Blur
Modern Life Is Rubbish

THE REVIEW

Back in 2001, I started getting into Blur through an MTV Hits collection from 1995, gifted to me by a cousin who was a radio host in my hometown.

Among the most beautiful songs was Blur's "Country House" set against Oasis's "Roll With It". During the summer, I would purchase "The Great Escape," which contained the mentioned song. And with "The Best Of" on cassette (borrowed from a friend), my adventure with Blur began.

After the summer, I bought the group's first two albums, "Leisure" and "Modern Life Is Rubbish". With the latter, it took me a while to warm up to it—but perseverance would lead me to realize it as the "album of my heart" (the same would happen with another great album ten years later, "Think Tank").

When I visited London as a tourist in 2008, I unknowingly celebrated the 15th anniversary of this niche masterpiece: indeed, its complicated history explains why it is now considered a fundamental album of the group (though not by the mainstream public), making it a niche work indeed.

I've often had a penchant for albums that are well-made but fail to achieve major success: they have a magic that many successful albums often lack (and "Parklife" has episodes that aren't thrilling ("London Loves" and "Trouble in the Message Centre") but sound good within the album.

The first album of the Britpop trilogy was born at a particular time for the group and England: Blur was returning home from a disastrous U.S. tour, and some members, including Damon, were disillusioned both personally and culturally: England was in a stalemate, with the recent end of Thatcherism and a music scene that was no longer innovative.

So Damon thought of rebelling against the cultural Americanization of the country, being influenced by Nirvana's grunge, among others, by reclaiming the "debris" (as he called them) of British culture and music.

Culturally, there was a reclaiming of soccer, pub drinks, the Sunday lifestyle, etc. Musically, they traveled back decades with music hall, the Specials' ska, the Kinks, and so on. The aim was to recreate an Englishness that was, of course, merely ideal as it could no longer be reproduced in the current reality.

"Modern Life" reached David Balfe (from Food, a sub-label of Emi) who didn't want to send it to stores because it would be a commercial suicide. More songs were needed. So, the two singles "For Tomorrow" and "Chemical World" were born.

Once in the stores, "ML" didn't climb beyond 15th place, infuriating Balfe. But Damon tried to convince him that it was a good result. At the beginning of the album's promotional tour, the public didn't give the group much acclaim, but after a few months, approval started to come in.

And "For Tomorrow" still deserves acclaim today! Just its beginning is an entire program, culturally, on the youth of the time: "He's a 20th century boy/with his hands on the rails/trying not to be sick again and/holding on for tomorrow" ("He's a 20th-century boy/with hands on the bars/trying not to feel sick again and/holding on for tomorrow").

A great masterpiece and video instant classic, in black and white of tourist London and the mixed crowd singing "la la la". How I lived it! When I was on Tower Bridge and saw the Thames in the distance, imagining Damon floating. Or at Primrose Hill (one of the song's locations) where I walked on the ground where some in the video flew kites and in a bustling street, I snapped a photo of a bus displaying "Westway" (a highway) on the display. At the National Gallery imagining some of them coming out of the staircase.

But the best of all was one evening with the metro to Gloucester Road and up to Emperor's Gate, a small square of affluent people. After taking some photos, I rushed back to the metro shouting "Jim stops and gets out the car/goes to a house in Emperor's Gate..."*. MAGNIFICENT.

With "Advert", the songs made with the addition of special effects of machines begin as read in the beautiful and unrepeatable album booklet, a small work of art. "Advert" is one of those peculiar tracks often found in this album. One day in London, I hummed it on the subway train returning to the hostel—and I lived it!

"Colin Zeal", "Pressure on Julian", and "Coping" follow the same trend. "Coping" has a bit of '80s synth-pop vibe and is marvelous in Albarn's performances at Blur concerts of that time, along with "Advert" and the expansive and ear-splitting "Oily Water". "OW" is one of the masterpieces to keep aside: Damon's voice is a little overshadowed by the music, but it's fantastic, especially if we imagine Damon with a somewhat dazed expression (I highly recommend checking out the Rock Music Hall concert in Koln on YouTube: unbelievable stuff).

"Blue Jeans" set on Portobello Road, I brought it to the famous market of the celebrated August 16th of "The Good the Bad & the Queen" (see my review): an enjoyable song, while "Chemical World" today, compared to 2001, doesn't thrill me excessively (and I never liked the video).

"Sunday Sunday" is another great song about English Sunday traditions. When I "shouted" it (so to speak) on the route from Piccadilly Circus (near the hostel where I was staying) to St.James's Park, there was almost no soul around (but it was wonderful). Great video and fantastic steel guitar played by Graham.

"Miss America" is the last great track: written after the American tour, it's another masterpiece for how Damon's voice stands over a slightly background music, a bit languid and sleepy. Is it still possible to talk about "art" in the '90s? Listening to "Miss America", yes.

"Resigned" exists in "Modern" without saying anything exceptional, and the interludes of "Chemical World" and this one fit well like the intermissions of First and Second Half in films broadcasted by Rai many years ago.

To conclude: "MLIR" enjoys small-scale success as will similarly happen (but worldwide) with another masterpiece 10 years later, "Think Tank", which, instead of speaking only to the English people, seems to extend its reach to the entire (Western and globalized) world. Even in 2003, a culture in decay...