(note: on Friday's I'll talk about random stuff. Please get used to it.)
Much of the cool events in my life have been accompanied to the strains of a Blur song.
The very first time I heard a Blur song was the summer of 1997. I was at University as part of the orientation crew. (Colonial Cabinet Represent!) We all had to act in sketches that dealt with life on a college campus. One of the sketches dealt with coming out as gay to your roommates, and how some people might react. Or, more importantly, to prepare the incoming students that one of their roommates was in fact gay.
So this sketch was written by one of the guys in the group based off his experience. We all had to put a song with the sketch that helped set the mood. For this sketch, he chose "Girls and Boys" from Blur. A very good song, and perfect for the occasion.
Now I had already heard about Britpop. Oasis was huge in the states at that time, and "Wonderwall" was a massive song. But I hadn't heard about Blur until then. I didn't know they had already released 5 albums by 1997, and that they were about to hit it huge with "Song 2." They just sounded different, but familiar at the same time.
If you get the chance, and can find it for less than $100 somewhere, try to find the book, The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the demise of English Rock. Amazing book, and I wish to goodness I could find the person who I loaned mine to and never got back! One part of it is about Blur, and how they were against the Grunge movement in the US, and tried to be a bit more British. Their influences were The Kinks and Small Faces. They followed in the footsteps of The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and others that made British Pop music so special.
Starting with their album, Modern Life is Rubbish, and following up with Parklife and The Great Escape, Blur created a distinctly British sound that rocked. The lead singer, Damon Albarn, basically wanted to be Ray Davies of the Kinks. "Parklife" was a great song, with a bouncy tune and lyrics that were sardonic and upbeat at the same time. Phil Daniels did the vocals for the verses, which was a sly nod to his role in Quadrophenia.
Of course then came "Song 2". It was supposed to be tongue in cheek people! On the album titled Blur, it follows the fantastic song, "Beetlebum". Normal bands don't start off an album with a downer song like Beetlebum, and then follow it with stadium rock of "Song 2." The band was just messing with you. Still, Graham Coxon's guitar intro is awesome, followed by the pounding guitars and bass. Just perfect.
I did finally get to see Blur live in concert, but sadly it was after Graham had left the band. It was at the Reading Festival in 2003, and Blur headlined the 2nd night. They played everything, including stuff off their final album, Think Tank, which had been produced by Fatboy Slim. Two moments stand out in my memory. Albarn playing "Out of Time" from the final album, which was haunting, and "Song 2." The entire place jumped up and down, and even though we were outside I could feel the world move. That's what music is supposed to do.
Damon Albarn later started Gorillaz and the band The Good The Bad and The Queen with a member of the Clash. He also wrote the music for the movie Ordinary Decent Criminal which wasn't that bad really. Blur were a thing of the past, until the decided not to be. The reunited in 2009, released some new songs, toured and basically picked up where they left off. They've released more music since then ("Under the Westway" is great!) and will play the big concert in Hyde Park for the end of the Olympics with New Order and The Specials. All they need to do now is tour, and they could again be the best band in Britain. But that probably won't happen.
As I said, Blur's music has been in the background to some of the big moments in my life since I first heard them. My wife doesn't know this, but the first night I ever walked her to the tube in the rain, on the way back I for some reason started singing "Parklife." When we got married and walked into the reception hall, we did it to the strains of "Song 2." So Blur will always have a place for me.
I highly recommend the following for you: Go buy the three albums I mentioned above, along with the songs "Beetlebum", "song 2" and "Out of Time." Watch the movie Live Forever about Britpop and see once again how the Spice Girls almost ruined civilization, and try to find the book The Last Party. Graham Coxon's solo work is great, and Gorillaz is briliant. (Download "Clint Eastwood", "Dirty Harry" and "Stylo".)
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