Keep drinking Hatorate comrades.

13 is amazing and you bloody well know it if you’ve bloody well heard it.

Self-titled is good too, though not quite brilliant like 13, and Think Tank (almost wrote “Think Stank” hahaha) has some of those elements but not as expertly crafted.

I’m not a big Brit-pop guy, but Blur > almost all of it and a lot of non-Brit-pop from the late ‘90s.

(Still Spiritualized > Good Blur > Pulp > Not as Good Blur > rest of that shit.)

I really need to calm down.

As an example of a declarative sentence, my English Language teacher said "Mr. [name]'s favourite band is Oasis" and I yelled "Blur or GTFO!" from the back of the class.

No, you need to start sitting in the front of your classroom. ;)

Also, I think Blur is only even comparable to Oasis in the sense that they’re from roughly the same time. Blur is more like a Pulp and/or Spiritualized thing, depending on the era of Blur you’re referring to.

Oasis fuckin sucks.
I can’t believe I come from a generation that was complicit in comparing them to — *sighbigfuckingsigh* — the goddamn Beatles, with whom they share nothing but a mother country and an inability to get along.

Only a few Blur songs are really similar to Oasis IMO - 'End of a Century' comes to mind. The big advantages one had over the other were a sense of humour, a willingness to experiment, and genuinely being great friends (part of the reunion was so Damon and Graham could make amends).

Unfortunately, when it comes to the songs that you hear nowadays, Oasis have won out. I mean, everyone knows Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger, but nobody even knew bloody Beetlebum, and that's an outrage.

If you want to talk about a battle of great 1990s British rock/guitar albums, it's Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish VS The Boo Radleys' Giant Steps VS Radiohead's The Bends.

Oasis sounds like nursery rhymes by comparison, even if there are a lot of pleasant tunes.

I'd argue people know Song 2 more than all of those tunes

The Bends, hands down. Brilliant album, probably my favourite by Radiohead alongside Kid A.

Agree about Oasis, but I actually think Modern Life is overrated.

For me, peak Blur is self-title, *definitrly* “13” and to a lesser extent “Think Tank.”

Those albums can stand alongside the best of Pulp (which is “This is Hardcore,” sorry “Different Class” peeps, but Hardcore is the winner), and the best of Spiritualized (obvioisly everything up to and including “Ladies and Gentlemen...”).

Don’t remember as much about the Boo Radleys, but I think those Blur albums can hold their own against the best of not only British rock, but any alternative rock music from that era.

“The Bends” feels a bit removed from it all. Sure, the britpoppy songs are great, but it has never really felt like a comparable album to other britpop whatsits. Probably because it’s just a hint at greater things.

Why am I talking about britpop though? Spiritualized is not and never was britpop.

Whatever.

Blur really only picks up around Parklife for me, and even then The Great Escape can be a little mediocre at times.

Have not listened to Pulp or the Boo Radleys. Or Spiritualized (Ladies and Gentlemen excepted, which I thought was pretty cool. Should relisten.)

The Bends is underrated in modern times. It just gets overshadowed because the band who made it went and created some of the best albums ever right after it.
And what can you say about an album where 'High & Dry' isn't in the top three songs?

If nothing else The Bends has Street Spirit(Fade Out) which will always be a top Radiohead song, and one of the most beautiful Radiohead songs.

I think “High and Dry” is definitely in the top 3 Bends songs.

I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE that album. When it came out, I listened to it and thought about girls.

Now it sounds ... yah, quote dated. But “High and Dry” still has some kick. I can feel those chords in my chest, no matter how many times I hear it. Quite classic, really.

Album ends on a note that looked forward and anticipated the band’s future sound, so that — “Street Spirit” — should be the best song, but I’ll take “High and Dry” over it any day.

I'd put 13 in alongside a range of turn-of-the-century albums by guitar-oriented bands which have direct or indirect themes of disintegration and atomisation.

13
Kid A
NYC Ghosts and Flowers
Machina
To Record Only Water For Ten Days
Echolalia

Not saying they're all of comparable quality, but they are all tapping into that same mood in the zeitgeist. The same one that produced a huge number of disaster/apocalypse films, even before Sept 11

I really like the trio of albums I mentioned earlier because you can hear the confluence of influences in British guitar music at that time perfectly

Modern Life Is Rubbish ... Kinks, Bowie
Giant Steps ... MBV, folk music, especially the melodies
The Bends ... REM, Pixies, 70s Floyd and co

You get a real window in the breadth of the sounds floating around in 1993-5. They weren't viewed that way at the time, but still.

I like Modern Life Is Rubbish because the tunes are stronger, feel more immediate, and the band hadn't fully embraced the Britpop lad thing they were doing that make The Great Escape especially a little cringeworthy

Street Spirit > Fake Plastic Trees > Just > High & Dry > My Iron Lung > Bones > The Bends > (Nice Dream) > Planet Telex > Bullet Proof > Black Star > Sulk
The last three mostly because I can't remember much about each of them.
And the My Iron Lung EP has a few highlights too.

I also like that the lyrics are very gloomy, but the music is actually pretty uplifting.

I dig what you’re saying, if not all the albums you’re mentioning.
Also, Soft Bulletin in there maybe? Lots of humanity/technology themes in that one, and it’s cracking good too.

13 is really goddamn great. The band’s best, really.

Meh. I was really into the first five or so tracks back in the day. Now, only really fuck with “High and Dry” and “Street Spirit.”

“Black Star” is one of the worst ficking songs by a very good band ever. Truly just terrible. As cringey as Pablo honey. The lyrics and melody could fit comfortably and inconspicuously in a trash Goo Goo Dolls or Counting Crows song and I wouldn’t bat an eye. It would sound like standard fare from either band.

Isn't this supposed to be a Blur thread? We already have about twenty Radiohead ones.

Take: Graham > Damon

It's Graham's interpretations of Damon's tunes that make Blur so brilliant. Graham's solo albums are fun but are clearly missing that base-level inspiration that Damon brings. Graham's albums are mostly super enjoyable exercises in punk guitar pyrotechnics... which is awesome! But yeah

It's really interesting to see what the two of them were working on at the same time - Graham creating hyped-up noise punk and Damon working on the ultimate MTV-bait.

I saw one article that quoted Graham as saying he wanted to make an album nobody would listen to. And you get some cool results when you combine that and the exact opposite - see 13.

Awww come on, Clint Eastwood rules. In an era where mainstream radio was Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, Eminem and Nelly, having that Gorrilaz album in high rotation was a godsend

I'm not saying it doesn't :p
Gorillaz are excellent - Demon Days is one of my favourite albums. Also funny that a side project cartoon band is more popular than his real band

A Blur vs Oasis thread. Ah but this one only addresses their big hits. Good idea - let's do the yoof but only discuss the popular stuff like Bull in the Heather and Little trouble girl. Foken ace mara!

Blur had decent satirical lyrics based around 90's lad culture and that's about all you're going to get. Girls & Boyz for example. Shag aboot on holiday with the heard foken 90's mate. Ave it! But have Yee heard the music? Disco? Yee f'real? (I done a popular one, gaff -ignore) Stereotype being slightly less shit...props lads props.

I'm not sure how anyone could prefer this bland toff shite to say something like fade away, ciggies n' alcohol, or some might say...

"Battery in Your Leg" can sometimes get me weepy, when I'm all hormonal and vulnerable.

Still think it's a career highlight.

I hate “Girls & Boys.” That’s not the Blur I GAF about.

Parklife swings wildly between your heartfelt songs ('End of a Century', 'To the End', even 'Clover Over Dover') and the pisstakes. Like, who the hell thought 'Parklife' was worth becoming your title track?

Still wouldn't change it for the world, though.

Yeah, I don’t care for britpoppy Blur. I like the stuff they did when Gorillaz was probably starting to turn into an idea in Damon Albarn’s noggin. When they pseudo-grungified their sound to make themselves more marketable to Americans, and hid a bunch of weirdass tracks that sound like Beck or Pavement outtakes on the same album with the four-chord anthem.

Still better than Oasis. Even the early, weeny Stone Roses stuff.

I think you need to be a working class British dude or an American with extremely limited exposure to music even “get” Oasis. It’s just dumb crap.

You can look at it this way: Leisure was not that good, and if they'd kept pursuing that style they would never have been as popular as they are now. So they had to make a few pop albums (that said, this is good pop) to gain enough commercial clout to be able to afford the change.

And Parklife is a really diverse album anyway, it covers a lot of ground.

And if you don't get the hyper intelligence of Blur you're obviously not educated enough? Riiight

Blur are so bland it us sureal.

really nice job at conflating class with intelligence you wet towel of a human being

have you ever actually heard music? or do you just read about it?

Oh, you stopped on by to be a giant dick! It’s Christmas. Thank you, little one.

I didn’t conflate the two. Maybe you’re too young to remember — oh yeah, you are — but Oasis deliberately aligned themselves with the working class as a marketing technique, pegging Blur as the rich prep school boy’s band. So I’m going with what I hear from fucking Oasis and Oasis fans.

Oasis relishes their dumbness.

“People who write books are fucking idiots.” — Noel Gallagher

I didn’t design the PR manual for these fucks. They preach this shit.
I think they’ve even said only working class people can get them.
And they were being sincere.
I was just messing about trying to get you to come wipe my ass for me.

ALSO your hypocritical little (probably) alt-right ass attacked my intelligence because I like Nine Inch Nails, so fuck yout. Jesus you’re just the worst.

But anyway, good for you for liking Oasis a bunch and rushing to their defense and putting me in my place.

Do you think Sally can wait?

Nah, like ¾ of Blur’s music is super dumb.

I was not being serious. Obviously this shit has nothing to do with how smart you are. But Oasis is into playing up that angle, and some of their fans do it too. Like kind of a Donald Trump, gleeful rejection of “liberal elite” and so on.

Basically, Guest = Trump.

And yet Kanye is alright to align with Trump though?

I'm not sure why you'd compare the Stone Roses to Oasis as they have nothing in common other than geography. Same with the Beatles. I'm pretty sure both of these bands never played loud, distorted power chords and had a town crier for a singer - a band like The La's have far more indebted influence. You've repeated the cliche bullshit as was written by journalists who took anything auld big heads would say as gospel for a headline grab. Bigger than the Beatles et al. Guest merely pointed it out.

Dont early Oasis lyrics have you believe they are under-class outcasts? What does it matter what he said she said? Liam Gallagher once said he IS John Lennon. Music>pr. If anything they started out with a worthy cause in rebellion against the saturated rave scene of the time coupled with council estate frustration and anger which made for an honest sound. Blur on the other hand wanted to fit into the madchester baggy rave scene and join the Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, Charlatans and the Stone Roses in bringing that dated dance beat to rock music. When the scene burned out along came their stab at pop: Country House etc ad nauseum to infinity..

I know a couple of lads who are in well paid management roles who are mod Oasis freaks. They volunteered to clean Shields beach and ended up sacking it off to go on the lash all day. Just a couple of good time George sand dancer lads wanting a knees-up. Canny as owt; wouldn't touch yr mother! Now, if they were Blur fans it's guaranteed that once the beach was clean they would be home in time for the one show, then settling down for recipes from the bass players cook book before congregating for midnight mass. Which would you rather be?

Aaaal the people. Syg people. They all go hand in hand. Hand in hand through their...

No, I was saying even BLUR’s early, “weeny Stone Roses” stuff is better than Oasis if you have to compare the two.

Also, no, until Kanye walks back his Trump support, there’s no defense for the way the moron acts in public. I can’t just make myself unlike his music, but as a person he’s full of shit and I think I’ve been pretty clear about my feelings on TrumpYe.

I legitimately don’t know or care if you think I’m repeating what music journalists write. Most music journalists make me want to puke and I read very little of it anymore and certainly don’t base my opinions on what they have to say, but think what you want.


Yes, that’s part of my fucking point. Or the point of my pointless shittalking. Yes. Jesus Christ. Read!


Yeah, again, I didn’t really mean it. I figured I could get away with being a crass asshole about Oasis, but apparently being an asshole is reserved for others.

The music you like doesn’t impact or change your class or intelligence, or vice versa. Your class doesn’t determine your intelligence, or vice versa. (I’m sure there are correlations, but those are meaningless without context).

Jesus I don’t even hate Oasis that much. Some hummable songs. Mostly garbage, but whatever.

I’m not passionate enough about Oasis one way or the other to even keep taking about this, but I want to make it clear that Guest is an asshole who only pops in to say nasty shit and judge people, mercifully only about twice a year.

Also wanna reiterate that the comparison was between Blur and Stone Roses, not Oasis. Though Oasis probably has more in common with Stone Roses than they did with the Beatles. Sound fucking nothing like the Beatles, honestly. Few chord choices here and there are Beatle-rips, but there’s very little similarity sonically.

Generally speaking British social class is too convoluted for Americans to understand anyway. In your country class = wealth. In our country it's a combination of factors and wealth isn't really one of them

By Jonjo sevvy - can't be arsed to cut and paste.. "Yes, that’s part of my fucking point. Or the point of my pointless shittalking. Yes. Jesus Christ. Read!"

What I'm saying is they were under-class outcasts, below even working class skummos which can be an admirable trait in any start-up band. Much like most rap artists starting from nothing but pure societal anger born of creative frustration. I'd agree they became heroes of many a wanker from all walks of lower social classes but hey you didn't mean it so...I win the internet for biggest pedantic pessimist of all tiiime @Kanye Trump shlagger!

By sevy balesteros (pro 18 hole-er)
"Blur + stone roses"
Oh. Ok. Now that you point it out ...that baggy dance beat in the Blur track 'there's no other way' is actually a verbatim copy of the Fools Gold beat. Blur plagiarist Brit-pop Facts!

In lew of this thread I tried to listen to Definitely Maybe but lasted only 10 seconds before inevitable mental breakdown. Then put the La's on. Oasis ploughed this bands aesthitic the most and the Sex pistols.

...Oasis defense has rendered my mind infertile...I'll see you all in 10 years for the next brip-pop reunion thread.

1. Ok! I got it.
2. It’s “in lieu of...” ... ;)
3. Yah, Blur’s much more guilty of ripping off the Stone Roses than Oasis, whom I honestly don’t have a good comparison point for. That’s how boring their music is to me. Which is not to say their music is only for dumb people or whatever ...

Oasis copped a large amount of their attitude off The Stone Roses but musically, at least in the beginning, they were more Slade than anything.