THE BATTLE OF BRITPOP BLUR V OASIS

John Humphrys, well-established newsreader, in his best BBC voice: "Two of the biggest popular pop groups have begun the biggest chart war in 30 years. The Manchester band Oasis and their arch-rivals Blur released new singles today, each hoping to reach the number one spot next week.

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"The music industry hasn't seen anything like it since the Beatles fought it out with the Rolling Stones in the 60s."

It was billed as The Battle of BritPop.

Roll With It v Country House. North v South. Manchester v London. Burnage v Mayfair. Lower class v upper class. City v Chelsea.

Country House (274,000 copies sold) may have won the battle, but Roll With It (216,000 copies sold) won the war.

The rivalry, bubbling under before the singles were released, was a simple case of whose side are you on?

At the Brit Awards earlier in the year, Blur won four awards and frontman Damon Albarn even declared they should be shared with Oasis.

But, at the next Brits, in February 1996, Oasis won three, Blur none. As part of their victory speech, the Gallaghers Liam in his sheepskin coat quipped: "All the people, all the people, so many people..."

Oasis released Some Might Say in April 1995, it hit top spot in the charts and sold over 600,000 copies. Albarn even attended the celebration party, Liam Gallagher got a bit lairy, getting in Albarn's face. It triggered something.

Albarn later referred to Oasis as "like the bullies I had to put up with at school".

With Roll With It set for release on August 14 and Country House seven days later, Blur decided to bring their single forward a week.

The bookmakers made Oasis favourites for the coveted No.1 spot.

County House is about Dave Balfe, Blur's former manager who quit the business to, well, live in a house, a very big house in the country.