BLUR VS. OASIS - ROUND 6542
28|09|01
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher launched a tirade of abuse at Damon Albarn in this weeks issue of NME. Told of an earlier report where Damon joked that he'd like to have Liam in Gorillaz, Liam spat: "Does he. Does he. Good. Fooking monkey. I've never fooking seen a gorilla with no hair! So he can fooking suck his own fooking cock and his mate in his band's cock. That cunt's going on about I haven't sung a decent tune for years, right? I think it's quite ironic. At least I do sing tunes; what's that fooking nonsense that's on the radio 'ooh-de-fucky-boo', its like fooking three-year-old's music, worse than Steps. Now there's a cunt who's not into it. Whatever happened to his beloved Blur? I'll slap that bald cunt when I see him, the dick. Wants to get a wig or summat before he starts talking about me. I'm sure he's winding me up and he's done a good job, but I'm here for the wind-up, so that's that." Elsewhere in the interview Noel refers to Damon as "Monkey boy from Colchester".

DAMON'S MONKEY BUSINESS
26|07|01
Blur singer Damon Albarn was having a dig at the music industry when he put together a band made up of cartoon characters. But the joke has backfired with his animated group Gorillaz this week being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, a major industry award. Albarn and his collaborators were so horrified when Gorillaz were put up for the prize that they rejected their nomination. But with the possibility of up to 500,000 extra sales at stake from the Mercury publicity, their record company Parlophone stepped in to insist they remain in the running. Continued...

DAMON SHORTLISTED FOR MERCURY MUSIC PRIZE
24|07|01
Blur frontman Damon Albarn has been shortlisted for one of music's most prized awards for the third time. His new band Gorillaz is among the nominees for the Mercury Music Prize. The group's self-titled album joins other indie favourites like Radiohead and Super Furry Animals. Continued...

FATBOY WILL WORK WITH BLUR
20|07|01
Fatboy Slim will be producing the next Blur album. The DJ plans to take a break from the limelight after completing the Blur project. Fatboy's next single, Ya Mama, is released on September 4. He said: "This will be the last single to be taken from Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars and then I will be producing Blur's next album and having a bit of a break. Hopefully you won't see me for a year after this." Continued...