Blur (band): Difference between revisions

{{creator}}

[[File:blur_1_8547.jpg|frame|From left to right: Graham Coxon, Alex James, Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree]]

 

'''Blur''' is an [[Alternative Rock]] band from Colchester, England (though more often associated with London), chiefly existing in [[The Nineties]]. Partial founders of the [[Britpop]] movement. Consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James, and drummer Dave Rowntree.

 

 

Achieved great success with ''Parklife'' a couple of years later, they switched to noisy, [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly|experimental]] [[Alternative Rock]] for the next couple of albums until eventually dissolving after ''[[The Band Minus the Face|Think Tank]]'' sometime around 2004. The original lineup, with Graham Coxon in tow, reunited in 2009 to much anticipation and released a new song, "Fool's Day" in the Spring of 2010. The band released two new songs, "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan", in July 2012, and performed at Hyde Park on the following month. They eventually released ''Blur 21'', a massive 21-disc collection containing all albums up to that point plus a huge chunk of side material [[Milestone Celebration|in commemoration of the band's 21st anniversary]], and in 2015 they released ''The Magic Whip'', their first album in twelve years.

 

{{Discography}}

* [[Attractive Bent Gender]]: Alex James in the "Parklife" video.

** Also Albarn [http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2r2wtdKK61r7hkv3o1_500.jpg here], mirroring [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]].

** "The Universal" has the audience taking over the choir during the chorus.

** The Hyde Park concert had the crowd singing along to "Coffee and TV" and "Girls & Boys", to the point ''they were louder than the band''. They were ''missed'' indeed.

* [[The Band Minus the Face]]: Fans of Coxon saw ''Think Tank'' as this. [[Creator Backlash|Albarn sorta agrees]].

* [[Bank Holidays]]: "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Bank Holiday]]", [[Sarcasm Mode|weirdly enough]].

** "To The End" has [[Stereolab]] singer Lætitia Sadier speaking French between the lines of the verses. In the ''Parklife'' single, Albarn himself tries to sing the whole song in French, ''to hilarious results due to his bad French'', and the "La Comédie" version has Françoise Hardy alternating her good French with Albarn's English.

** "Yuko and Hiro" features backing vocals in Japanese.

* [[Careful with That Axe]]: Albarn delves into this on certain tracks:

** The last words from "Swamp Song":

** A sudden one happens when "Crazy Beat" enters its last third.

** This bit in "Me, White Noise", complete with voice distortion.

* [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]]: ''Oh yes.''

* [[Concept Album]]: ''Modern Life is Rubbish'', ''Parklife'', and ''The Great Escape'' form a loose trilogy about the lives of the Working, Middle, and Upper classes in Britain, respectively. ''Blur'' is largely about Damon's relationship with Justine Frischmann, and ''13'' is almost all about the end of their relationship. Also, ''Think Tank'' with a very loose concept about war and love, and ''The Magic Whip'', inspired by the band's stint in China.

** Alex James has his chance with "Far Out" and "Alex' Song" from ''Parklife'', the latter through pitch-shifting effects. A demo released on the Blur 21 box set does not feature these effects, and it's said it happened in Albarn's deliberate attempt to sabotage Alex so he wouldn't outshine him.

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: "Yuko and Hiro", which is a sad song itself:

It helps with relaxing

I can't sleep without drinking

* [[Drugs Are Bad]]: "Beetlebum" is about negative drug experiences that Damon Albarn had with the aforementioned Justine Frischmann.

** Bassist Alex James admitted to spending £1,000,000 on cocaine during the band's mid-90's heyday, a decision he regretted after becoming clean. After Blur broke up and he became a farmer and journalist, James went on assignment for the BBC to Columbia for the 2008 TV documentary ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20111102155801/http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/292/cocaine-diaries-alex-james-in-columbia.jsp Cocaine Dairies: Alex James in Columbia]'', [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|about the horrors of the Columbian cocaine trade]].

* [[List Song]]: The lyrics of "Far Out" are a list of stars and moons visible at night.

* [[Looped Lyrics]]: "We've Got A File On You" is... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|well... just that.]] And nothing else. "Jets," as well.

** "Country House" is a bright, shiny pop tune about a horribly depressed rich man dealing with the emptiness of his existence.

** "Clover Over Dover", a cheery tune with lyrics about ''suicide''. The demo makes it even creepier.

** Many, if not most of their songs have [[Lyrical Dissonance]] to some degree. They epitomize the very [[Britpop]] tendency of marrying rather melancholy lyrics to bouncy, bubbly pop songs.

* [[Major Injury Underreaction]]: Figuratively in "Song 2":

By a Jumbo jet

It wasn't easy

* [[Metal Scream]]: Melding with [[Careful with That Axe]] in "Swamp Song".

* [[Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness]]: They are typically a 2-4, with their softest songs being a 1 and their heaviest songs being a 5. They hardly, if ever, go heavier than this.

* [[Music Video Overshadowing]]: "Coffee and TV". That video with the walking milk box.

* [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]]: The band went [[Genre Roulette|ecletic]] as their career progressed, which at first started with light experiments (like the [[Country Music|Country]] pisstake "Rednecks") and forays into jazz ("Got Yer!"), 60's leonge pop ("To the End"), music hall (covers of "Daisy Bell (A Bycicle for Two)" and "Let's All Go Down the Strand"), background muzak ("Supa Shoppa" and "Eine Kleine Lift Musik"), [[Synth Pop]] ("Girls & Boys", "People In Europe"), faux-soundtrack work ("Theme from an Imaginary Film") and waltz ("Anniversary Waltz"). As they left the Britpop scenery, they started experimenting for real, with ''13'' involving electronic music, "Music Is My Radar" and a good chunk of ''Think Tank'' involving [[Afrobeat]] [[Funk Rock]]. ''Think Tank'' also showed Middle-Eastern orchestrations ("Out of Time") and [[Blues]] guitar ("Brothers and Sisters"). During the [[Britpop]] era, this was the argument that put the band in a favorable position against their rival ''[[Oasis (band)|Oasis]]''.

** ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' introduced the Britpop sound the band became known for after ''Leisure'' failed to make waves with its [[Shoegazing]]-inspired sound.

** ''Blur'' broke away from the Britpop and into [[Alternative Rock]]-based sound akin to [[Pavement]].

* [[Poe's Law]]: "Song 2" was originally intended as a satire to [[Grunge]], but ended up as an archetype of the genre.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: "Me, White Noise" has this in both its versions:

'Why am I here?'

* [[Protest Song]]: "Don't Bomb When You Are the Bomb", a rare single written in protest against the Iraq War; most of its copies were handed out and destroyed in an anti-war rally, but the song is still available in the ''Blur 21'' box set.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: The band was the blue oni to ''[[Oasis (band)|Oasis]]'''s red during their rivalry. In the band itself, Damon and Graham are the red onis, while Alex and Dave are the blue ones.

* [[Self-Titled Album]]: The fifth, which is the one where they abandoned [[Britpop]].

* [[Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll]]: The premise of "Crazy Beat".

** The video for "The Universal" is a shout out to [[Stanley Kubrick]] and ''[[A Clockwork Orange]]''.

** The video for "To The End" is a shout out to ''[[Last Year at Marienbad]]''.

* [[Something Something Leonard Bernstein]]: "Song 2" goes "WOO-HOO".

* [[Signature Song]]: Yeah, "Song 2" is hard to shake off.

** "Parklife", most notably, with Phil Daniels doing the speaking.

** "Me, White Noise", also with Phil Daniels.