FA Cup of British Rock - Quarterfinals - Match #3

These are the ground rules: 16 8 teams, each represented by a musician or band who happens to be a supporter. You, our fair reader, vote on who advances. Use whatever criteria you wish: favorite team, favorite band, prettiest uniforms (looking at you Elton), etc. Ballot stuffing is not encouraged, but will be tolerated, because we’re just as corrupt as the real FA. Voting closes this Sunday, July 27.

Long live rockathon, my friends. The FA Cup of British Rock is a turbo-charged custom van that is flying down the highway at 95 mph. It simply cannot be stopped!! Today there's a double-header of Quarterfinal matches, the first of which pits an army of vote-wielding supporters against a man named Noel. See for yourself...




The Darkness, seen here on a shaky punter cam from a gig in -- where else? -- Norwich


- versus -



Oasis, who, as Noel explains circa 2003, will always be Man City fans (key quot is at 2:05 where he says he would rather "kick my door up my arse than support United or Arsenal" ... can you really kick a door up your own arse?)


So, we might as well just hand the FA Cup of British Rock trophy to the mighty Norwich City army, summoned by our own Bigus Dickus. And to that I say, fair play! Unlike the likely result in a real footy match, Norwich City knocked off Liverpool FC in the Round of 16, despite being represented by a band that broke up after only two albums and had maybe one decent song in their repertoire. The Darkness were built solely around Justin Hawkins' falsetto, yet still managed to sell millions of CDs. Kids today! Of course, at the time that Justin left the Darkness, there were rumors of drug abuse. This, of course, is something that our next group would know something about....


You can certainly divide people into two categories: People who (still) love Oasis, and people you hate Oasis. Put me in the first category. I remember hearing about their first gig in Detroit (where I lived at the time) in 1994, where they had to repeat one of their songs during the second encore because they'd run through their entire catalog already (songs off Definitely Maybe plus "I am the Walrus"... and nothing else). I was at a show some time around 2000, where Liam spent the entire show glowering at us Midwesterners in the audience (trust me, we deserved it). And I even think that Don't Believe the Truth was pretty good, especially Noel's tribute songs to Lee Mavers. I always thought it was fitting that, despite being the biggest rock band in the world for a very short time, Oasis would support Man City, the plucky underdog.

So, which team is the true underdog in this contest? Only you can decide!

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FA Cup of British Rock - Round of 16 / Match #4

These are the ground rules: 16 teams, each represented by a musician or band who happens to be a supporter. You, our fair reader, vote on who advances. Use whatever criteria you wish: favorite team, favorite band, prettiest uniforms (looking at you Elton), etc. Ballot stuffing is not encouraged, but will be tolerated, because we’re just as corrupt as the real FA. Voting for the Round of 16 will close on Sunday, July 20.

Today's matchup is the derby game of this tournament. A titanic clash of Britpop giants who had an entertaining feud and managed to single handledly save rock and roll. Etc...etc...etc....

In the blue corner we have the boys from Manchester, Oasis, noted Citeh supporters.

In the other Blue corner we have Damon Albarn, Blur frontman and later involved in the Gorillaz, as well as a supposed Chelsea fan. 

Oasis, founded by the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, were the most commercially successful of the Britpop bands of the mid 90s. Cool Britannia, Tony Blair, New Labour, and all the rest... While they weren't the most innovative musicians, they did have a knack for songwriting and a catchy tune. When Definitely Maybe was released in 1994, it marked the start of a new era of guitar-influenced rock music, and their follow up, So Whats the Story Morning Glory, became a huge seller both in the UK and the US. Around this time Oasis provided forests worth of copy for the likes of NME and Q, as the brothers Gallagher feuded both with themselves and with Damon Albarn. Be Here Now, released in 1997, was the height of Oasis's powers. It featured ridiculous Beatles-rip off riffs and music videos, 10 minute songs with 3 minute sample intros (including Vietnam war reenactments), and proclamations of "bigger than Jesus" greatness from Liam. Its been pretty much all downhill from then on as their sound has more or less stagnated and the world has moved on. Way on. Noel especially is a noted City fan, and earlier this year he ripped his despotic owner for sacking SGE after a great (as in not fighting for relegation) season. 

Albarn, on the other hand, was always more intellectual. Think art school. Blur could lay claim to being the more innovative of the Britpop bands, but they never achieved the same commercial success as the boys from Manchester. Pretty much everyone in the US can pick out a (one) Blur song, but there is no way in hell they could tell you who did it. The band pretty much petered out by the early oughties, and Albarn went on to achieve great success with the Gorillaz. Couldn't unearth any football-related punditry from Damon, so I can't tell you what his thoughts are on the 4-5-1. 

I can't leave without some youtubage. Best Behind the Music Ever. 

So, who's ego deserves a bit of massaging? The louts from up North or the vegetarian Chelsea supporter?

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