The 10 best Blur songs
In the mid-1990s, the landscape of rock music underwent a significant shift following the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain. With the voice of their generation gone, rock fans found themselves grappling with uncertainty about the future direction of the genre. While some embraced the Britpop movement spearheaded by bands like Oasis, others looked to alternative avenues for artistic expression. Blur, for instance, eschewed the mainstream in favour of exploring art-rock sensibilities, carving out a distinct identity that set them apart from their peers.
Compared to the distinctive sounds of England coming out of the early 1990s, Damon Albarn had something else in mind when putting together the band’s tunes. Although many of their best songs tend to be about reworking the tropes of the 1960s for a new audience, their best moments come when they stray away from what their audience expected.
Instead of trying their hand at being the answer to The Kinks every single time they went into the studio, there were more than a few bright spots across every album to keep fans wondering where they were going to go next. Even in their 1990s prime, this kind of experimentation was practically a preview of what Albarn would be doing in the years to come with Gorillaz.
For all of the wild twists and turns they have gone down, Blur has always tried to stay true to themselves, giving fans a look at the kind of artists they are in the moment rather than trying to recreate nostalgia at every opportunity. From Britpop to punk to art-rock and everything in between, here’s a look at the absolute best from some of the most reluctant kings of 1990s rock.
The 10 best songs by Blur:
10. ‘She’s So High’ – Leisure
Most people, even those semi-familiar with Blur, normally have a clear picture of what they sound like in their head. Even if you’ve never been through a full album, it’s easy to assume that the hapless lads strutting around in the video for ‘Parklife’ video have that same good-time spirit spread throughout their music. On their first album, though, the band had started in the world of shoegaze before getting in touch with their retro side.
Although much of Leisure sees the band virtually unrecognisable to the common eye, ‘She’s So High’ is an excellent take on the genre, featuring Albarn’s first attempt at making a song that might actually have a chance on the radio. Even though the band didn’t have as much luck with the song as they would later, they did have a fan in Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, who shouted the song’s praises when he made his way to the UK for the first time. Definitely a strange place to start, but it’s an interesting sign of things to come.
9. ‘Song 2’ – Blur
Every band usually has that one song that hangs like an albatross around their neck. Phil Collins may now be sick of songs like ‘In the Air Tonight’, while Guns N’ Roses may not want to hear ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ ever again after hearing it onstage for years. Since Blur has been known as one of the titans of British rock, how the hell did one of their biggest breakthroughs come from a send-up of alt-rock?
Written as a parody of the fading grunge scene, ‘Song 2’ is the pure encapsulation of adrenaline from the moment Albarn says ‘Woo-Hoo’ for the first time. Compared to the polish of most post-grunge outfits, this is probably the closest that Graham Coxon ever got to dialling in a dirty guitar tone, doing his heroes like Dinosaur Jr proud with how fuzzy it sounds in the final mix. In just two minutes, the band had left Britpop in the dust, determined to spend the rest of their self-titled carving out a new path.
8. ‘Popscene’
Not everyone is cut out to be a pop star. While the idea of being paraded around like some kind of circus performer may sound fun for some people, there comes a point where even the most level-headed performers need some sort of break. Instead of leaning into their new celebrity status, Albarn used the tropes of being a pop star against themselves across their greatest single.
Although the song is a decent romp through the band’s typical style, the lyrics are some of the most nihilistic that Albarn has ever written, talking about how the pop scene is full of artificial people who care about nothing but attention. Considering that Blur was seeing most of this firsthand, this is the kind of worldly wisdom that should have been hammered out by someone twice their age. It may sound like pop, but putting a lyric like this on top of everything is borderline punk.
7. ‘Ghost Ship’ – The Magic Whip
Every single comeback album in existence already has the odds stacked against it. Since the musicians haven’t been playing together in years, if not decades, how the hell are they supposed to live up to the track record they set when they started out? With time comes perspective, though, and ‘Ghost Ship’ is proof that sometimes the comeback doesn’t always have to suck.
After Coxon moved on to a solo career and Albarn got in tune with his digital self, ‘Ghost Ship’ feels like blending everyone’s respective styles under one roof. Taking the zany side of Blur and putting a healthy dose of muscle behind it, this is the kind of danceable groove that feels like a mix of the band’s playful side with that trademark 1990s cynicism. The battles over Britpop’s crown may have died a long time ago, but that didn’t mean that the music suddenly had to stop.
6. ‘Trouble in the Message Centre’ – Parklife
Out of all the Britpop mainstays, Blur tended to look like the proper version of what the genre was supposed to be. Instead of The Gallaghers shouting obscenities at each other in almost every interview, these were (comparatively) the art-rock schoolboys looking to take risks whenever they went into the studio. Blur still had a fire in them, though, and ‘Trouble In The Message Centre’ is the kind of punk rock that no one really expected.
Although half of Parklife is filled with its share of surprises, the production value behind this song is immaculate, with Coxon’s guitar dominating the final mix as Albarn sings about the meaninglessness of everyday jobs. While half of the songs on the album have to do with the cynical side of life, this is the perfect example of the music matching the lyrics. The message centre might seem like any other job, but there’s a fine line between having a decent job and landing in a working-class prison.
5. ‘Charmless Man’ – The Great Escape
Blur never asked to be a part of the next rock movement when they started out. They were already doing their own thing by the time the British music scene blew up, so when they suddenly got co-opted into the genre, it wasn’t exactly by choice all the time. If they were going to have to play the game with people like Oasis and The Verve, then why not lean into the sounds of the 1960s as much as possible?
Compared to their flirtation with 1960s rock and roll on earlier albums, ‘Charmless Man’ plays to every strength the band had, from the ‘la-la-la’ chorus to the abnormal sonic detours going on throughout the song’s midsection. The protagonist is also someone that Albarn could write about in his sleep, practically looking like ‘Tracy Jacks’ had he decided to take his frustration out on his colleagues rather than his frail state of mind. Never before had the sounds of utter tastelessness sounded so good.
4. ‘Girls and Boys’ – Parklife
At the start of the 1990s, there was still a cardinal rule about not letting the electronic side of music seep into rock and roll. The genre was all about loud guitars and brilliant melodies, and no amount of dance beats and synthesisers were going to get in the way of artists willing to take over the world. Both genres could play nice when they wanted to, though, and Blur cracked the code on how to make alternative synth-rock on ‘Girls and Boys’.
Opening with the blaring sounds of sequencers, the entire song feels like the kind of mindless dance rock that many would listen to at the clubs, only for Albarn to put lyrics over the top about how modern relationships are going down the toilet. Outside of the insistent beat, Coxon delivers some of the strangest guitar licks of his career, almost sounding like he’s trying to make some sort of alien noise on his instrument. The age of Britpop was in full swing, but considering Noel Gallagher wouldn’t work with The Chemical Brothers until a few years later, Blur were already ahead of the curve in terms of danceable rock and roll.
3. ‘Beetlebum’ – Blur
Throughout their career, there was sometimes resistance on Blur’s part to making anything that sounded too close to The Beatles. Outside of the fact that their greatest rivals were practically a Beatles cover band without the covers, Albarn knew that the Fab Four were a piece of nostalgia that he didn’t necessarily need to cover. If ‘Beetlebum’ was their attempt at making something in the Beatles vein, though, they probably should have done it a lot more often.
Although the guitar tone firmly stamps the song in the 1990s, this is one of the more effortless melodies that Albarn ever made, doing his idols proud with surrealist imagery throughout the tune. While it’s not necessarily as memorable as the classics it’s emulating, it’s easy to squint your ears and hear Mick Jagger or even George Harrison delivering this song, albeit with a certain sarcastic bite. Even though the late 1990s saw everyone leaving Britpop in the dust, ‘Beetlebum’ made for a decent send-off to the golden era of the genre.
2. ‘End of the Century’ – Parklife
The golden age of Blur’s discography always revolved around one word: life. While they may have been making the kind of music that people could enjoy at the moment, the lyrics were always a reminder of mortality, knowing that you’re only a few bad decisions away from ending up in a box somewhere. While it might not be easy to deliver existential dread in a song, ‘End of the Century’ is the result of being dead on the inside for years.
Creating the portrait of the modern man, Albarn talks about how far humanity has fallen, practically feeling like robots as they kiss with dry lips at the end of every day and don’t bother to change their clothes because of how normal everything is. Despite it being one of the catchiest moments of the band’s career, ‘End of the Century’ is practically a cautionary tale for everyone caught up in modern life. Wait…a song about a man who doesn’t feel anything and that he’s not really there throughout his life? Yeah, best keep an eye on the character in this song so he doesn’t turn into Patrick Bateman.
1. ‘The Universal’ – The Great Escape
It was never easy to get a gauge on how Blur were feeling throughout their tenure. As much as they may have played up for the camera, their lyrics always told a different story about what can happen when someone is pushed a little bit too far in their life. While they may have kept their audience in this cynical state of limbo throughout the 1990s, ‘The Universal’ is the moment where Albarn finally lets us go.
After talking about the dread that comes with everyday life for the past three albums, this pop marvel is the call for everyone listening to snap out of it as Albarn screams to let go of the stresses of life. For as many times the band had utilised orchestral instruments, this is one of the most tasteful arrangements of the decade, practically announcing the new guard of humanity that can either choose to stay jaded for the rest of their lives or show some semblance of compassion. Oasis may have claimed to write songs for the common people, but what Blur captured in four minutes turned that middle-class dread into high art.
