Acting Like Children For Media Gratification

I had to pinch myself this morning. I genuinely thought I had woken up in 1994. iTunes is telling me that Take That have Robbie Williams back in the band, and their latest single is at number 2 in the charts, and The Guardian is telling me that Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins has branded Pavement 'Sell outs'. If it wasn't for the fact that I found all this on my laptop which was wirelessly connected to the internet while listening to my iPod, I would be in the foetal position on the floor, sobbing to myself and wondering how to get back to 2010.

As far as Billy Corgan's comments go, the whole thing seems a little bit petty. After all, Pavement have been touring the world over the last 12 months as part of a reunion tour, while Smashing Pumpkins limp on, unrecognisable from the band that started out in 1988, partly due to the fact there's only one original member left. Partly due to the fact that the one original member doesn't appear to have aged very well.

Anyway, this got me thinking about some of the other rivalries in the music industry, all as petty as each other, but all very entertaining nonetheless.

Blur v Oasis
Starting with the most well known of musical bust-ups. 'The Battle of Britpop' really got out of hand rather fast. With Blur releasing 'Country House' on the same day as Oasis' 'Roll With It', the whole country was divided, the debate was so lively that BBC had the showdown as their top story on the 6 o'clock news. Of course, in reality, the two songs being bought by the public were both distinctly average, but Blur came out on top, placing at number one.

Despite this, Oasis emerged as the more popular band, with sell out shows at Knebworth and commercial success in America. Albarn would later recall that if someone in a house saw him walking down the street, they would open their window and start playing Oasis. However, in the present day it's a matter of opinion. Blur reformed and played some of the best shows of their lives, while Oasis eventually split up after years of the Gallagher brothers not really getting on. Swings and roundabouts seems to be an apt phrase to use.

50 Cent v Kanye West
Not so much the battle of Britpop, but the battle of Hip-Hop. In 2007, Kanye moved the release date of his Graduation album to go directly up against Fiddy's third effort, Curtis. Like a bloody good game of poker, Fiddy called Kanye and then raised the stakes, saying that he would retire from music if Kanye outsold him. Unfortunately, what could have been the greatest thing to happen to the music industry turned out to be nothing more than hot air. Fiddy retracted his comments soon after, probably when he realised Kanye was going to sell 250,000 more records than him. Hip hop still remains rubbish today.

Professor Green v Ryan Jarman and Kate Nash
This story changes depending on which side of the camp you ask. Apparently, Nash invited 'Pro Green' down to the venue she was playing in Newcastle, and after seemingly being up for it, he later changed his mind when he found out that her boyfriend, Ryan Jarman was with her. The aftermath was a war of words on twitter. Jarman told his followers what happened and may have also labelled the rapper 'arrogant' and a 'prick'. Seemingly embarrassed, Green proceeded to leave endless tweets apparently as they entered his head about how Kate Nash is silly and Ryan Jarman has crap hair etc. What appeared to be turning into a small war dissolved into nothing after it turned out Green was about to release his new single. After all, all publicity is good publicity.