If you’ve ever even heard of Britpop, you’ve probably been asked the classic question: Blur or Oasis? I’ve been asked this more times than I can count, not that I have ever found an answer I can feel confident about. I’m a northern lass who’s proud of her identity, so really I should say Oasis. I’m also very much aware that Blur, at least musically, probably have the edge. Ultimately, I know that my answer is neither, as I can’t stand either band. When I say I am a fan of Britpop, I mean I am a fan of all the other 90s indie acts that got swept into the shadows of these two over-hyped megaliths of British music. It’s just that some people refuse to accept that as an answer.

This summer, every town has been taken over by Oasis-mania. Every billboard has the two brothers staring out at you, and every T-shirt seems to have their names on it. Yet, none of this advertisement has made ‘the Oasis reunion’ the big reunion of the year for me.

“Gene rejected the cheesy, sugar-coated anthems of the more famous Britpop acts”

In the mid-1990s, lurking around the bottom of the top 40, there was a band named Gene. Over five albums and six years, they produced some of the most beautiful and overlooked songs of the Britpop era. Gene rejected the cheesy, sugar-coated anthems of the more famous Britpop acts, for a more personal approach to their lyrics. After Martin Rossiter, the lead singer, announced his farewell shows in 2021, it seemed like that was the end of the road for Gene. Now, they’re back, and they’re offering one alternative to the Oasis tsunami.

Of course, Britpop is much more than a few 2025 reunions. Shed Seven, who released classic anthems like ‘She Left Me On Friday’ and ‘Chasing Rainbows’, have been a strong force in the live scene since at least their 2017 release, Instant Pleasures. Their community of fans is a passionate and supportive base, eager in its adoration of both the band itself and their young support acts. In fact, when Shed Seven played Leeds on the same night as the Oasis reunion in Manchester, they still managed to sell out.

“These bands are no longer the twenty-odd year old young kids riding the high of a resurgence of interest in British music”

The best of the Britpop era have survived by constantly adapting and continuing to release new music. These bands are no longer the twenty-odd year old young kids riding the high of a resurgence of interest in British music. They’re now on the other side of fifty (at least), trying to adapt to a music industry that is more bothered about your social media acumen, than how well you can wear your three-stripes. In 2024, Shed Seven achieved two number one albums in a single year; the first Britpop band to do so. Their second album, Liquid Gold, may have technically been a best-of compilation, but their reinvention of the old classics feels as fresh as their entirely new album A Matter of Time.

“The Oasis/Blur rivalry eclipsed, and still eclipses, many of the other bands of the era”

I would say that Suede are the textbook case of how to adapt over the years. However, lead singer Brett Anderson has repeatedly distanced his band from the sickly-sweet patriotism of Britpop, despite their compliance with the (very loose) qualifications for the title. The Oasis/Blur rivalry eclipsed, and still eclipses, many of the other bands of the era. It narrowed the definition of what it meant to be Britpop, and perhaps commercialised the genre too much. After all, it stems from the counter-cultural indie and Madchester movements of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bands like Suede, Elastica, Gene, Pulp and Shed Seven kept this counter-cultural ethic alive in their music, their lyrics and their style. Where the Oasis/Blur chart battle turned into a boxing match between the rival gangs of cool kids, Suede and Pulp in particular offered role models for those brave enough to defy the ‘cool’ aesthetic.

There might be plenty of other options for your favourite Britpop band, but it still does not answer the question of whose single I would have bought that week in August 1995. People will keep asking it for as long as we continue to love music from the 90s. But I think that I have found my answer. Amongst the euphoria of the seemingly two-horse race, a third band threw their hats into the ring that week. Like Suede, The Charlatans aren’t quite Britpop, but next time someone asks me whether I would have bought ‘Country House’ or ‘Roll With It’, I will tell them that ‘Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over’ will forever be the best new release of that week in summer 1995 – the original Britpop summer.