I never should have signed up for this. Volunteered, even. It doesn’t matter what criteria you apply or artificial boundaries you create to make the task easier, there’s no way to pick 10 songs from Blur’s catalog and call them the band’s best without knowing you’ve left out at least a dozen more that not only belong in the conversation but are probably better than the 10 you picked in the first place. But here I am, cutting, indecisive, fucked.
Anyway, last week, Spin‘s Chris Weingarten posed the following question:
Serious question of the day for Americans: When exactly did Blur turn from enjoyable/ignorable singles band into OMG IMPORTANT ARTISTES
— Chris Weingarten (@1000TimesYes) August 1, 2012
I kinda get the impression that maybe Weingarten thinks Blur shouldn’t be considered “IMPORTANT ARTISTES” and thus the “serious question” he poses is actually rhetorical, but I disagree with that notion wholeheartedly, and I’m interested in answering him in earnest. So: There are a few points in the band’s career when they seem to make this leap. The most obvious is their sixth (and second-to-last) album, 13, on which they left behind entirely their jauntier, more condescending elements and produced an album that was, for the first time, wounded and emotionally direct; it was also, sonically, their most daring work, as well as their most consistent. It produced singles, yes (most notably opener “Tender” and unlikely hit “Coffee And TV”), but it’s an album that demands immersion. Really, “Tender” and “Coffee And TV,” while great, feel anomalous here; the album is at its best when it leaves behind chart aspirations for the murky depths of Damon Albarn’s heartbreak and Graham Coxon’s abrasive guitar anti-heroism, which are fully plumbed on Side 2.
The next most obvious point is probably sometime after Blur dissolved completely — or soon before that dissolution — following their gorgeous, misunderstood, magnificent final (?) album, 2003′s Think Tank, which was “OMG IMPORTANT” enough to score a 9.0 on Pitchfork upon its release. At that point, Albarn had already put on display his own impressive artistic diversity beyond Blur (via Gorlliaz, Mali Music, and his Honest Jon’s label), and Blur’s music was reflecting Albarn’s explorations. It was as good a time as any for critics and fans to revisit Blur’s earlier work and pick up on the band’s vast and constantly evolving creativity, which obviously dwarfed a Britpop scene that produced almost nothing but “enjoyable/ignorable singles band[s].” (As someone who remembers and owned albums by the likes of Echobelly and the Bluetones and Catatonia and Space and Cast and Dodgy and Sleeper and ALL OF THEM, let me tell you that, if you think Blur were just a singles band, you really have to go back and check out some of those import Now That’s What I Call Music comps from the second half of the ’90s.)
But really, the point at which Blur made that leap came when they released their second album, 1993′s Modern Life Is Rubbish. While their 1991 debut, Leisure, had produced some fine and indelible singles (“There’s No Other Way” and “She’s So High,” of course) that cashed in on the popularity of the Madchester “baggy” scene, Blur changed their approach entirely and tried to produce a classic with Modern Life, a loose-concept album about being young and broke in post-Thatcher, pre-Blair Britain. Here, Albarn’s voice as a writer emerged — both lyrically and melodically — and Coxon’s violent, acrobatic guitar abilities were first unleashed. (This is not to give short shrift to the contributions of bassist Alex James or drummer Dave Rowntree, who really do combine to create the most dynamic [and quotable] rhythm section of the era.) Modern Life became the first chapter of the band’s unofficial Britpop trilogy — followed by ’94′s Parklife and ’95′s The Great Escape — which obviously came to define Blur’s identity for quite some time. Modern Life is not a perfect album, but it’s deep and ambitious and obviously not especially singles-oriented (except that nearly every song here could have been a single); experienced in context, it clearly signals the emergence of Blur as artists. American critics and audiences might not have recognized it as such because we had some interesting music happening on our own shores in 1993, and the brute power of grunge didn’t mingle well with the arch, Anglocentric Davies-isms Albarn was offering at the time, but that doesn’t change the depth of the work or its vitality nearly two decades later.
So, now that I’ve spent three paragraphs arguing against Blur as a singles band, I’m left only with the task of … picking out and ranking their 10 best songs and excluding the rest. Before writing this, I read over the comments here to get an idea how Stereogum readers view Blur’s catalog, and it made me realize only the utter futility of this undertaking — nearly every song named in that 369-comments-and-counting thread deserved serious consideration for inclusion on my own list. I’m not exaggerating when I say this could have been a top 50 and I’d still be making hard choices, cutting songs I’d prefer to include, songs that are essential to both Blur’s discography and their evolution from singles band to some of the best and most important artistes in music.
10. “On The Way To The Club” (from Think Tank, 2003)
Think Tank is Blur’s loosest, most relaxed album: sonically comparable to 13, in many regards, and thematically in line with Damon’s Gorillaz. The songs flow casually into one another, so that each one sounds more like a fragment than a complete piece. That tendency is probably frustrating to many fans who preferred Blur’s very formalistic Britpop records, but it allows for a huge warmth where those earlier albums could be a bit picky. “On The Way To The Club” is sheer, shimmering beauty; Damon’s plaintive vocal floats hazily while Alex James’s bass line pushes through the fog like a Humvee. “On the way to the club/I fell down a hole,” sings Damon to start the song, and once in the hole, he pines for a missing lover, he falls further down the hole (“So I stayed in the club/rewarding myself”), and pines some more. It’s a club we’ve all been to, and while it’s not an especially happy place, it’s kind of amazing just the same.
9. “He Thought Of Cars” (from The Great Escape, 1995)
The Great Escape remains, I think, Blur’s most difficult album: Like the final installments of most trilogies, it’s bloated and demanding and confusing. It showcases some of Blur’s most aggravating tendencies. However, it also has moments of sublime beauty, none more striking than “He Thought Of Cars.” Sequenced into TGE, the song follows the mercilessly frenetic “Mr. Robinson’s Quango” (one of the band’s worst songs, IMO) and fades in with a crash of similarly rambunctious noise till the vocals arrive and everything else fades into the shadows. It’s a hair-raising moment of music, and “Cars” keeps ‘em on end for the next four minutes. Damon’s lyrics here are unusually obtuse — impressionistic? incomplete? — which lends the song an air of surrealism and increases its potency; there’s a great dissatisfaction and yearning here, and the melodies on both the chorus and (especially) the verse make those feelings palpable and inviting.
8. “Clover Over Dover” (from Parklife, 1994)
Parklife is pretty widely considered the essential Blur album; it was absolutely their most significant breakthrough and one of the defining documents of Britpop. But it’s not just an important record, it’s a great record, loaded with diverse and memorable songs, and almost flawless from top to bottom. “Clover Over Dover” is closer to the bottom, in several respects; it’s obviously nowhere near as well-known as “Girls And Boys” or “Parklife” or “To The End,” but it’s a better song than all of them. “Clover Over Dover” was reportedly conceived as a ska song, but the final version bears no traces of that genre; instead, it’s spacious, wondrous, and absolutely stunning, driven by a harpsichord and a puffy cloud-filled sky of backing vocals. Damon’s sweetly melancholic melody belies the moroseness of his lyrics: The song opens with “I’m on the white cliffs of Dover/Thinking it over and over/But if I jump it’s all over” and closes with “Don’t bury me I’m not worth anything.” It’s a minor song but a towering achievement.
7. “Trimm Trabb” (from 13, 1999)
For all its musical splendors, the Britpop trilogy put a heavy emphasis on Damon’s words, which were increasingly complex and narrative-specific; even the downsized self-titled album featured some pretty tricky lyrics (“Look Inside America,” for instance), but on 13, the band changed their approach entirely, musically and lyrically. The album is famously a document of Damon’s breakup with Justine Frischmann (of Elastica), and the lyrics are resolutely scarred, solipsistic, nostalgic, even. “Trimm Trabb”‘s title, of course, refers to a model of sneaker produced by Adidas in the ’80s and favored by Damon in the ’90s, but there’s nothing else nearly so specific here — it’s just a cyclical mantra of pain: “I can’t go back/let it flow/let it flow/I sleep alone/I sleep alone.” But Graham’s guitar has been totally liberated from any prior constraints; he fades in on a simple, fantastic riff and over the course of the song’s five-plus minutes, he distorts and destroys the thing. The song builds with him, from darkness to supernova.
6. “Out Of Time” (from Think Tank, 2003)
“Out Of Time” was the first single released from Think Tank, and its urgent title and lyric sort of belie the song’s serenity and luxuriance — it’s easily the warmest Blur single, and maybe the warmest song in their catalog, period. It’s the first Blur release without Graham, and perhaps some of the song’s looseness is due to his absence. Recorded in Marrakech with a Moroccan orchestra, “Out Of Time” is Damon indulging a bit in his world-music explorations via Honest Jon’s, but those elements blend wonderfully with Alex James’s loping bass line, Dave Rowntree’s relaxed percussion and Damon’s lazy vocal. It’s a splendid, sunny, utterly captivating piece of music.
5. “Under The Westway” (single, 2012)
Am I overrating “Under The Westway” here simply because it’s a new Blur song, and because it’s a decisively terrific song at that? What I’m asking is, am I just happy Blur are back (momentarily, anyway), and not just back, but back, and using this list to voice my happiness? It’s possible. You could also argue, though, that, without virtue of perspective, I’m actually underrating it. I think you could make a strong case that “Westway” is the best song ever written by Blur. It doesn’t harken back to any particular period in the band’s career — it’s not as high-strung as the Britpop albums or as spaced-out as the post-Britpop albums. Weirdly, though, it kind of combines the best things about both those eras to create something else: It’s elegant, clear-eyed and clean-sounding, with a gigantic melody and a complicated, critical lyric, but it’s also sad and pretty and simple. The instrumentation, melody, and tone recall John Lennon and/or David Bowie, but the song is plainly Blur, even though it would not fit on any Blur record. The band’s reticence to release a new album when they are clearly operating at an insanely high level is beyond maddening.
4. “This Is A Low” (from Parklife, 1994)
When I started compiling this list, I tried to establish a few arbitrary parameters to make the job a little easier. First I considered enforcing a rule demanding at least one song from each album be included, but that made for an awkward and dishonest end result. Then, I toyed with including only songs that had not been released as singles … followed by including only songs that had been released as singles. And while I could have crafted an adequate list using any of these guidelines, none of them left me satisfied. So I abandoned the easy route and just dug in, trying to find an acceptable definition of “best.” Now that I’m 60 percent of the way through it, I’m kind of realizing it could have been called Blur’s 10 Most Depressing songs. “This Is A Low” is, for all intents and purposes, the last song on Parklife; it’s followed by the jaunty instrumental “Lot 105,” but that feels like a palate-cleanser after the “Low”‘s epic majesty. The verses are strewn with references to England — which could be alienating to non-English fans — but the chorus is massive, universal and unforgettable: “This is a low/but it won’t hurt you/When you’re alone/it will be there with you.”
3. “Caramel” (from 13, 1999)
Last week, when Blur played “Caramel” for the first time ever in concert, I wrote: “The back half of Blur’s 13 is pretty much the finest string of songs ever produced by the band, and the apex of the side comes on tracks 10 and 11, ‘Caramel’ and ‘Trimm Trabb,’ respectively, which showcased a much darker side of the band only previously hinted at.” As I mentioned above (in the “Trimm Trabb” entry), 13 was written after Damon split with Justine Frischmann, and the entire album is informed by his pain. “Caramel” is the most brutally visceral example of his catharsis (even more, I think, than the fantastic “No Distance Left To Run”). Like “Trimm Trabb,” “Caramel” offers not lyrics so much as cries for help: “Where is the magic?/I’ve gotta get better/Oh lord give me magic/I’ll love you forever.” It’s seven-plus minutes of near-stillness and drone, a lovely melody cycling, bringing in skronking guitars, disembodied yelps, and skittering drums, building into a swirling hurricane, laying waste to everything in its path. At the time of its release, Damon said that prior to 13 he had never before written love songs, but after that, he never wanted to write anything else.
2. “The Universal” (from The Great Escape, 1995)
“The Universal” is one of the most beloved Blur songs, as well as one of the most misunderstood. Today, it’s the highest-rated Blur song on Rate Your Music, although Justine Frischmann famously hated it. In 1996, she told The Face, “I don’t think that Blur do themselves justice really. The choice of singles on this album has, I think, been amazingly bad. I don’t really like ‘Country House’ but I think ‘The Universal’ is a lot worse. ‘The Universal’ makes ‘Country House’ look OK. I think it’s desperately bad on every level, personally.” Moreover, the lyrical theme of “The Universal” — some dystopian future society (for which the band borrowed imagery from 2001 and A Clockwork Orange) — is kind of limp. But … that chorus. It’s soaring, yearning, optimistic, and terrified, the closest musical analogue to sky-diving I can imagine. Why did it take Blur a clumsy sci-fi conceit to write the most emotionally affecting song in their history? That’s a subject for another story. “The Universal” is a triumph.
1. “Blue Jeans” (from Modern Life is Rubbish, 1993)
If Modern Life is the moment Blur vaulted from singles band to important artistes, then it’s essential to look beyond the singles to recognize the band’s genius. The songs selected as singles from Modern Life featured Blur at their most boisterous and energetic: “For Tomorrow,” “Chemical World,” “Sunday, Sunday,” each of which has its own notable charms. But “Blue Jeans” was nestled at the album’s heart, a shimmering gem bursting with color and light. The lyrics could be read as a critique of inertia: “Blue jeans I wear them every day/There’s no particular reason to change.” But as presented, they feel like an expression of deep contentment and calm. It helps that the song is so gentle and unhurried, with a gorgeously lazy vocal and guitar lead. Every second of “Blue Jeans” is complete perfection, but the chorus is an otherworldly rush of melody and melancholy: nitrous oxide as music. “Don’t think I’m walking out of this,” sings Damon, leading up to the blissful cascade: “She don’t mind/whatever I say, whatever I say/I don’t really want to change a thing/I want to stay this way forever.” Of course, things changed. But in “Blue Jeans,” Blur captured a recognition of pure joy, coupled with the realization it cannot last. It’s something very much like falling in love, very much like perfection.
//
You can also listen to our playlist of Blur’s 10 Best Songs on Spotify.
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Good job in picking unexpected cuts, and especially on putting “This is a Low” at #4. That’s perhaps my favorite Blur song and a great way to end their best album.
Blue Jeans is a relatively obscure choice for # 1 but it’s also high on my list. Got to have Chemical World in this list somewhere. Young and Lovely gets my vote for best b-side.
nothing will ever beat Coffee & TV for me.
Coffee ice cream & TV?
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yeah, how dare you crack a joke, you evil, evil dick, you.
Seriously. This is how I feel right now:
That’s a pretty good list. And a nice surprise for number one. Definitely in my mind the best song on that album. But it’s insane that there isn’t a song from Blur on here. “You’re So Great”? “Strange News from Another Star”? Come on!
my thoughts exactly, “You’re So Great” is my favorite blur song hands down
It’s really more of a Graham song than a Blur song.
no it’s a bona fide Blur song played by their amazing guitarist…UNLIKE the whole Think Tank album featuring a mercenary guitarist which is basically a DAMON dicking around album that sounds nothing like real Blur:)
BTW, one of the only stomach-able tracks on Think Tank? it’s the hidden track, pause track 1 and go MINUS 5 minutes or so haha…almost forgot about that nugget.
Ignoring “Song 2″ on this list just seems like a deliberate choice to exclude a song that people know, for the simple reason that people know it. Seems silly to me.
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The intention of the song is not in the song itself. It’s a great song even if it is a joke. Great jokes exist.
Aside from the fact that it’s the first song many Americans heard of theirs (which might elevate it, nostalgically, for many), I don’t think that there are many serious Blur fans who would put it in a top ten. It’s enjoyable enough but it’s not a high water mark.
yup
same reason i think they overlooked beetlebum. i love that song, and wished it was included.
Wooo Hooo!
I don’t agree that Song 2 belongs in the list. But I agree that the list deliberately skews to obscure tracks.
That’s like excluding “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on a list of top 10 Nirvana songs just because it’s most well known. The fact remains that it deserves to be on there.
You had me at “This Is A Low.” A really well thought out list that, while certainly subjective and perhaps intentionally ‘anti-single’, is a great primer for those new to Blur. And Chris Weingarten can suck it.
Weingarten is the worst person ever. Cancelled my Spin subscription when he got hired.
Please explain?
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this article. Obviously you know this bands catalog intimately, as much as any huge fan can appreciate them. As I was getting closer and closer to #1 in my head I realized “this guy is going to actually name the greatest blur song of all time, which is definitively ‘Blue Jeans’.” I can still remember the first time I heard this song in 1997, and it engulfed so many emotions I had about my first relationship at the time, and no song since has ever made me feel 16, and every time I hear it I’m still there. Well done.
Song 2 is a great little rock tune that worked well for beer ads, but doesn’t deserve to be in the top ten.
Nice to see “Clover Over Dover” on this list. I’ve always thought that was one of the best songs on Parklife.
People are rediscovering Blur. I think most people in the ’90s that were either A) British or B) Anglophiles enjoyed their music/were big fans, etc. Hard to say at the time, though, that people thought Blur was one of the great bands of the era. They were well-known for their singles and their wry take on British life, but the hushed tones and reverence for which they are spoken of today was missing. But like all things in life, time has passed, and people are reassessing their catalog and realizing that Blur was one of the great bands of the 90s and early 2000s.
I also think that Damon’s excellent work (and popular success) with Gorillaz/The Good, The Bad and The Queen et. al. have brought him a certain cultural capital that people are now applying to Blur as well. People’s perceptions of Damon as an artist have really changed in the past 10 years, thus inviting us to rethink Blur and their contribution to music. For the better, I say.
No Parklife, Tender, Battery in Your Leg, No Distance Left to Run, End of a Century, Girls and Boys, For Tomorrow, Beetlebum, Coffee and TV, or Song 2? Not arguing for all of them, but at least one would make sense. Also hard to buy that “Blue Jeans” is the height of their creative prowess. It seems like you left off some really essential/important Blur songs in favor of the relatively obscure. Despite its overexposure, Song 2 is a brilliant and hooky satire of America with one of Coxon’s best riffs. This list just seems willfully contrarian to me, anyway.
Song 2 is a satire of America?
i got my head checked by a jumbo jet, it’s never easy but nothing is
when I was young i got my head done, it’s not my problem, it’s not my problem
Wow, take that America!
(really not a satire of America or anything else…)
If writing a pop-grunge song with a chorus that goes “when I feel heavy metal” isn’t a satire, I don’t know what is. Stephen Thomas Erlewine says it better than me.
http://www.allmusic.com/song/song-2-mt0004234986
The chorus is fucking “WOOOOO HOOOOO”. I don’t know how much more of a joke you can get.
It’s just a big, dumb, rock song.
Blur don’t usually do big, dumb, rock songs.
Wow. And here I thought “Blue Jeans” was one of those tracks everybody had forgotten about. Awesome choice for the #1 spot.
First of all, where is Bon Iver, but second of all this is not the 10 best songs, it’s your 10 favourite songs yada yada et cetera and anyways you are entitled to your opinion but either Beetlebum or Coffee & TV or The Universal or Badhead or Girls & Boys are the objectively best Blur songs. THOSE ARE THE ONLY 5 CHOICES. It’s not even a debate. But I respect your subjective favourite song list. Seriously though, come on. What are you even talking about?
Seriously the “best” blur song is probably not Blue Jeans.
file:///C:Users/djfreshie/Pictures/non_porn_pics/confused_then_angry_reaction.gif
Yeah, you might want to look at the file name before you upload next time…
duh…and why would an LDR cover count anyway?! (rimshot)
I was totally with you until Girls & Boys. I’ve always thought that’s one of the worst Blur songs, even if it is tongue-in-cheek.
If I’m driving, and Girls & Boys comes on the radio, I’m going to turn that sucker all the way up and I’m going to open the sunroof and I’m going to put a brick on the gas, and I’m going to steer with my feet and I’m going to stick my goddamn head out the window and yell “STREETS LIKE A JUNGLE” as loud as I goddamned can. And then the rest of the words too.
Since no other Blur songs evoke that reaction, I can objectively say that it is one of the ‘best’ blur songs.
thats a fair point. Though i would do the same for “B.L.U.R.E.M.I”. But then again I’d probably lose control of the car as well
Blur drives the car for you silly
I’m with you. Girls & Boys is an unbelievably great dance track. When the bass kicks in, you just have to start going mental. I kind of feel bad for leaving it off my list. But I shouldn’t have tried to make one in the first place.
deeeeeeeeeaaammmmmmmmmmmmn, it’s like Freshie has seen me driving while listing to my Blur mixtape.
Sing? Chemical World? Beetlebum?
I would take out He Thought of Cars, Clover Over Dover. and Under The Westway. Other than that, I really love your list (seriously, props on Blue Jeans). The other seven would all probably be in my top 15. I guess if I forced myself, my list would be something like this:
1. Trimm Trabb
2. Caramel
3. Blue Jeans
4. This is a Low
5. Beetlebum
6. Out of Time
7. On the Way to the Club
8. End of a Century
9. The Universal
10. There’s No Other Way
(That was impossible)
I of course forgot about Chemical World, Bedhead, No Distance Left to Run, Country Sad Ballad Man and a dozen other songs.
Great band.
Anyone who puts Trimm Trabb 1st is okay in my book.
I feel like most of these songs could fall under Blur’s most underrated…maybe? But “He thought of cars”? I dunno bout you guys, but i usually turn off The Great Escape after “The Universal”.
It’s the typical cheeky observational album you would’ve expected from Albarn at the time, but it’s a damn fine pop record. Stereotypes, Fade Away, Charmless Man and Best Days are all great songs to me.
I hear you, but I stick it out for “It Could Be You” and “Entertain Me”
I literally gasped when I saw “He Thought of Cars”, as it is my favourite Blur song.
I’m really impressed with this list. There are a few I would switch around/switch out, but for the most part I think you nailed it. Thank you for not including Song 2 or Girls and Boys.
im sad you left out “You’re So Great”, “Country Sad Ballad Man”, “Beetlebum” and “Best Days”
yep
Justine Frischmann, what a biiitch!
Solid list, totally with you on “Blue Jeans,” may have kicked out a couple of your choices for “Sweet Song” or “Beetlebum.” Oh, and I think “Westway” TOTALLY deserves a spot here.To me it sounds as if a bunch of old high school friends went off to college, graduated/lived a little, and then came back for a reunion — all of their experiences over the years, outside of the band, have colored this song. A song which, you’re right – would not fit on ANY of their albums – but is quintessentially Blur.
Happy to see all the coverage here lately. I went through a Blur phase in a west michigan suburb in the 90s — and felt horribly alone in that obsession.
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This list is so wrong on so many levels.
“Girls & Boys”, “End of A Century”, “To The End”, “Coffee & TV”, “Beetlebum” and “Tender” might all be obvious choices, but they’re also the right choices. You just can’t fuck with classics.
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Love this list and it certainly has some of my favourites: Blue Jeans, Clover, This is a Low and Trimm Trabb. I’d go as far to say that Trimm Trabb is my favourite ever Blur song – and thanks for letting me know what the title refers to, never knew before.
Agreed also that 13 is their best album, the whole thing is a masterpiece.
Lastly, I do like Under the Westway but I think that The Puritan is even better. Killer hooks.
It’s a tough task to do this list but this really is willfully contrarian. I’m not saying the entire list had to be Girls and Boys, Beetlebum, Tender, Coffee and TV, Song 2, Charmless Man, and Parklife…but to not include ANY of them means this obviously isn’t a best Blur songs list. Maybe most underrated or best non-single Blur tracks.
I absolutly love this article, I´ve been a fan of the band since 1994 and they always have been pretty underated in the U.S, He thought of Cars and Blue Jeans are always outsiders in other lists, and I am very happy that the obvious tracks like Beetlebum and Girls and boys were left behind.
I know the list is subjective but Beetlebum really should’ve been included: THAT’S how you open an album! Anyway, Chris Whine-garden was probably grabbing his crotch to Oasis in ’96 and didn’t have time to pay attention to the good stuff. He shames Spin or whomever he writes for. I mean, sonically, how could you listen to the self-titled album and 13 and NOT take Blur seriously?
Not sure why you feel the need to bash Oasis. Definitely Maybe is a great and historically important album.
If you don’t respect early Oasis, odds are I shouldn’t respect you.
Aw man I’ve always really liked Mr. Robinson’s Quango. It really nails the over-the-top thing happening on The Great Escape.
Under the Westway isn’t the first Blur song in 9 years, they did Fool’s Day way back in 2010, remember?
Gah! I forgot about Fool’s Day. I’ve amended the text to erase my error from history. Thanks for the heads up.
i enjoyed this. it forced me to listen to songs i wouldn’t normally give as much attention to. good job
you could have just called it “My Blur’s 10 Best Songs, Hi Donny” to make it more personal and take some of the pressure off of you and off of me to try so hard for attention. :()
:) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :( :) :(
I respect this list, but hello…Tender? Chemical World is soooo good too. Charmless Man from TGE? Come on man, you can do better than this. All great songs, but not their best. And this comes from a 40 year old Blur fanatic from the start. I will say though…Trimm Trabb is one of their best riffs ever. Nice try though.
And for the first question above from Mr. Whine-something…Blur have always been important. I just think a lot of Americans were too busy being force fed Nirvana and grunge respectively. Graham Coxon is one THE greatest and most innovative guitarists to ever grace that instrument. And finally people are starting to realize this. What a shame. Listen with your ears, not with your eyes.
Will have to think of my own list now but I think this one definitley hit at least 5-6 of mine. The other more random track I’ve always really liked is “death of a party”
I really thought “On Your Own” was everyone’s favorite. That is a seriously great Rock song.
Respect for all the love for “Trimm Trabb” though, which is my person favorite and showed that they could create something completely singular and glowing with talent without being unapproachable or outright weird.
this list is actually very accurate,kudos.
Country House, Tender, Girls & Boys, The Universal, Parklife, No Distance Left to Run, Song #2, Under the Westway, Music is my Radar, Battery in the Leg. I know its not hip, but I think they massive hits are sick.
I won’t delve into the Song 2 kerfuffle, and I may be dating myself, but there was some damn good stuff on Leisure which still holds up today, yet not one song could crack this list? Umm, OK.
Also, Villa Rosie is pretty clearly the best song from MLiR. The guitar in the bridge really kills.
Agree. People completely write off that album without listening to at least some of its great singles.
Good to see some love for Leisure. Like a lot of Americans, my first album was their self title album. I then came across Leisure in a used bin somewhere. Something about the song “Wear Me Down” clicked and it was then I decided to buy all of their other albums.
And yes Villa Rosie is one of my favorites as well.
I always knew Blur was fairly popular on the indie circuit but I’ve never really given them a listen. I’ve heard Song 2 obviously, and I think Beetlebum. What album should I start with?
I’d suggest Blur “Blur” and go either forward or backward from there.
all of them. except Leisure.
Start with Modern Life is Rubbish, then skip all the way to 13. Hopefully you will be intrigued to figure out just how they got from point A to point B.
I kind of feel that the most “Blur” Blur song might be Parklife. Maybe it was number 11? Like Beetlebum a lot. And the “discriminating Blur fans know that Song 2 is just a toss off”- when a band tosses off something that becomes a massive hit that everyone knows, maybe there is something about that song that is good?*
*rationale does not apply to LMFAO songs.
but LMFAO is good.
No Wonderwall? WTF BRO!
Hats off to you for even trying such an endeavor. I think the list is solid. But I also think there could be many different Blur top 10s that few, real Blur fans would seriously argue over. I remember getting 13, and being blown away, especially with ‘Trimm Trabb’. 13 went under the radar for my circle of friends and even my city (it seems there were plenty available used in every CD store). I listened to it non-stop, and secretly believed I’d tapped into a truly great, highly overlooked masterpiece.
Thank you for the list!
Two songs from “Think Tank”? Audacious! +1 for pick #1, and i’m amazed by this “The Great Escape remains, I think, Blur’s most difficult album”… It sounds like the exact contrary to me.
Solid list; it’s always difficult to approach these top 10 lists when you have a bank or 60 or so songs that all have equal claim to inclusion. Still, any list that champions the greatness of ’13′ is a winner in my books, even though ‘Battle’ just pips ‘Caramel’ and ‘Trimm Trabb’ to the post for me.
The lack of any songs from ‘Blur’ is surprising but excusable.
Any love for ‘Music Is My Radar’ here? That has to be one of the great Blur tunes.
luke, music is my radar is amazing, plus honoury mentions for peach, bonebag, young and lovely, battle, miss america, birthday, sing and yuko and hiro
No love for “Tender?” One of the best festival singalongs of their generation.
Also I hope the band aren’t considering calling it a day as seriously as they claim to be, “Under The Westway” is brilliant.
Wait…ten songs? I was under the impression they only had two. Song 1 and Song 2
luv this :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
If you could just edit this list and add at least one song from the self-titled album (but not “Song 2″), that would be great.
Ummmmm….. “TENDER”?!
Honestly, they could list any ten songs off of Think Tank (besides “Jets”) and I’d probably be cool with it, although the lack both “Coffee & TV” and “Song 2″ is curious.
As a US fan who’s been down since their Leisure days, I quite a few of these (“This is a Low” and especially “Trimm Trabb”) and can’t fathom a few others (to me, Think Tank was built out of a few good songs and spiteful hubris that Graham had left.) I like that Michael (loved ya on MST3K, by the way) refused to let Blur be defined by their hits, but there are other deep tracks/b-sides that make a case for Blur as *that* kind of a band. How about “Magpie,” a Parklife era b-side that features one of Graham’s best guitar riffs, an absurd but lovable punk breakdown, and Damon cribbing a William Blake poem? How about showing some love for the latter half of Modern Life is Rubbish, like the My Bloody Valentine-ish “Oily Water” or the would-be finale “Resigned’? (A hidden aspect of the band’s greatness is not necessarily writing great closers, but great penultimate songs — “Resigned,” the aforementioned “This is a Low,” “No Distance Left to Run.”) I always had a soft spot for “Sing” as well, and am psyched US fans will finally get to hear it on Leisure as it was meant to be. But really, going back to the old albums (or the new box set, as I hope to do soon!) to investigate the validity of these choices is worth any kind of affront taken to song placement or selection, so well done.
woo hoo?
Sing
Oily Water
Turn It Up
Clover Over Dover
The Universal
He Thought Of Cars
You’re So Great
Tender
Music Is My Radar
Fool’s Day
some tracks in the leisure album deserves to be in this list
Anyone there for Tender at Glastonbury will disagree with this list.
Blur? More like bore…amirite?
Let the down-voting ensue.
Not gonna give you the satisfaction.
Where are Beetlebum, End of the century and To the end?
Ambulance! for fucksake… I guess you CAN’T make a top 10 when a band is that big
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This is terrible.
thank you haha
Tender and Beetlebum should’ve really been there
It’s a good list. Blue Jeans is right up there for me too. Bonebag though, I have had that song stuck in my head for years. It’s just there, always in the back of my head, playing, and yet I never tire of it, im listening to it right now.
And how about the rest of it?
When I feel heavy metal, and I’m pins and I’m needles
(looking up the rest…)
Well I lie and I’m easy
All of the time I am never sure
Why I need you
Pleased to meet you
Yeah, that’s about America, riiight. Sure, the song is a joke, but it’s not a satire of a country.
I got my head checked
By a jumbo jet
It wasn’t easy but nothing is
No
I got my head done
When I was young
It’s not my problem
It’s not my problem
Please, please explain how that’s a satire of America, or anything else.
I still think they made this list as an inside joke…to compete with Spin’s horrible joke lists;)
Writing an article like this is unnecessary and dumb since this kind of thing is HIGHLY subjective. My personal favorite Blur song is ‘Swallows In a Heatwave’, but you don’t see me making lists about it. Blue Jeans is probably my second favorite, but I should have stopped reading after number 10 a song without Grahm and very mediocre not only for Blur in general, but even that album!
THANK YOU haha…think tank=NOT a blur album. Why Damon chose to put that thing out under the Blur name is still beyond me, specially since a couple years later he’s forming 1 off bands left n right. Musta been trying to stick it to Graham, classic power trip. And it IS a crap mediocre/trying too hard album.
does anyone else love the song Caravan a lot. I feel like that song never gets its due. I met damon once like 11 hours before a gorillaz concert in nyc, was the greatest thing ever. just ran into him near msg.
Caravan is an amazing tune.
I had to give it a try after seeing this. I have been on a huge Blur-kick since they released the new songs. Here goes:
10. On Your Own (how is this not getting any love?!?)
9. On The Way To The Club
8. Tender
7. Clover Over Dover
6. To The End
5. Out Of Time
4. No Distance Left To Run
3. Trimm Trabb
2. Battery In Your Leg
1. Beetlebum
on your own is, for me, their worst single, and overall Blur the worst album… 5 oamazingly good tracks and lots of lo-i filler, poor songwriting about nothing in particular and a band devoid of their usual melodic genius, the great escape is a much better album as are 13 and think taqnk, imho, graham or no graham!
I can tell that you are a huge blur fan. Thanks for putting this article on stereogum.
Why would Blur would choose to end their entire career, at their biggest and most emotional concert, on a “limp” song about “some dystopian future society”, which despite being a single wasn’t even all that much of a hit? It’s sad and actually disturbing that even as Blur have ended, and your article seeks to thoughtfully provide a longtime fan’s perspective in remembering some forgotten moments of their career, your insight is so limited that you attack the lyrics of what you claim to be their second greatest song. A Blur-loving friend years ago told me hardcore Blur fans she encountered online were even worse than Radiohead fans- I thought Radiohead fans had cornered the market on pseudo-intellectual writeups that revealed only a deep ignorance. I figured many Blur fans just didn’t concern themselves either way with the meaning of songs, which is a lot different from wilfully misinterpreting them. But here you are proving that girl right- writing multiple paragraphs that emphasize your hardcore fandom, and yet being deaf to Damon Albarn’s best- and SIMPLEST and least pretentious- social commentary. At least Radiohead fans do understand OK Computer is not set in the year 2047, even if in the No Surprises video Thom was in a Kubrick helmet. But you see droogs, you think this song has nothing to do with today. That song is about the motherf*cking present! You wonder why Blur have become more popular today? It’s because everyone realizes now that Blur were Serious- and just as much in their Britpop trilogy as in 13. This is a sad realization in a way- that the clever, perhaps even callow or cynical, songs of a privileged English kid in the mid ’90s who’d read too much Martin Amis, turned out to have anything to say almost a couple of decades later. But for a fan like yourself, who appreciates even the most underappreciated of those songs, not to notice WHY they’re so moving, that’s intellectually limp, and even morally indefensible. What kind of human being, in 2012, still does not understand “THE FUTURE HAS BEEN SOLD,” when singing along to his Blur karaoke? Is that ignorance an American thing? But I’m an American… and I love Blue Jeans and I love Clover over Dover, better than almost any Blur songs, so my praise was all yours to lose, but you lost it, cause I would rather be singing along to Girls and Boys or Song 2 with people who do understand The Universal, than reading a remembrance of this band so heartless and brain-dead it dares to call one of their most moving lyrics “limp.” You don’t need to read Fredric Jameson or Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak to get this sh*t, seriously man, look around at this world we’re living in. Everyone else in the world who can understand the words of the English language, will understand the deeply comforting and even more unsettling truth of that song.
Why would Blur would choose to end their entire career on a “limp” song about “some dystopian future society”, which despite being a single wasn’t even all that much of a hit? It’s sad that even as Blur have ended, and your article seeks to thoughtfully provide a longtime fan’s perspective in remembering some forgotten moments of their career, your insight is so limited that you attack the lyrics of what you yourself have claimed to be their second greatest song ever. A Blur-loving friend years ago told me hardcore Blur fans she encountered online were even worse than Radiohead fans- I thought Radiohead fans had cornered the market on pseudo-intellectual writeups that revealed only a deep ignorance. I figured many Blur fans just didn’t concern themselves either way with the meaning of songs, which is a lot different from wilfully misinterpreting them. But here you are proving that girl right- writing multiple paragraphs that emphasize your hardcore fandom, and yet being deaf to Damon Albarn’s best- and SIMPLEST and least pretentious- social commentary. At least Radiohead fans do understand OK Computer is not set in the year 2047, even if in the No Surprises video Thom was in a Kubrick helmet. But you see droogs, you think this song has nothing to do with today. That song is about the motherfucking present! It’s about all our lives. You wonder why Blur have become more popular today? It’s because everyone realizes now that Blur were Serious- and just as serious, if not even more, in their Britpop trilogy as in 13. This is a sad realization in a way- that the clever, perhaps even callow or cynical, songs of a privileged English kid in the mid ’90s who’d read too much Martin Amis, turned out to have anything to say almost a couple of decades later. But for a fan like yourself, who appreciates even the most underappreciated of those songs, not to notice WHY they’re so moving, that’s intellectually limp, and morally indefensible. What kind of human being, in 2012, still does not understand “THE FUTURE HAS BEEN SOLD,” when singing along to his Blur karaoke? You don’t need to read Fredric Jameson or Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak to get this sh*t, seriously man, look around at this world we’re living in. You can’t write it away by pretending it’s sci fi. When I hear 75000 people in Hyde Park singing along, I believe each of them and anyone else who can understand the words of the English language, gets that song intuitively.
Please switch to decaf, boo. Your insights are articulate, insightful, and respected; however, it’s a subjective list and not life or death, you know? Every fan has their own reasons for enjoying Blur’s music, whether he or she chooses to hear a specific message.
I don’t have problems with anyone’s taste- I don’t fucking care if someone loves different bands or songs from me. Anyway, I agree with most of the original poster’s choices. Blue Jeans is also one of my favorites. But I don’t sit back and listen if someone, whatever their tastes, adopts a know-it-all stance toward songs that mean a lot to me and misinterprets their meaning in order to slight those songs, which also has the effect of denigrating those hundreds of thousands of us who relate to them. It’s particularly nonsensical here, because although the writer lazily misinterprets The Universal’s lyrics, and on that basis judges them meaningless and “limp” (i.e. not the good kind of meaningless pop song lyrics, but the kind that are trying and allegedly failing to mean something) the writer himself names the same song his second favorite ever made by the band. The writer is apparently unable to articulate what the song is actually expressing and therefore falls back on the most superficial reading of its video, which is just a humorous pastiche. In the song itself, the lyrics are about the present, not the future. If the song was actually set in the future, would the lyrics refer to “the future”?! Just common sense. And it might not be life and death if The Universal’s lyrics are interpreted in one way or another, but if pop songs or any art matters to you, it’s because in some way they do touch on life or death. I mentioned an old friend who didn’t enjoy her favorite bands being misunderstood- personally, that’s ok with me, I would be the last one to suggest there is necessarily one meaning (or any meaning) to most pop songs. I do have a problem with someone who poses as an objective authority, makes a lazy reading, and on the basis of their ignorance, declares, as if there can be no argument, that a song is meaningless. In upholding the greatness of the song, while attacking its lyrics as irrelevant, the writer only provides another example of how the song remains all too devastating today- this inattention to anything but surface is what it saw, and foresaw- it’s a song about the liberating and imprisoning force of globalized mass culture- “you’d like to sing along, but the words are wrong.” This is life and death- to all of us who didn’t grow up in the USA, at least. Maybe it will always be impossible for Americans to understand Blur.
I phrased it poorly — the song (it seems to me) is wrapped in an Orwellian conceit, which extends to the video (Clockwork Orange), the single artwork (2001), and the general tone (which sounds, to me, something like: “the antiseptic and lifeless future is nigh and you are doing nothing to combat it”). The first line of the song is: “This is the next century.” Is he referring to the 20th century (ie, the century in which the song was released) or the 21st century (which would mean he was writing in a future tense)? To me, the lyric has always seemed a bit removed from its delivery for this very reason. Also, in its context, the lyric, “It really, really, really could happen,” sounds (again, to me) like a kind of limp prophesy — i.e., this dystopian future really, really, really could await you — but the way he sings it (as I wrote) is: “soaring, yearning, optimistic, and terrified, the closest musical analogue to sky-diving I can imagine.” It’s an intensely passionate song, but the lyric feels kind of condescending to me.
And I don’t say that to be dismissive of the song! It’s just an unusual dichotomy. To be clear (I guess I wasn’t?), I love “The Universal”! I’ve spent a great deal of time listening to and thinking about the song, and the same goes for Blur’s entire catalog.
You’re a dick, but if you water down what you said I agree
WHAT ABOUT THAT ONE SONG WHERE THE SINGERS LIKE “WHOO HOO” OVER AND OVER AND I DRIVE MY TRANS AM REAL FAST?
What’s the diehard-blur-fan take on Good Song from Think Tank? I’m relatively new to the band and while Good Song doesn’t seem to speak for the rest of their work, it’s tranquility and overall appeal has been a big factor in my further exploration of the band.
I guess I’m not diehard, but been a fan since Parklife. And I love Good Song . . . I actually love most of Think Tank. And yes, it’s a Blur album even though Graham isn’t on most of it (though he is on about a third of it).
I agree with the wastelander about his criticizing the contrarian view, but I respect it cause it’s unique and an interesting way to memorize Blur’s early success. Also, brilliant commentary on Under the Westway, I can’t stop listening to it.
For critics of this list, read what the author posted in his first paragraphs, about how hard it is to create a best of blur list. I totally feel where he’s coming from.
I think lots of people here in the comments are wasting their time posting all the same songs that everybody already knows.
This is a really profound article. I LOVE IT! It made me look at ”good-old-songs” (excepting Under the Westway) from a different prospective. The author must have guts to write about “Blue Jeans” or “On The Way To The Club” in such an intimate and loose manner. I feel the same way but I can’t express it as good as you did.
Since everyone posts his favourites mine is “Trouble in the message centre”.
10.Blue Jeans
9.Im Just a Killer for your love
8.Battery in your leg
7.You’re So Great
6.Sweet Song
5.End of a Century
4.Look inside America
3.MOR
2.This is a Low
1.Beetlebum
What a fantastic list. I don’t think any of these would make my own personal top 10 but they are great songs and it’s clearly made by somebody who knows and loves the band.
1/music is my radar
2/bonebag
3/caramel
4/young and lovely
5/black book
6/trailerpark
7/oily water
8/battle
9/out of time
10/badhead
Great list, I agree with almost all of the choices and also with the sentiment that “Under the Westway” is perhaps their greatest song. However as people have pointed out there are a few notable emissions such as “End of Century”,”You’re so great”,”On your Own”,”Beetlebum”, “Tender” and “No distance left to Run” as well as many others. Maybe a list of 20 would have been more apt?