Who really won the battle between Blur and Oasis?
Host Zakia Sewell chats to writer, broadcaster (and drummer for 90s Britpop band Menswear) Matt Everitt, and V&A curator Harriet Reed about the heady days of Camden in the mid 90s.
In this episode Matt explains what the scene was really like and puts to bed the myth that it was Damon Albarn who chose the release date for Country House, causing the infamous battle of the Britpop bands of August 1995.
On a tour of Camden venues and 90s nostalgia for a time without phones and social media, Matt and Harriet evoke the sweaty, sticky-floored, beer-stained venues of the era. Looking at early Blur setlists, Noel Gallagher’s handwritten lyrics and recalling the power of the UK music press to make or break a band, Matt reminds us that Britpop wasn’t just lad culture and boozing – and that we didn’t call them bucket hats back then.
Chapters
00:00 Zakia introduces this episode and her guests; broadcaster and drummer with Britpop band Menswear, Matt Everitt, and Harriet Reed, V&A Curator of Contemporary Performance
01:36 Matt introduces the band Menswear and the Camden scene of the 1990s
04:02 OBJECT 1 The big hitters - a set list from Blur at the Bull & Gate from 1990, and Noel Gallagher’s handwritten lyrics for Half the World Away
07:56 What was the toilet circuit?
09:01 The importance of grass roots music venues to music culture
10:15 Sometimes they were terrible… Matt Everitt remembers the many times he saw Oasis play
11:19 Has Instagram ruined the live gig?
12:56 What’s the impact of Oasis on today’s culture?
14:28 These songs were about you - Britpop was speaking to British youth
16:29 The masculine emotional release
17:34 OBJECT 2 Blur vs Oasis Aug 14th 1995 – with a vintage NME cover
19:08 Andy Ross of Food Records moving single release dates to cause a publicity storm, and the power of the music press of the 90s
22:53 What was it like to be in a Britpop band in the 1990s? And what was the role of Camden?
25:47 What is the point of 90s nostalgia?
29:10 The art school roots of some Britpop bands
30:21 OBJECT 3 Who was making money from a Coldplay gig at the Barfly 1999?
31:56 The party’s over… The death of Britpop 1997-1998
33:17 The cost of touring for small bands. Where are the grass roots venues of today?
36:10 Matt chooses his favourites. What is the impact of these bands now?
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Objects featured in this episode are on display as part of the Lost Music Venues display at V&A South Kensington, which runs until October 2027.
Find out more:
V&A South Kensington
Lost Music Venues
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About Three Objects
In Three Objects, host Zakia Sewell and her special guests connect three carefully-chosen objects from the vast V&A collections of art, design and performance to tell a story about the world we live in today. If you love history, contemporary culture and a behind the scenes glimpse of the music that made us, this is for you.
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