10 Incredible Blur Songs You’ve Probably Never Heard
9. Never Clever
The disappointing chart performance of Popscene might not have sent Blur scurrying back to the safety of baggy beats but it did have consequences.
Not least the shelving of follow up single Never Clever. The track was already recorded but was never released. The band elected instead to push on with the recording of the Modern Life Is Rubbish album.
Never Clever isn’t quite the focused clarion call we got with Popscene but it does share that song’s energy and confidence. Blur still sound like a band smarting at being overlooked and ready to come out fighting. “Gene is dead, more or less,” Damon sings. You might not know what he means but you believe him.
A live version was released as a B-side and eventually the studio recording emerged to little fanfare on a Food Records anniversary collection.
It might not rank amongst the all time Blur classics but Never Clever definitely deserves a wider audience.