The record Graham Coxon calls “‘my’ Blur album”
To many, the name Blur has become synonymous with Britpop. The four-piece spent the 1990s cultivating a sound that blended the guitar stylings of their predecessors with witty lyrics delivered in an over-egged British accent, providing the genre with some of its most enduring hits and defining characteristics.
Between a highly publicised feud with their Manchester-born counterparts Oasis and the mammoth success of ‘Parklife’, Blur near-enough created Britpop as we know it today. But more than becoming akin to the genre they pioneered, the name Blur has also become synonymous with Damon Albarn.
This growing association isn’t an unfounded one. Albarn has always been the driving force behind Blur, taking control of their lyrics behind the scenes and of the mic on stage. His face and voice have always been at the forefront, but that doesn’t negate the influence or impact of his bandmates on Blur and on the wider sphere of Britpop.
While Albarn writes tales of everyday English life, bassist Alex James, drummer Dave Rowntree and guitarist Graham Coxon provide the supporting soundtrack. Their presence has always been invaluable to the beloved stylings of Blur, but there was one record where Coxon felt he was particularly invaluable during the recording process.
As the Britpop decade drew to a close, Blur were struggling with the pressures and expectations of the genre. Rather than pushing through it, Coxon suggested that the band took a different route and borrowed from the sound that was bubbling across the Atlantic.
Coxon pitched the likes of Pavement and Beck to his bandmates as influences before penning a particularly purposeful letter to the Blur frontman. As he explained in his book Verse, Chorus, Monster!, Coxon intended to “work the band harder and aim for music that was so scarily powerful it would give people the shivers again.”
“My shake-up letter, coupled with the examples of more adventurous US musicians, definitely infiltrated the album,” he continued, “Without wanting to sound overblown, it was ‘my’ Blur album.”
The record would spawn the iconic “woohoo”s of ‘Song 2’, the transcendental ‘Beetlebum’, and some more underrated but equally beautiful songs like ‘Strange News from Another Star’. It also contained ‘You’re So Great’, a song Coxon wrote alone, and a collaboration with David Bowie and Brian Eno.
The record lifted Blur out of the grasp of Britpop, showed their prowess for more complex alternative rock, and won over audiences in the United States. Over 25 years on from its first release, Blur is still one of their most beloved offerings and a demonstration of Coxon’s creative talent apart from Albarn.
Revisit Blur, the record Graham Coxon calls “‘my’ Blur album,” below.
