History Trivia / Blur

* CreatorBreakdown: Most of the darker lyrics on ''13'' were directly inspired by Damon's breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Elastica singer Justine Frischmann, ''especially'' "Tender" and "No Distance Left To Run".

* BlackSheepHit: "Song 2" (especially in America) and to a lesser extent, "Girls and Boys".

* OldShame: Despite a generally positive critical reaction upon release, Damon has since referred to ''Leisure'' as "awful". He has similarly dismissed ''The Great Escape'' as "messy".

* OldShame: Despite a generally positive critical reaction upon release, Damon has since referred to Leisure as "awful". He has similarly dismissed ''The Great Escape'' as "messy".

* HeyItsThatVoice: Damon also does vocals for Music/{{Gorillaz}} (and The Good, The Bad, And The Queen, which has never been as well-known). Parklife, of course, had Phil Daniels in the speaking role.
** "Ernold Same" has additional vocals by Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London.

* DuelingGames: Released one week after ''VideoGame/SplitSecond'', and the same day as ''VideoGame/ModNationRacers''.
* HeyItsThatVoice: The narrator [[spoiler: and final boss]] is [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold Olga Pataki.]] And that girl who says "give it to me baby" in [[Music/TheOffspring Pretty Fly For A White Guy.]]

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: An inversion, for singer Damon Albarn. A manga writer in Japan decided to name his protagonist [[SoulEater Maka Albarn]] after one of his favorite musicians.

* BlackSheepHit: "Song 2" (especially in America) and to a lesser extent, "Boys and Girls".

* OldShame: Despite a generally positive critical reaction upon release, Damon has since referred to Leisure as "awful". He has similarly dismissed ''The Great Escape'' as "messy".* RevivalByCommercialization: "Song 2" tends to get this a lot.

** An unfortunate example, from the same period is the track "Turn It Up" which the band hated but the American record label, SBK Records, thought it would do well there, and was added to ''Modern Life is Rubbish'' at the expense of "Young And Lovely", which the band liked (that song became the B-side to "Chemical World"). Ironically, "Turn it Up" was never released as a single, and SBK was so ridiculously incompetent that they also replaced "Chemical World" with its demo version, ''despite the fact that they demanded the song in the first place''. Humorously, "Chemical World" wound up becoming the American rock radio hit that SBK requested...but the version those stations played was the original version that was otherwise unavailable at the time in the US.

* CreatorKiller: {{Activision}} ended BizarreCreations when this and ''007: VideoGame/BloodStone'' didn't sell.
* DuelingGames: Released one week after ''SplitSecond'', and the same day as ''ModNationRacers''.

* RevivalByCommercialization: "Song 2" tends to get this a lot.

* CreatorKiller: {{Activision}} ended BizarreCreations when this and ''007: BloodStone'' didn't sell.

** In a much earlier period, Blur's early material as "Seymour", which eventually came out as B-sides for the "Sunday Sunday" single and on the ''Blur 21'' box set, showed them to be primarily a fast-paced, heavily punk-influenced band. However, by the time they made it onto Food Records, {{Shoegazing}} and [[AlternativeDance Madchester]] were at their peak popularity, so the label forced them to write songs fusing together the two subgenres for their first album ''Leisure''.

* HeyItsThatVoice: The narrator [[spoiler: and final boss]] is [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold Olga Pataki.]] And that girl who says "give it to me baby" in [[Music/TheOffspring Pretty Fly For A White Guy.]]
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: {{Activision}} ended Bizarre Creations when this didn't sell, and not long after Blur and 007: Bloodstone release.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: "Trailerpark" was originally recorded for the ''[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Chef Aid Album]]'', but RickRubin rejected it, so the band put it on ''13'' instead.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: "Trailerpark" was originally recorded for the ''[[SouthPark Chef Aid Album]]'', but RickRubin rejected it, so the band put it on ''13'' instead.

** An unfortunate example, from the same period is the track "Turn It Up" which the band hated but the American record label, SBK Records, thought it would do well there, and was added to ''Modern Life is Rubbish'' at the expense of "Young And Lovely", which the band liked (that song became the B-side to "Chemical World"). Ironically, "Turn it Up" was never released as a single, and SBK was so ridiculously incompetent that they also replaced "Chemical World" with its demo version, ''despite the fact that they demanded the song in the first place''. Humorously, "Chemical World" wound up satisfying SBK's request for an American rock radio hit...but the version those stations played was the original version that was otherwise unavailable at the time in the US.

** An unfortunate example, from the same period is the track "Turn It Up" which the band hated but the American record label, SBK Records, thought it would do well there, and was added to ''Modern Life is Rubbish'' at the expense of "Young And Lovely", which the band liked (that song became the B-side to "Chemical World"). Ironically, "Turn it Up" was never released as a single, and SBK was so ridiculously incompetent that they also replaced "Chemical World" with its demo version, ''despite the fact that they demanded the song in the first place''.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: {{Activision}} ended Bizarre Creations when this didn't sell.

** An unfortunate example, from the same period is the track "Turn It Up" which the band hated but the American record label thought it would do well there, and was added to ''Modern Life is Rubbish'' at the expense of "Young And Lovely", which the band liked (that song became the B-side to "Chemical World"). Ironically, "Turn it Up" was never released as a single.

** An unfortunate example, from the same period is the track "Turn It Up" which the band hated but the American record label thought it would do well there, and was added to ''Modern Life is Rubbish'' at the expense of "Young And Lovely", which the band liked (that song became the B-side to "Chemical World").

* HeyItsThatVoice: The narrator [[spoiler: and final boss]] is [[WestrnAnimation/HeyArnold Olga Pataki.]] And that girl who says "give it to me baby" in [[Music/TheOffspring Pretty Fly For A White Guy.]]

* RevivalByCommercialization: "Song 2" tends to get this a lot.