'I was there': Blur v Oasis, 1995

5 live Daily looks back at an historic moment through the eyes of those who were there.

in 1995 Blur and Oasis were two of the biggest, most exciting bands in British music. But a grudge was building between the groups, fed by comments from both camps and plenty of media hype.

The chart battle made national news

On 14 August the bands released their new singles on the same day. Blur's record company Food switched the release date of their track Country House so it would go up against Oasis' Roll With It. Who would grab the coveted number one spot?

Stephen Street produced several Blur albums including 1995's The Great Escape.

He said it was impossible to ignore Oasis because of the quality of the songs they were producing. But he blames the Manchester band for provoking the row.

Stephen told 5 live Daily: "I remember bumping into Liam at some club somewhere. He was straight up in Damon's face saying "we're number one" because they were, with Some Might Say or one of the other songs around that time. He was definitely goading Damon and it seemed to get his back up."

Clint Boon of the Inspiral Carpets (left) had hired Noel Gallagher as a roadie before Oasis took off, and Michael Spencer Jones photographed the band many times.

Clint isn't convinced the row was real: "I always saw it as a media creation. It was perfectly executed and everybody benefitted - so well done to whoever came up with it!"

Michael described Oasis as "great people to work with but frenetic and crazy" and said he believed the rivalry was genuinely unpleasant at times.

"Oasis were doing a gig on the south coast. Blur decided to do one on the same night and word got out all these Oasis fans were going down to meet the Blur fans, so Oasis pulled the gig. After that Blur moved the release date for their single and Oasis thought 'why should we change for them?'"

Music executive Mike Smith helped Blur become of the biggest bands of the 1990s.

He told 5 live that originally, Country House wasn't even due to be the first single from The Great Escape.

And he said falling out with Oasis "wasn't something Blur set out to do. It was presented to them and Damon squared up to it.

"They had been really excited when Oasis appeared and they'd really championed them, but they got a bit drawn into the media baiting that had gone on."

Adam Boult is social media editor at the Metro newspaper. He was 15 in 1995 and loved Blur but bought both bands' singles during the week of release.

"Being a music fan, to suddenly to have your major interest on the six o clock news was terribly exciting. People were suddenly interested in the stuff I'd been interested in.

"When you had to pick a side and went to the shop, it was very much like you were voting - the stakes felt really high."

Twenty years on, he doesn't like either of the songs.

Country House scooped the number one slot, selling 274,000 copies to Roll With It's 216,000.

But it was Oasis who went on to enjoy the limelight over the next few years, selling four million copies of their album (What's The Story?) Morning Glory and playing to a quarter of a million people over two nights at Knebworth in 1996.

Twenty years later Blur are still performing together, unlike Oasis. Clint Boon said Blur had a "more artistic approach" but Oasis were brilliant at catching "a universal spirit". He said he couldn't imagine a world without either of them, and is convinced Oasis will one day reform.

Stephen Street, Michael Spencer Jones and Clint Boon recall some of their favourite stories from the time.