History Music / Blur

!!This band provides examples of:

[floatboxright:Influences: Music/TheKinks, Music/DavidBowie, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/TheSmallFaces, Music/TheStoneRoses, Music/TheJam, Music/TheWho, Music/TheBeatles, Music/{{Madness|Band}}, Music/{{XTC}}, Music/{{Cardiacs}}, Music/{{Squeeze|Band}}, Music/IanDuryAndTheBlockheads, Music/TheSpecials, Music/TheSmiths, Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{Pavement}}, Music/TheVelvetUnderground, Music/SydBarrett, Music/FelaKuti]

* MoodWhiplash: Most of their pre-S/T albums are guilty of this, but ''The Great Escape'' in particular has this in spades - for example, the bright and energetic "Mr Robinson's Quango" leads directly into the melancholic "He Thought Of Cars", which itself leads into "It Could Be You", the happiest song on the entire album.

** "This is a Low" contains references to the BBC Radio/ShippingForecast, which the band listened to while touring in America to alleviate their homesickness.

They achieved great success with ''Music/{{Parklife}}'' a few years later, then switched to noisy, experimental AlternativeRock for their next several albums until eventually dissolving after ''[[TheBandMinusTheFace Think Tank]]'' sometime around 2004. The original lineup, with Graham Coxon in tow, reunited in 2009 to much anticipation and released a new song, "Fool's Day" in the Spring of 2010. The band released two more new songs - "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan" - in July 2012 and performed at an Olympics closing ceremony concert in Hyde Park in August along-side Music/NewOrder, Music/TheSpecials and Bombay Bicycle Club. After a bit of a TroubledProduction, they released their first album in 12 years, ''The Magic Whip'', in April 2015. Another hiatus followed until the announcement of their ninth album ''The Ballad of Darren'' in 2023.

Blur is an AlternativeRock band from Colchester, England (though more often associated with London), chiefly existing in TheNineties. Partial founders of the {{Britpop}} movement, the band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James, and drummer Dave Rowntree.

** And Damon Albarn [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2r2wtdKK61r7hkv3o1_500.jpg here]], mirroring Music/{{Blondie}}. Good Lord.

[floatboxright:Influences: Music/TheKinks, Music/DavidBowie, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/TheSmallFaces, Music/TheStoneRoses, Music/TheJam, Music/TheWho, Music/TheBeatles, Music/{{Madness|Band}}, Music/{{XTC}}, Music/{{Cardiacs}}, Music/{{Squeeze}}, Music/IanDuryAndTheBlockheads, Music/TheSpecials, Music/TheSmiths, Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{Pavement}}, Music/TheVelvetUnderground, Music/SydBarrett, Music/FelaKuti]

[floatboxright:Influences: Music/TheKinks, Music/DavidBowie, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/TheSmallFaces, Music/TheStoneRoses, Music/TheJam, Music/TheWho, Music/TheBeatles, Music/{{Madness}}, Music/{{XTC}}, Music/{{Cardiacs}}, Music/{{Squeeze}}, Music/IanDuryAndTheBlockheads, Music/TheSpecials, Music/TheSmiths, Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{Pavement}}, Music/TheVelvetUnderground, Music/SydBarrett, Music/FelaKuti]

*** The ones after "Coffee & TV" and "B.L.U.R.E.M.I." are short organ doodles (the latter being notable for being played on a synth organ that makes it sound like an ''Videogame/{{Earthbound}}'' soundtrack outtake).

* NonAppearingTitle: "Song 2", "Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club", "M.O.R." (which stands for 'middle of the road', which ''does'' appear in the song), "Essex Dogs", "Country Sad Ballad Man", ([[DownplayedTrope technically]] -it contains the all of the words in the title, just not together), "Trouble in the Message Centre", and the alternate extended version of "Me, White Noise" (the original hidden track version averts this.)

Debuted in 1989 on the {{Shoegazing}} and Madchester scenes as Seymour before signing to Food Records under the condition that they change their name to Blur (and, according to fan legend, that drummer Dave Rowntree stop wearing pyjama pants on stage). Soon after released their first album ''Leisure'' to moderate success, followed by the [[{{Britpop}} very British]] "[[TropeMakers Popscene]]" single and a tour of America [[AmericansHateTingle to predictable results]].

They achieved great success with ''Music/{{Parklife}}'' a few years later, then switched to noisy, experimental AlternativeRock for the next couple of albums until eventually dissolving after ''[[TheBandMinusTheFace Think Tank]]'' sometime around 2004. The original lineup, with Graham Coxon in tow, reunited in 2009 to much anticipation and released a new song, "Fool's Day" in the Spring of 2010. The band released two more new songs - "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan" - in July 2012 and performed at an Olympics closing ceremony concert in Hyde Park in August along-side Music/NewOrder, Music/TheSpecials and Bombay Bicycle Club. After a bit of a TroubledProduction, they released their first album in 12 years, ''The Magic Whip'' in April 2015. Another hiatus followed until the announcement of their ninth album ''The Ballad of Darren'' in 2023.

** Alex sings lead vocals on "Far Out" and "Alex' Song". The latter through pitch-shifting effects a demo released on the Blur 21 box set does not feature these effects. See ObviousBeta in YMMV on more about these songs.

** Alex sings lead vocals on "Far Out" and "Alex' Song". The latter through pitch-shifting effects a demo released on the Blur 21 box set does not feature these effects. See ObviousBeta below on more about these songs.

* ObviousBeta: A rare music example in ''Parklife'''s "Far Out". Compare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTd5j6S337s the song that ended in the album]] against [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9UYA2EY2DQ its demo]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUWEzsKqPJE a remix that completes the album song]]. Chances are that you will prefer either the demo or the remix over the final track due to how they basically ''chopped half the song'' on its way to the album.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2NorSMvNzA Alex's Song]]" from the same album's B-sides also suffers from this, due to Alex James {{Corpsing}} heavily against the pitch distortion and eventually giving in and dropping out of the mic to laugh. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9g7zM_HSIc The demo]] has some extra content compared to the "finished" song. It seems Alex James tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to his songs...

They achieved great success with ''Music/{{Parklife}}'' a few years later, then switched to noisy, experimental AlternativeRock for the next couple of albums until eventually dissolving after ''[[TheBandMinusTheFace Think Tank]]'' sometime around 2004. The original lineup, with Graham Coxon in tow, reunited in 2009 to much anticipation and released a new song, "Fool's Day" in the Spring of 2010. The band released two more new songs - "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan" - in July 2012 and performed at an Olympics closing ceremony concert in Hyde Park in August along-side Music/NewOrder, Music/TheSpecials and Bombay Bicycle Club. After a bit of a TroubledProduction, they released their first album in 12 years, ''The Magic Whip'' on April 27, 2015.

* DrugsAreBad:
** "Beetlebum" is about negative drug experiences that Damon Albarn had with the aforementioned Justine Frischmann.
** Bassist Alex James admitted to spending £1,000,000 on cocaine during the band's mid-90's heyday, a decision he regretted after becoming clean. After Blur broke up and he became a farmer and journalist, James went on assignment for Creator/TheBBC to Colombia for the 2008 TV documentary ''[[http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/292/cocaine-diaries-alex-james-in-columbia.jsp Cocaine Dairies: Alex James in Colombia]]'', about the horrors of the Colombian cocaine trade.

** Bassist Alex James admitted to spending £1,000,000 on cocaine during the band's mid-90's heyday, a decision he regretted after becoming clean. After Blur broke up and he became a farmer and journalist, James went on assignment for Creator/TheBBC to Columbia for the 2008 TV documentary ''[[http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/292/cocaine-diaries-alex-james-in-columbia.jsp Cocaine Dairies: Alex James in Columbia]]'', about the horrors of the Columbian cocaine trade.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: A truly creepy example in "I'm Just a Killer for Your Love".

[[caption-width-right:280:From left to right: Graham Coxon, Alex James, Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree]]

** ''Think Tank'' took inspiration from a slew of genres (dance music, hip hop, dub, jazz, African music).

* SoloSideProject: Graham Coxon wrote and released his own albums while the band was still together, and has continued his solo career post-breakup.
** Similarly, Damon Albarn released both a couple of soundtrack albums and the first Gorillaz album whilst the band was originally together. He went on to make Gorillaz full time after Think Tank.

You can now vote for your favourite Blur album by heading over to the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/Sandbox/BestAlbumBlur Best Album crowner]].

** "Death of a Party" was originally recorded in 1992 as an acoustic demo, but not released. The band forgot about it until they rediscovered it in 1996 and released it on CD as that years fan club release. They liked it so much they decided to rerecord it for their 1997 album ''Blur''. Remixes were commissioned, but it didn't make a full single.

** ''Blur'' hides "Interlude" in the length (as in ''inside'' rather than at the start or the end of the track) of the final track "Essex Dogs", making it look longer than it actually is. In the American release, it’s made even longer with "Dancehall" being added between the two.

They achieved great success with ''{{Music/Parklife}}'' a few years later, then switched to noisy, experimental AlternativeRock for the next couple of albums until eventually dissolving after ''[[TheBandMinusTheFace Think Tank]]'' sometime around 2004. The original lineup, with Graham Coxon in tow, reunited in 2009 to much anticipation and released a new song, "Fool's Day" in the Spring of 2010. The band released two more new songs - "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan" - in July 2012 and performed at an Olympics closing ceremony concert in Hyde Park in August along-side Music/NewOrder, Music/TheSpecials and Bombay Bicycle Club. After a bit of a TroubledProduction, they released their first album in 12 years, ''The Magic Whip'' on April 27, 2015.

* ''{{Music/Parklife}}'' (1994)

* AlbumTitleDrop: ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' in "For Tomorrow". ''{{Music/Parklife}}'' in... well "Parklife".

* {{Britpop}}: Well, ''duh''. Their albums ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'', ''{{Music/Parklife}}'' and ''The Great Escape'' form a loose Britpop trilogy about the lives of the Working, Middle and Upper classes in Britain, respectively.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''Think Tank's'' "We've Got a File On You," which is barely a minute of Damon repeatedly chanting just that, set to very heavy guitar.

* StylisticSuck: Whilst their first two albums had produced a wealth of good b-sides (largely because most of them were in contention for the album at some point), the ''Parklife'' era singles were composed either of joke songs, or songs with uninspired lyrics. These include "Supa Shoppa" (a parody of bossa nova), "Beard" (a parody of jazz), "Theme From An Imaginary Film" (a song Damon wrote for the soundtrack of the film ''Decadence'' that the producer thought was terrible), "Anniversary Waltz" and "Got Yer!" (both hammond organ waltzes, the latter with Damon impersonating Creator/MichaelCaine) "Threadneedle Street" (a song where the lyrics come directly from ''The Financial Times''), "Magpie" (a song where the lyrics are taken directly from the Creator/WilliamBlake poem "The Poison Tree"), "People In Europe" (a song where Damon speaks several languages badly), "Peter Panic" (a blatant Music/SydBarrett copy), "Rednecks" (a Graham-sung track that is a parody of Music/JohnnyCash), and to top it all, "Alex's Song" (where a folk song by Alex was put through a pitchshifter to make him sound like a chipmunk). The band's timing for these b-sides couldn't have been worse, as Music/{{Oasis}}' b-sides at the time were often considered better than album tracks (and thus, the comparison fueled the rivalry).

* WordSaladLyrics: "People In Europe", in ''multiple languages''.

[floatboxright:Influences: Music/TheKinks, Music/DavidBowie, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/TheSmallFaces, Music/TheStoneRoses, Music/TheJam, Music/TheWho, Music/TheBeatles, Music/{{Madness}}, Music/{{XTC}}, Music/{{Cardiacs}}, Music/{{Squeeze}}, Music/IanDuryAndTheBlockheads, Music/TheSpecials, Music/TheSmiths, Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{Pavement}}, Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/SydBarrett, Music/FelaKuti]

* IndecipherableLyrics: With some regularity, especially when distorted vocals become their norm.

* TheAlcoholic: All four members were infamous for their heavy drinking, to the point where by 1992 they were a running joke in the music industry for it. The official book ''3862 Days'' makes specific reference to a gig at London Town And Country Club which the band performed audibly intoxicated after having been drinking for six hours (it can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhVSU4wd1lg here]]. This resulted in an intervention from their manager, who stated they should wait until half an hour before going onstage to have a drink. Initially, Dave was considered the worst drinker, but the torch soon passed to Graham, who would drink a whole bottle of vodka a night (a textbook case of alcoholism). His drinking had gotten so out of control by the ''Think Tank'' sessions that he ended up in rehab, and still wasn't considered well enough to rejoin the band (which is why he only appeared on a handful of tracks from the period). He has been sober since.