Dave Rowntree On Oasis’ Hate Against Blur, ‘It Was All About Getting Noticed’

Blur’s Dave Rowntree recently revisited the dispute between his band and Oasis during the ’90s in an interview with NME. The conversation started while discussing Mogwai’s ‘Blur: Are Shite’ T-shirts and cued the drummer to reveal the origin of their rivalry. He said:

“In those days, your celebrity was measured by how many column inches you got in the music press, so everybody was constantly slagging everybody else off. We were doing it; they were doing it. We took it in the spirit in which it was intended, as part of the big shouting match. It was all about getting noticed. That’s how the Blur vs Oasis spat started.”

Upon his words, the interviewer brought up Creation Records impresario Alan McGee’s past claims about Oasis wanting to kill Blur. In response, Rowntree remarked:

“Did they really want to kill us? I don’t know! They were pretty angry in those days. I think they wanted to kill each other more than anybody else.”

With more details on the matter, he went on:

“To this day, the Oasis question features in every interview I do, but journalists ask it as the last question in case you storm out! As if it still rankles so deeply after all those years [Laughs]. The Blur/Oasis spat only lasted a few months, but it’s one of those things that defined us both.”

Mentioning the feud’s effect and final state, the drummer also added:

“It propelled both of us to the bottom rung of the top ladder and made us household names, but equally, it stapled both band bands together at the hip when musically, we didn’t have much in common. Anyway, we’re all friends now, and they’re nice people.”

In the ’90s music scene, the rivalry between the two Britpop bands was a publicized event. It peaked when they released their singles, ‘Roll With It’ and ‘Country House,’ on the same day and fought for the number one spot in the charts.

At the time, they traded insults back and forth, but things settled after Blur vocalist Damon Albarn’s 2014 interview with Newsnight. When asked which band was greater, the singer answered:

“Well, that’s not a very grown-up question for Newsnight, is it? I think Oasis were better. I think they were better at communicating who they were.”

These days, Blur is set to release a new album, ‘The Ballad of Darren,’ on July 21. On the other hand, Oasis remains disbanded with ongoing fights between the former members Liam and Noel Gallagher.