Because Oasis wrote songs reminiscent of “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be,” they went over huge in America. Blur, their chief rivals in the Britpop wars of the mid-‘90s, were more like the Beatles in terms of inventiveness and musical ability, but they didn’t write universal anthems everyone could sing along to. Their finest album, 'Parklife,' is all about everyday London life, and when it hit shelves 20 years ago today, on April 25, 1994, America barely took notice.
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Perhaps Blur were “too British,” the same criticism hurled at the Kinks, the Jam, Madness, and a host of other terrific U.K. bands that were huge on their side of the pond but relative small fries—er, chips—here. Or maybe it was bad timing, as mastermind Damon Albarn and his nasally British voice proved plenty palatable in the decade that followed, as he achieved massive stateside success with Gorillaz.