Blur - Icons, (or Should That Be Gnomes) Of The Britpop Era
Blur were icons of the Britpop era, intelligent, influential and commercially successful. They began life as Stone Roses' soundalikes but turned post Kinks in the 90s and led the Britpop invasion. After a modest single they were contacted by Morrissey producer Stephen Street who helped turn them into the best band of the decade. The debut album Leisure got good review but likened them to another plastic teen band, so popular at the time.
The follow-up Modern Life Is Rubbish emerged after endless rewrites, additions, revisions and indecisions most of them at the behest of UK and US record labels. Often voted as their best album and one of the best British albums of all time it nevertheless only reach #15 in the UK and peaked nowhere in the US.
Blur's next album Parklife was a different kettle of fish. The US didn't rate it but it took the UK by storm, entering the charts at #1 and going triple platinum. A follow-up string of hit single sent the boys into the stratosphere, their success opening the door for a wave of Britpop bands. They took four awards at the 1995 Brit awards including Best Album and Best Group. When the release of a single Country House from their next album was moved forward a week to compete with rival Manchester band Oasis it triggered the 'battle of the band' hype in the media.
Though Blur won the first round with the single hitting #1, they lost the second when Oasis trumped them with their album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? Blur's own album The Great Escape actually entered the UK charts at #1 to great critical acclaim but Oasis simply outsold them, grabbed the headlines with a few choice stunts, and Blur became has-beens.
They almost broke up in 1996 and stopped touring, concentrating instead on their next album, the eponymous Blur to rave reviews, but it failed to make a real impression in the UK though songs did rather better in the US. Other rival bands like Radiohead and The Verve were making bigger waves. The Britpop era also seemed to be on its last legs and, as the incarnation of it, Blur seemed to be going down with the ship. In 1999 they switched tack with a more mature album 13 though band members were by now involved with several solo projects.
Singer/guitarist Grham Coxon made a number of solo albums, basis Alex James joined actor Keith Allen and artist Damien Hirst to form Fat Les, while Damon Albarn came up with the cartoon 'virtual' supergroup Gorillaz an eponymous debut album. While recording their next album in Morocco in 2002 things began to fall apart. The album Think Tank appeared in 2003 to favourable reviews after Albarn had left. However for me, Damon Abarn is Blur and even as a slightly evil looking garden gnome in my garden, he'll still be a hero for me!
Blur rated albums:
Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995), Best Of . . .* (2000)
