The classic Blur song inspired by heroin
The 1990s birthed a multitude of new genres and accompanying subcultures, from hazy shoegaze to acid rave to grunge, but perhaps the most prevalent cultural movement in Britain was Britpop. Influenced by the grunge and shoegaze scenes that came before, Britpop popularised a new brighter, guitar-driven sound in the UK. Led by the likes of Blur, Oasis and Pulp, the genre gained widespread mainstream success for its indie-pop sound paired with realistic lyrics about life in Britain.
The influence of Britpop on the masses stretched further than the airwaves. The scene brought with it a laddish culture, British patriotism and working-class pride. Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher played a union jack instrument, band members famously got into legal trouble and feuds, and drug abuse was rife and romanticised.
At the centre of this scene was Blur. Founded in London in the late 1980s, Blur became one of Britpop’s “big four” with their breakout album Parklife in 1994. The titular track became one of the genre’s most noteworthy tracks, a track which hears Phil Daniels narrate a scene of Britishness and the working class.
Blur was also exemplary of how drug misuse plagued the Britpop era. The opening track to their self-titled fifth album, released in 1997, was just one look into their struggles with substances. Albarn wrote ‘Beetlebum’ about his experiences experimenting with drugs with his girlfriend Justine Frischmann. The sublime track combines a leisurely beat with soft vocals as Albarn laments, “I just slip away and I am gone.” It’s both sensual and sad.
When discussing the track, Albarn acknowledged that the track was inspired by his drug use: “It’s about drugs basically,” he said. “I’m not sure what a Beetlebum is. It’s just a word I sang when I played the song to myself. I asked the others if I should change it, but they said no. If it felt right, we decided that we wouldn’t tidy it up like we’ve done in the past.”
Though Albarn doesn’t seem sure, it’s possible that the title is an allusion to the slang “chasing the beetle”, which means smoking heroin. The phrase is said to come from the method of use, comparing a beetle to the black residue left by heating heroin on tin foil.
In the 2010 documentary No Distance Left To Run, frontman Damon Albarn shared, “That whole period of a lot of people’s lives was fairly muddied by heroin for a lot of people. And it’s sort of, it’s in that place. And a lot of stuff was at that time.”
Albarn elaborated on his experimentation with drugs in Q Magazine. He suggested that heroin helped his creativity: “It freed me up… I somehow managed to break out of something with my voice. I can only say heroin was incredibly productive for me.” But he also noted its loneliness: “It turns you into a very isolated person. Ultimately, anything that you are truly dependent on is not good.”
Though the track contains themes of both sex and drugs, ‘Beetlebum’ gained Blur a UK number one and has become one of their most famous songs.
