I seem to recall that Jamie and Graham weren't exactly in good terms during the 90s, I thought it was jealousy but I guess i was wrong as you said something about the "wives". I started listening to Blur in 2015 so I'm not well aware of the old gossip, why is it a big deal they're friends again or what happened between them that everyone is surprised to see this reunion?
So my knowledge of it is fairly surface level and I’m sure there’s probably more to it than I know that I can be corrected on, but the basic story is this:
According to Damon, his first serious girlfriend that he lost his virginity to was a Jane (x) (not sure if it was the same Jane Olliver but it may have been).
In 1991 Graham started dating Jane Olliver (Justine Frischmann’s best friend) at the same time Damon started dating Justine. Graham and Jane’s relationship apparently did not end well for Graham, and he and Damon talk about it very briefly in this article. (x) I have an unproven theory that when Graham said, “every time I come off tour I have to fight off my girlfriend’s suitors” that he was referring to Jamie. A lot of fans have theorized that this scathing song Graham wrote is really about Jamie Hewlett who he had been very good friends with before Damon and Jamie became friends. There’s some older Blur performances where you can see Graham wearing Tank Girl shirts, so yeah.
In this article (x) Jamie talks about Damon’s dislike for him, which I am guessing stemmed from Damon being overly protective of Graham, in the sense that Jamie had “stolen” Jane from Graham and married her.
Hewlett was first introduced to Albarn as Blur’s first album was released, as his former partner Jane Olliver, originally a member of Elastica, was friends with – and formerly girlfriend of – Blur’s lead guitarist, Graham Coxon. But it was not friendship at first sight with Albarn. “He didn’t like me at all, and I didn’t like him. We spent 10 years, every time we saw each other being a bit rude to each other, not talking to each other,” he remembers. He claims to have never understood why, putting it down to similarities that can cause a clash. Others have speculated it was due to friction over Olliver, previously Coxon’s girlfriend, before her relationship and two children with Hewlett. But after a decade of mutual mistrust, something changed. “One day, we suddenly clicked, became very good friends, it was the complete reverse. So, yeah, strange,” he remembers.
To top this off, when Jamie got divorced from Jane Olliver in the late 90′s, Damon became *really* good friends (like had a shit ton of celebrity parties) with Jamie and invited him to come live in his flat with him (seeing that they were both just getting out of two serious relationships it probably made sense and sounded less gay then I like to think it is lol). Since things were a bit touchy with Damon and Graham during that time, I can see how Damon becoming best friends with Jamie could have been perceived as a huge betrayal of their friendship. Add on top of that that Graham was struggling on and off with getting sober (pre-2002 sobriety struggles) while Damon and Jamie were partying, so I’m sure that didn’t help Damon and Graham’s deteriorating friendship very much. I imagine Damon becoming friends with Jamie could also have been a power move on his part, as a way to get underneath Graham’s skin, but again, who knows.
So yeah, it’s pretty amazing that they’re in the same room let alone touching thighs—heaven help us. I always like to think that if Blur were a movie, then Jamie would play the part of the sexy villain, lol.
