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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBLURUK pop quartet formed in Colchester '89 by singer/keyboardist Damon Albarn (b 23 March '68, Whitechapel), guitarist Graham Coxon (b 12 March '69, West Germany), bass player Alex James (b 1 Nov. '68, Dorset) and drummer Dave Rowntree (b 8 May '64). They had quick success at the tail-end of Mancunian-led 'baggy' indie-dance bandwaggon with top ten hit 'There's No Other Way' and first album Leisure on Parlophone-associated Food label; they struggled to lose the teenage following by going punk rock on the Rollercoaster Tour, but sounded puny next to heavyweight noise-makers Jesus and Mary Chain, Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine. Reborn as (oxymoronic) mod luddites with Modern Life Is Rubbish (no. 15 '93) they seemed to plough a lone furrow, but their backward-looking anglocentricity proved prescient as their boisterous and self-confident third album Parklife (no. 1 '94) was perfectly timed for an anti- USA/grunge backlash. Their canny amalgam of David Bowie, Small Faces, the Who and the Jam captured the imagination of the UK music press and allied sixth-form rebel constituency, and pushed through a mass-market breach opened by Suede; Blur's laddish mock-cockney posturing was in tune with the spirit of the Britpop moment, but was later repented by the bohemian Albarn (whose father Keith had managed the Soft Machine '60s). They won five Brit Awards '95 (UK Grammy/MTV award equivalent) but a triumphant summer show in Mile End stadium (East London) induced delusions of grandeur: they moved the release date of the single 'Country House' to compete directly with rivals Oasis, and their initial jubilation at beating Oasis to a no. 1 hit single was soon blunted by Oasis's enormous success, but their rapturously received fourth album The Great Escape '96 was another no. 1 with a total of four top ten hits on it, so there was no real cause for upset. But Blur '97 hoed a different row: the jolly tunes and English music-hall attitude was gone, replaced by adventures in lo-fi in the form of more influences from garage to heavy metal: Britpop can't last for ever, and Blur appeared to be trying to make a step forward. |