6. Blur Beetlebum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khn9c_-lLAw Blur were rightly seen as the joint leaders of the Britpop movement with Oasis, and as wonderful as many as of their songs were, there was occasionally the inescapable feeling that there was an element of the dilettante about them. Having won the singles battle with Oasis with Country House they lost the album war with The Great Escape. As a result Blur had some serious thinking to do. When they came back with Beetlebum, the received wisdom was that they were aping The Beatles White Album in the same way that Oasis had ploughed the goldmines that were Revolver and Rubber Soul, and whilst the stop-start vocal tips its hat to John Lennons Dont let me down, the word Beetle is actually a reference to heroin, which singer Damon Albarn had starting taking at the time. I just slip away and I am gone wasnt a reference to love. But Beetlebum is a landmark song of the 90s because it soaks up so many disparate influences and yet still manages to retain their Britpop roots and Graham Coxons deliberately low-fi playing showed his tastes were far broader than any of his peers and as a result they never sounded better than they did here. A blend of 90s Americana, 60s Brit music, Beetlebum is a very sombre record that signalled the comedown from the ecstasy of the middle of the decade, Girls and boys this most certainly wasnt. Ironically it was considered to be commercial suicide on the bands part, but what happened? It went to number one of course. This was the song where they finally became a band.
Ed Nash
Contributor
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash
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