It was 100% Noel vs Damon. Even beyond the AIDS comment, they continued to annoy each other for years. Noel said that when Oasis toured America in early 1996, everywhere they went, apparently Damon had been before with Blur and was slagging them off, saying Noel was fake working class because he had a Rolls Royce (to which Noel hotly shot back in Select Magazine, ‘I was gifted it!’). This apparently continued for about 2 years from the battle of Britpop because Noel would keep saying that they only talk about their own music whilst Damon keeps bringing up Oasis in interviews. In the meanwhile, Oasis fans were posting burning letters through Damon's post and singing Wonderwall at him in the streets, to his personal shame and so Damon was truly being haunted by the spectre (and words) of Noel Gallagher until he lowkey had a breakdown and spent 1998 in Mali and Iceland.
Then of course the parallels began when they were both dads to daughters of the same age, Damon lost Graham while Noel began to lose Liam, both were beginning to have flop albums in the 00s, but then ah! There came Damon's revenge as Gorillaz began to become more successful in America than Noel could've ever dreamed of. I don't think Liam was particularly bothered by Oasis not cracking America (which btw is a narrative that puzzles me because they sold enough records to be considered hitmakers in America but somehow they were anonymous still), but Noel did actually want it.
I do feel the battle of Britpop is about so much more than just randomly ‘Damon vs. Liam’; you want a rock n roll rivalry story, I'll tell you a fucking rock n roll rivalry story. There's more to it between Noel and Damon, I've always felt Noel and Damon felt some sort of kinship within Britpop, being about a year apart in age from each other and being of the same generation. I do feel Damon really only ever saw Liam Gallagher as his rival/friend Noel's little brother. He's an older brother too: his sister Jessica is a year older than Liam.
Damon and Noel had the songwriter's rivalry. There are many parallels in their songs, both managed to capture the zeitgeist and the feelings prevalent in the UK during the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, I'd argue their music was much more aligned than most would suspect: “Avoiding all work because there's none available” so let's fuck off on holiday, isn't that far off from “Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?” All you need are cigarettes and alcohol. During the height of Britpop, neither could admit it, but both secretly respected each other a songwriters.
As time went on, there would be moments when Noel would look at some of the (many) projects Damon would be working on that forced him to admit, “I wish I'd written that.” Damon got to duet with his hero Ray Davies of The Kinks on a White Rooms performance of Waterloo Sunset in 1995 and later ‘nearly recorded’ an album with him and David Bowie in the late 90s. The same year, Noel got to record with Paul McCartney and Paul Weller for the Help album. Noel's hero Paul Weller becomes a good friend of his. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash remain close collaborators of Damon's across projects he's done.
Then of course, their fates began to twist, somehow running opposite of each other.
2009. Noel walks away from his beloved Oasis. Graham walks back into Damon's life and that glorious Glastonbury headline happens.
Glastonbury. The one achievement that always evaded Oasis, from their misjudged 1995 headline set that had too many new songs for the crowd to follow, to their disastrous 2004 headline set where they seemed so lacklustre and disinterested, even as Liam's voice sounded shot, that in a way it became symbolic of a changing of the guard: Oasis were becoming old, tired news, while the unanimous highlight of the 2004 edition of the festival according to most festivalgoers were the 25-year-old first-time headliners, Muse.
Glastonbury 2009 solidified Blur's comeback in the public eye. Where Oasis were booed at the 2009 NME Awards, everyone was crying together singing along to Tender and the Universal on Worthy Farm with Blur. Blur had won the duel, Oasis had won the battle? It seemed after all this time, Blur had won the war.
Still, all wasn't rosy for Damon. While he was beginning to learn to compromise and rebuild his fraternal bond with Graham, his precious Gorillaz would fall apart for the same reason after 2010. On the Plastic Beach tour, with the Gorillaz' collaborators being too big to hide their faces behind anonymity anymore, animator Jamie suddenly felt he didn't have much to do for the Gorillaz live show anymore. Arguments about creative control arose. Old habits reared their ugly mugs. By 2012 Damon and Jamie weren't talking to each other.
In the meanwhile, Noel Gallagher is suddenly feeling creative freedom for the first time in a long time and launches himself from scratch as a solo artist.
2013. As Noel's former bandmates release a second album under the Beady Eye name, the 20th anniversary of one of Britpop's finest albums looms on the horizon: Oasis' 1994 debut Definitely Maybe. Miraculous reconciliations have happened in Britpop: Liam Gallagher praises Suede's latest single. He runs into Brett Anderson on the school run often, and they are now friends. Could a similar fate befall Oasis?
No dice. But Britpop miracles aren't done for the year. Noel patches up with Blur. The perfect opportunity presents itself for them to take this relationship public: Teenage Cancer Trust's flagship Royal Albert Hall charity gig. As someone in the video's comments described it so perfectly, Britpop's Berlin wall had fallen. It's a high profile event, the names and thrilling circumstances draw attention and raise a lot of funds for an excellent cause, and Damon and Graham ask Noel to join them in performing Tender, with Paul Weller on the drums. It's surreal and almost ironic to watch Noel Gallagher stood beside his former rivals, strumming his guitar as they sing, “Come on, come on, come on, get through it... Love's the greatest thing that we have.”
If you've been waiting for that feeling, it does eventually come. Damon says he's grateful for his friendship with Noel, as he's the only person that really understands what Damon went through at the height of Britpop. They're friends now.
Blur tour East Asia in 2013. A cancellation in Japan leaves them in Hong Kong for 48 hours with, serendipitously, a studio space and nothing else to do. The musicians that they are, they begin jamming.
Eventually it turns out, these 2013 studio sessions have legs and could potentially be good enough for a full album if put together well. Damon retraces the band's steps by himself, journeying through the Southeast and reflecting on his friendship with Graham. He's learning. He's learning to relinquish control, he's learning to accept collaborative criticism, learning to open up and really work with his bandmates. He does not want to lose Graham again. The lyrics he writes reflect heavily on his friendship; if this ever does become an album, it's going to be an album about Graham. n a gesture of trust, Damon records his vocal parts over the recordings and puts the tapes in Graham's hands. If they ever see the light of day from here is Graham's creative choice.
But what did you think Graham would do once he heard the tapes? Of course they're going to work on it. The surprise album, Blur's serious comeback as musicians, The Magic Whip comes out in 2015. The first album with Graham on it since 1998's 13. The first collaborative Blur album we've seen in a while. Damon learned to let go, and he gained back a friend for life.
The same year, a reflective Noel Gallagher pens Dead In The Water about his relationship with his brother.
Damon is learning to let people into his world. He rings up Jamie Hewlett. He wants to apologise and patch things up again. Jamie says it's about time. Their kids have been friends all these years anyway. Gorillaz are back. The Supersonic documentary, a hagiography, comes out in 2016. A new generation is drawn to the myth and lore of Oasis, and enamoured by levels of rock n roll excess not seen within their lifetime and to the ballad of the bickering brothers, a new generation falls in love with Oasis. Noel doesn't show up to the film premiere. Unlike Gorillaz, Oasis remain dormant.
Noel Gallagher guests on the comeback Gorillaz album Humanz in 2017, he is on the track We Got The Power, and even performs it live on Graham Norton with them. Norton asks when the fierce Britpop rivals patched things up, Noel cheekily replies, “just now!”
2020. Lockdown. Gorillaz are the only band who are genuinely equipped for our strange new virtual world: Song Machine Vol. 1 continues to release singles throughout the year and becomes one of Gorillaz' best albums to date. Noel spends the time reflecting instead and begins writing Council Skies.
In 2021, Oasis release their Knebworth 1996 documentary. It features fan memories, and one fan talks about going to Knebworth with his brother in 1996, and the special memories it holds for him as his brother has now passed away. This stays with Noel. Noel is full of praise for Liam, calling him “in his prime” and “the best thing about the documentary.” Good brother Liam is not involved with the documentary and declines to be interviewed for it, but he does headline Knebworth on his own the next year.
2022. As the world begins to emerge from lockdown, a lot of people whose partners spent significant time away from home were beginning to realise that they might not really know their partners as well as they'd thought. Worse, they might not actually like their partners all that much. By the end of the year, both Damon Albarn and Noel Gallagher find themselves at the end of 20+ year long-term relationships. Both find themselves seeking comfort in old friendships, old love, first families.
The Ballad of Darren is announced out of the blue in summer 2023. It is a divorce album, Damon is quite open about the fact. It also deals with the loss of friends who died during the pandemic. Damon is open about the fact that he needed Blur back, needed Graham by his side again to process the grief. When DJ Steve Lamacq premieres the first single The Narcissist on BBC 6 Music, with all four of Blur sitting in the radio studio with him, he's wiping his eyes by the end of the play. “I've missed you, I really have” he simply says. There is no better metaphor for how Blur themselves feel about each other.
A huge summer follows in 2023: two sold out headline shows at Wembley. Grief is processed into joy, and it feels like the whole country is there with them: in less than a full year, one of new music's brightest sparks, Fontaines D.C. will cite singer Grian Chatten seeing one of the Wembley shows as an influence on the string section of their shockingly contemporary new song Starburster. Blur are as relevant as can be. Nostalgia mixes with the future. Damon wears a replica of his 1994 Girls & Boys music video Fila jacket, custom-made only for the occasion.
The honeymoon period couldn't have lasted. Blur briefly went to America the next year. Coachella 2024. “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it. Know what I’m saying?” The dream fell apart quickly enough. We haven't seen Blur since then, which if anything, feels like the wrong way to end Blur's career for now. Although Damon and Graham were together in the studio in November 2025 for the Warchild Help (2) album. On separate tracks, but that's as close as we're going to get to a reunion while Gorillaz are busy with The Mountain. Life comes full circle. Oasis, who were on the first Help album are missing from a cast that also includes Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.
August 2024. Rumours are in the air. Liam Gallagher plays an extremely hyped up headline set on the Sunday night of Reading festival, once the home and Mecca of rock music. Until Saturday, new bands like The Last Dinner Party and the aforementioned Blur-influenced Fontaines D.C. were the talk of the festival (NME's review of their Saturday afternoon set called them ‘future headliners’, something that did in fact come true as they will be headlining the festival this year— sorry I just can't help shove in some Fontaines details can I... Anyway!!). By Sunday, Oasis nostalgia reaches fever pitch.
The Tuesday after, Oasis reveal that a divorced Noel Gallagher has finally reconciled with his long (publicly)-estranged brother Liam. (Their kids too, not too unlike Damon and Jamie's, have rather quickly patched up.) The will-they-won't-they of a decade will finally be put to rest. Oasis are back. Every single date in the UK and Ireland instantly sells out, and in a twist of fate, so does North America.
In 2025, Oasis finally conquer America, as well as their own internal demons. Liam is not drinking on the tour at all. A decade after Damon Albarn came to the same conclusion, Noel Gallagher also begins to learn to let go full control and collaborate with Liam: setlists, opening acts are mutual decisions. There is mutual respect of each other's strengths and limits. Songs that are difficult for Liam to sing do not make the final setlist. Liam personally phones John Power to ask Cast to open for Oasis. Japanese openers Otoboke Beaver are a Liam pick. There are enough days in between shows to keep Liam's voice fresh and rested. Noel and Liam are finally acquiescing to each other. They had previously fought over choice of openers. There isn't a single fight the entire tour between the Gallagher brothers. After years of watching his Britpop peers Blur, Pulp successfully reunite from the sidelines, Noel Gallagher finally has the last laugh.
Damon Albarn delivers his verdict with some finality in 2025. He seems to be at peace with the outcome: “I think we can officially say that Oasis won the battle, the war, the campaign, everything. I am happy to accept and concede defeat. It’s their summer and god bless them.
Well, it was obvious, wasn’t it?”
Now tell me if you still think Damon vs. Liam is a spicier rivalry.
Author's note: I overuse the word hagiography and I'm so sorry for that but ever since I learned what it meant, there's been no other way I've been able to describe the Supersonic doc. If you don't know, it refers to a piece of media or literature that only tells the good part of the story. Look it up, it's the perfect descriptor for the doc.
