Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree. Blur were a phenomenon. Following a stylistic change influenced by bands like The Kinks and The Beatles they helped define the 1990’s notion of Britpop. They met at college and formed a band called Seymour who attracted record label attention, the only problem was the label hated their name. Their A&R man Andy Ross drew up a list of alternative names and they chose Blur. Their first album ‘Leisure’ was a moderate success but it put them £60,000 in debt. To counter this they went on a tour of the United States and it was a disaster. They were unhappy and fighting each other and Albarn was so homesick he started writing songs that reminded him of England. They were about to be dropped by their label when they produced ‘Parklife’ in 1994. The album defined their English pop sound and the single ‘Girls and Boys’ catapulted them to stardom and fuelled their feud with fellow Britpop stars Oasis.

The rivalry came to a head when both bands released singles on the same day which was termed ‘The Battle of Britpop. Blur came out on top – ‘Country House’ outselling ‘Roll With It’.