Damon Albarn "found it difficult" to cope with his Britpop success.

The 55-year-old star enjoyed huge success as part of Blur during the Britpop era in the 1990s - when British bands dominated the musical landscape - and Damon admits that he struggled to cope with the pressures of fame.

He told the 'Rise And Fall Of Britpop' podcast: "I had a sort of a strange episode when I was walking under the A12. Suddenly it looks like everything you've ever dreamed of is going to come true and I had a real ... call it a panic attack or something like that.

"That reverberated for many years really. It was quite difficult thing to live with, especially as everything ramped up. I found it difficult, if I'm honest."

Blur developed an intense rivalry with Oasis during the Britpop era, and Damon previously admitted to getting "caught up" in the hype.

The chart-topping star also conceded that he couldn't beat his Oasis rival Noel Gallagher "in a war of words".

He told the Guardian newspaper: "We were young and we let ourselves get caught up in it. And the competitiveness was ridiculous for a while, but, you know, I was never gonna beat Noel in a war of words."

Damon also believes that pop music has become "dumber" over recent times.

He shared: "It's a shame because the three-minute pop song was such a great way to express discontent. But we have allowed our pop music to become dumber.

"You have to look to the margins for a lot of the really interesting stuff. With the mainstream, it's like we've gone back to showbusiness again. It's a pop landscape that exists like Dylan and the Beatles never happened, never mind the Specials."