And "When I feel heavy metal" is just plain funny. It was a pure rush of sound and if the words didn't necessarily make sense, well, it was hard to follow what Layne Staley was talking about, and Albarn's snide "It's not my problem" cuts deep into the heart of slackerdom. And the hook - Damon yelling "woo-hoo!" as the guitars come crashing in (you can practically see him doing his trademark jumps in your mind's eye) - is brilliantly simple and dumb, as catchy as anything Nirvana wrote, and better than anything any Seattle group outside of Stone Temple Pilots did. The song is practically over once it's begun, something that just never happened with lethargic grunge. It's a testament to Blur's tremendous gifts as musicians that the song only sounded like a parody to those in the know and, furthermore, it didn't matter, since it was catchier, hookier, and more concise than any grunge tune.
First of all, nothing on the record sounded remotely like Pavement, and secondly, "Song 2," with its stomping four-chord riff and loud-soft dynamics, was clearly a Nirvana sendup. (According to rumor, Pavement leader Stephen Malkmus returned the favor by having a fling with Albarn's then-girlfriend and Elastica leader Justine Frischmann while a houseguest with the couple.) Therefore, "Song 2," the heaviest song on the album, would logically have been the most Pavement-like tune on the album. press, Blur was seen as perhaps Blur's stab at being Pavement, since Damon just wouldn't shut up about the California quintet. Arriving on a hail of "America, she's really awright, ya know" hype by Damon in the U.K. For a band that reveled in irony like Blur, they had to appreciate that their mockery of grunge gave them their biggest hit in America.
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“I struggle with melancholia, but I know how to embellish it with joy.Oh, the irony. “I’m very neurotic sometimes,” Albarn told Apple Music.
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The heartbroken, lo-fi gospel of “Tender,” the beautifully careworn “Out of Time,” and the wistful “Under the Westway” offer the clearest windows into the psyche of one of Britain’s greatest songwriters. Side projects including Albarn’s Gorillaz, Coxon’s solo records, James’ cheese-making, and Rowntree’s political career have slowed production, but 2015’s The Magic Whip was another lesson in subverting pop norms while writing killer melodies.īeyond brash signature hits such as “Parklife” and “Song 2,” Blur had repeatedly proven to be masters of melancholy. It earned them a US breakthrough via the gale-force woo-hoos of “Song 2.” Two years later, 13 revealed a looser, proggier, and more electronic Blur, before they reacted to the temporary departure of Coxon by sampling car hoods and uniting punk, dance, and African music on Think Tank in 2003. On their fifth album, 1997’s Blur, they pivoted sharply back towards America and Coxon’s love of the alt-rock underground.
They’ve been left to follow their own intuition and thumb their noses at prevailing trends ever since.īritpop made them superstars, but Blur-who formed at Goldsmiths art college in London in 1988-were one of the first to leave the party. Early architects of a cultural phenomenon that stretched into film, fashion, and politics, they became one of Britain’s biggest bands with subsequent albums Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). Blur stood firm and was vindicated when Modern Life emerged as a founding pillar of Britpop in 1993. Frontman Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James, and drummer Dave Rowntree were told no one was interested in British pop and they should consider recruiting Nirvana producer Butch Vig. In 1992, with British indie music in thrall to grunge, Blur dug into English pop tradition instead, crafting songs that recalled the storytelling of The Kinks, XTC’s arty adventure, and Lennon and McCartney’s melodic nous. It’s not quite Dick Rowe passing on The Beatles, but the story of Blur’s second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, underlines the difficulties of forecasting success.
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