06 March 2023 , 19:39
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The Britpop era of music is now 30 years old - but Blur were really close to being axed before it began and they had their rivalry with Oasis - and huge success.
The band released album Modern Life Is Rubbish in 1993 which bombed on release and in a new Britpop documentary admit they were on their “last chance” with record company bosses.
Drummer Dave Rowntree said: “Dave Balfe, the record label head, he sent us a warning letter. We were on our last chance.”
And bass player Alex James added: “They had to officially notify you if you don’t buck up your ideas, we’re going to drop you, that’s it, and then they will write you the one that’s saying you’re dropped. They basically… they wrote the one saying ‘If you don’t buck up your ideas, we’re going to drop you’, and we were really, really close to being dropped.”
The beginnings of a Britpop era was actually initially sparked by the success of the band Suede with frontman Brett Anderson telling a new Channel 5 documentary: “I think we were the only band around doing what we were doing at the time, I think we were a breath of fresh air. People got excited about us.”
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The April 1993 cover of Select magazine featured Suede, Pulp and other bands all lumped together in a thing they called “a British movement Britpop”. The rest is history.
The music culture movement evoked the Swinging Sixties with Oasis, Blur, Suede and Pulp all enjoying millions of record sales.
Journalist Stuart Maconie, who penned the ‘Britpop’ article for Select, said: “I did a big magazine article for Select Magazine.
“I know there’s some dispute about who first used the term. I know that John Robb said that he first used it.
“I mean, as a piece of intellectual property, it’s not really… I haven’t really made any money from it.”
The first half of 1994 was a crucial six months in the rise of Britpop, as spurred on by the meteoric ascent of Oasis, Blur would release a career defining album.
The pair also enjoyed a chart battle for number one in August 1995, with Blur’s Country House pipping Oasis’ Roll With It to the top spot.
Oasis for their part had released debut album Definitely Maybe, entering the charts at number one within a week of its release, and at the time becoming the fastest selling debut album in the UK.
On Liam and Noel Gallagher’s huge success the former manager Alan McGee said: “It was crazy. It was so fast, you know. Oasis was overnight. It was brilliant.”
- Four part series Britpop: The Decade That Changed Music starts on Channel 5 at 9pm on Sunday March 12.