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Blur: Bands
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Biography: Initially, Blur was one of the multitude of British bands who appeared in the wake of the Stone Roses, mining the same swirling, pseudo-psychedelic guitar pop, only with louder guitars. Following an image makeover in the mid-'90s, the group emerged as the most popular band in the U.K., establishing themselves ...Read full biography
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Initially, Blur was one of the multitude of British bands who appeared in the wake of the Stone Roses, mining the same swirling, pseudo-psychedelic guitar pop, only with louder guitars. Following an image makeover in the mid-'90s, the group emerged as the most popular band in the U.K.,...
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XTC's Andy Partridge was originally slated to produce Modern Life Is Rubbish, but the relationship between Blur and Partridge soured, so Street was again brought in to produce the record. After spending nearly a year in the studio, the band delivered the album to Food records. The record company rejected the album, declaring that it needed a hit single. Blur went back into the studio and recorded Albarn's 'For Tomorrow,' turned out to be a British hit. Food was ready to release the record, but the group's U.S. record company, SBK, believed there was no American hit single on the record and asked them to return to the studio. Blur complied and recorded 'Chemical World,' which pleased SBK for a short while; the song would become a minor alternative hit in the U.S. and charted at number 28 in the U.K. Modern Life Is Rubbish was set for release in the spring of 1993 when SBK asked Blur to re-record the album with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Sonic Youth).
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With Blur, this glossy pop band rethinks its craft. Claiming that their current inspirations include Beck and Pavement, Blur have made an album that singer Damon Albarn and guitarist Graham Coxon say was done off the cuff. The scrupulous sonic contouring and porcelain finishes of Blur's last two albums have vanished. Blur's melodies... have abandoned much of their old Kinks-y fuss. Take "Song 2": It starts with a flaky rhythm track, piles on distorted guitars, yelps "whee hoo," then traipses off into a surrealistic monologue before returning to rock out on the choruses.
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On the holiest of perrenial quests to crack the States, Blur had come close to tearing themselves apart. Albarn and Coxon the creative chalk and cheese at the heart of the band were at each others' throats. But this was probably more to do with the sinking feeling that they'd always be tied to some ersatz Estuary 'knees-up' genre that, having perfected they now tired of completely. By this point they were listening to Pavement and all their heroes were across the pond. The song "Look Inside America" said it all. With its referrals to lovers conversations over the long distance crackle of a phone, here was Albarn taking the Beatle-esque vibe and re-tooling it for a wider market, less bothered about the snapshots of Olde Englande.
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All four members of Blur reunited this week (October 1) for the first time in several years after an extended hiatus, the band have announced. In early 2002, Blur temporarily broke their hiatus to record a song that would be played for the European Space Agency's Mars Lander... the plan fell through when the lander was lost. The group's site issued the following on their website, after meeting to discuss future plans over lunch. MORE
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