouring of comment and coverage that turned Britpop into an inflated caricature of itself”, while noting that the two singles in question were close to being their worst work of that era by both bands.
Contemporary critics also described both singles as lacklustre – describing Country House as mod pastiche and Roll With It as stadium rock quality – not that it mattered much given those level of sales and the fevered interest in the bands. Decades later, Roll With It doesn’t appear on Spotify’s popular Oasis songs list, but Country House does show on Blur’s streaming platform roll of honour.
Oasis have been entertaining huge crowds on their revival tour this summer and have played Roll With It on every night so far, according to Set List data. Blur, meanwhile, played Country House to generous applause during their Abu Dhabi Grand Prix post-race set a decade ago, providing a relatively rare outing for the song. It didn’t feature at all during their last live outings at Coachella in April 2024.
Roll With It may be a firm fan favourite this summer, but it wasn’t the favourite in that summer week of 1995.
Blur claimed victory in the chart battle, but within months Oasis were said to have won the war, by dint of superior album and concert ticket sales. Less than a year later, the Manchester band were playing two huge sold-out concerts at Knebworth House, while Blur appeared to wear the spoils of that August 1995 victory wearily.
Beyond the nostalgia and the moderately ripping yarn of that 1995 moment, what else is there to take away from a peculiarly British cultural moment?
First, it reminds us how radically the metrics of success have changed over time. In the streaming era, the battle is almost irrelevant; it is the war for long-term dominance and overall consumption and attention that matters. And yet, in a playlist and suggested-for-you driven world, the individual song is as important as ever in the compounding nature of the subscription economy. Those millions of listens your favourite artist accrues every month are more likely to have been gathered from cleverly selected platform playlists than from the 20th-century tradition of listening to an album from start to finish.
The mid-90s were a peak time for tribalism and the primary way of showing your colours was to actively go out and buy physical media. People still wanted to own the music they loved in those days, something far removed from the habits of now.
As the relative popularity of those two songs on platforms shows us, there can also be unlikely twists and turns in the history of a popular release. Oasis’s song for the ages, Wonderwall, released later in 1995, didn’t make it to number one on the UK singles chart either, but is one of the top 3 most streamed songs from the 1990s, only bettered by a pair of songs that also did not top the charts when released. The 1980s provides other examples of the same trend and underscores, perhaps, that past performance is not indicative of future results.
Back in 1995, a piece published in The Telegraph the day after the result was known compared it to the fuss to 30 years before, when the Rolling Stones and The Beatles were chart rivals and speculated that “it seems unlikely that, in 2025, either Blur’s or Oasis’s offerings will have earned similar status in the rock n roll pantheon”. Some might say, predictions are a fool’s errand.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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Power: 819hp
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
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Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
