To mark the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest chart battles in music history, let's see which song Buzzjack would put on top - Blur's 'Country House' or Oasis' 'Roll With It'.

Arguably two of the weakest singles either band released around that time. Blur's Parklife album and self-titled 1997 one have aged a lot better than The Great Escape (The Universal aside). Country House is fun though, but I went for Oasis as it's the sound of their peak period, even though it's a song I rarely go back to.

None are the best for either artist but Country House just pips this for me.

Both are less than stellar examples of singles by both bands, but Country House remains the better of the two.

Roll With It, though I do agree these are both very, very sub-par in comparison to their other material. I grew up always thinking both bands had the same sound, but upon exploration of their work, they really were quite different bands before all the media hype. I suppose they were both competitive~

I actually would put Country House up there with some of the best Blur songs, it's really fun - but then I don't view Blur as having too many downsides whereas I absolutely do think that Oasis has plenty of weak moments.

Love them both, but I slightly prefer Roll With It

Only heard 'Country House' a couple of times and can't say I really remember thinking much of it, 'Roll With It' quite easily better for me. Not my favourite Oasis song but I don't think it's as subpar as people seem to be making it out to be!

I was reading someone on twitter saying that most indie fans liked both bands, and nobody really cared about the "battle" outside of the media hyping it up - does anyone from the time know if that was the case for them? :lol:

for sure most indie fans liked both bands, I certainly did... if you were into Britpop, sure you had your favourites but mostly you liked all Britpop bands, I certainly did like both Blur and Oasis but probably preferred Pulp and Radiohead.

The battle was a bit of a marketing plot, to this day every time the Gallaghers open they mouth to say something controversial is to help sell records. When Noel Gallagher wished Damon Albarn caught AIDS, they know controversy sells. But don't think any fan cared.

 

in regards of the two songs, I didn't mind Country House at the time, I thought it was a cool comeback, nothing extraordinary but was not disappointed either.

I certainly was more disappointed with Roll With It as it came a few months after the fantastic Some Might Say and was the album lead, so how come they chose

Roll with It when they had Wonderwall or Don't Look Back in Anger, even b-sides like The Masterplan were a million times better than Roll with It.

I was reading someone on twitter saying that most indie fans liked both bands, and nobody really cared about the "battle" outside of the media hyping it up - does anyone from the time know if that was the case for them? :lol:

I was 19 when this battle took place, and was a fan of both bands. Its wasn't really pegged as a battle in the wider consciousness of the public, so it was media hyped as the week progressed. By the end of the week it was everywhere (hence the inflated sales and TV news exposure).

 

I was on holiday in Cornwall for that week and I remember the big displays of both singles in Our Price Penzance with Blur vs Oasis everywhere. I bought Country House as I preferred Blur by miles at that point!

Was the chart battle not started by the famous front cover of NME?

 

https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/s...lur_oasis-1.jpg

Edited August 15, 20204 yr by Steve201

I actually would put Country House up there with some of the best Blur songs, it's really fun - but then I don't view Blur as having too many downsides whereas I absolutely do think that Oasis has plenty of weak moments.

 

Why not vote in the Blur survivor - http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=237331

I voted for 'Roll With It' which feels quite underrated outside of this chart battle! I always hear the "decent/good but Oasis have better" comment but I really like it.

Roll With It

Country house. Back in the day I was a big blur fan but much prefer oasis nowadays but still think country house is far better than roll with it. This was such an epic chart battle at the time.

I was reading someone on twitter saying that most indie fans liked both bands, and nobody really cared about the "battle" outside of the media hyping it up - does anyone from the time know if that was the case for them? :lol:

 

Can confirm - most people probably did like one band more than the other but I knew quite a few people who bought both singles. Even though I only bought the Blur single that week (I actually bought CD2), I picked up the Oasis one in a bargain bin a few weeks later.

 

I never liked Roll With It as a song though.

I always usually prefer Blur to Oasis. But out of these 2 songs; Roll With It.

Edited August 16, 20204 yr by ElectroBoy

Being a massive Oasis fan I went with 'Roll With It' although 'Country House' is a pretty good song too. The battle was quite exciting at the time although it was obviously all created by the media.

looking at the sales, the media frenzy clearly worked, as both did over 200K

from wiki:

In the end, Blur's "Country House" single sold 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 copies of "Roll with It".