Blur

Blur may have triumphed over Oasis in 1995’s legendary “Battle Of Britpop”, but while they didn’t play Knebworth or take tea at No.10 Downing Street, Damon Albarn’s Essex boys won hands-down in the artistic sense – and they’ve amassed a venerable back catalogue worthy of the singular national-treasure status they have undoubtedly earned.

Much of Blur’s reputation rests on their inimitable Britpop era-straddling trilogy – Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife and The Great Escape – but their late-90s classics, Blur and 13, showed they were capable of drifting deeper into left field without sacrificing chart positions. Indeed, to their credit, Blur even came up trumps with 2003’s world-music-embracing Think Tank, largely recorded after guitarist Graham Coxon (temporarily) left the fold. A triumphant reunion in 2009, followed by a prestigious closings slot at the 2012 Olympics, eventually led to 2015’s long-awaited comeback album, The Magic Whip, but while they have since remained on indefinite hiatus, you can never say never where this talented, unpredictable grouup are concerned.