text: blur ( blur album ) blur is the eponymous fifth studio album by the english rock band blur , released on 10 february 1997 by food records . blur had previously been broadly critical of american popular culture and their previous albums had become associated with the britpop movement , particularly parklife ( 1994 ) , which had helped them become one of britain 's leading pop acts . after their previous album , the great escape , the band faced media backlash and relationships between the members became strained . under the suggestion of the band 's guitarist , graham coxon , the band underwent a stylistic change , becoming influenced by american indie rock bands such as pavement and sonic youth . recording took place in london as well as in reykjavík , iceland . drummer dave rowntree described the music on the album as being more aggressive and emotional than their previous work . producer stephen street claimed that lead singer - songwriter damon albarn had started writing about more personal experiences while coxon revealed that listening to his lyrics it was clear to him that " he 'd obviously gone off his head a bit more " . despite worries from blur 's label , emi , and the music press that the change in style would alienate the band 's predominantly teenage fanbase and that the album would flop as a result , blur , as well as lead single , " beetlebum " , reached the top of the uk charts and the album was certified platinum . the album also reached the top 20 in six other countries . the success of " song 2 " led to blur becoming the band 's most successful album in the us where the britpop scene had been largely unsuccessful . the album received positive and mixed reviews from most music critics , many praising the stylistic change as well as albarn 's improved songwriting . background despite blur 's previous album , the great escape being released to positive reviews , and entering the uk charts at number one , the album 's success was left in the shadows compared to ( what 's the story ) morning glory ? by britpop rivals oasis which went quadruple platinum in the us . blur became perceived as an " inauthentic middle class pop band " in comparison to the " working class heroes " oasis , which made lead singer - songwriter , damon albarn feel " stupid and confused " . bassist alex james later summarised , " after being the people 's hero , damon was the people 's prick for a short period ... basically , he was a loser — very publicly . " an early 1996 q magazine interview revealed that relations between blur members had become very strained ; journalist adrian wrote that he found them " on the verge of a nervous breakup " . guitarist graham coxon , in particular , began to resent his bandmates ; james for his playboy lifestyle and albarn for his control over blur 's musical direction and public image . in february 1996 , when coxon and james were absent for a lip - synced blur performance broadcast on italian television , they were replaced by a cardboard cutout and a roadie , respectively . blur biographer stuart maconie later wrote that , at the time , " blur were sewn together very awkwardly . " coxon struggled with drinking problems and , in a rejection of the group 's former britpop aesthetic , made a point of listening to noisy american alternative rock bands such as pavement . in the 2010 documentary on the band , no distance left to run , coxon stated that he was getting more influenced by american guitarists as " a lot of them were doing very interesting stuff with guitars and i needed to be nourished . i suppose as a guitar player and there was none of that happening in english music although english music was now more popular [ so ] i started listening to more stuff from the states from smaller labels . " although he had previously dismissed it , albarn grew to appreciate coxon 's tastes in lo - fi and underground music , and recognised the need to significantly change blur 's musical direction once again . " i can sit at my piano and write brilliant observational pop songs all day long but you 've got to move on " , he said . he subsequently approached street , and argued for a more stripped - down sound on the band 's next record . coxon , recognising his own personal need to , as drummer dave rowntree put it , " work this band " , wrote a letter to albarn , describing his desire for their music " to scare people again . " recording recording sessions for the album started in june 1996 at mayfair studios in london . after the initial sessions , the band left to record the rest of the album in reykjavík , iceland , away from the britpop scene . it was in iceland that the vocals to " strange news from another star " , " essex dogs " , " beetlebum " , and " on your own " were recorded . " we just recorded some vocals there , " albarn revealed in an addicted to noise interview . " i have a house there and it 's the perfect place to write because of the light [ the sun doesn 't rise until midday ] . not good during the summer because it 's sunshine all the time , 24 hours a day . " apart from a change in musical style , the band changed the way they recorded . " it was the first time we sort of jammed , " coxon revealed . " we 've never really jammed before . we 've been quite white - , overall about recording , like in a laboratory . yeah , we did actually feel our way through just playing whatever came to our minds and editing , which was really exciting . " " we just played together for two weeks in a way we hadn 't done since 1991 , " dave recalls . " we wanted to purify the sound , to not have anything there not played by us . we reasoned that if we made small changes at the input end , we could effect large changes in the output . " according to producer stephen street , " blur had decided that commercial pressures and writing hit singles wasn 't going to be the main consideration any more . the mood in the studio was very different to when i 'd first worked with them . " " in the studio , once we got past those first few days , where i felt everyone was treading on eggshells , there was a great atmosphere . i think it was because they didn 't want to be competing with anyone on this record , they wanted to make a record that would help keep the band together . " street had acquired a new piece of hardware , described as " - ish to talk about but really useful " which enabled him to sample loops and otherwise cut - and - paste entire sections of the band 's jam sessions . music rowntree stated that the band decided to give coxon a much freer hand on blur . street also observed a change of albarn 's writing style , as he " was much more prepared to write in the first person , rather than about interesting characters . i think [ albarn had ] grown a bit and was prepared to start writing about his own experiences rather than transposing them on to a character like tracy jacks or dan abnormal . " coxon agreed , and felt " damon 's songs were revealing more to me than to him " and said that when he heard some of his home demos he realised " he 'd obviously gone off his head a bit more " . the album features the first song to appear on a studio album in which coxon not only wrote the lyrics , but also sang lead vocal — " you 're so great " . according to mark redfern of under the radar , blur eschewed britpop in favour of american indie rock . nme magazine similarly argued that it favoured lo - fi and alternative rock over britpop . by contrast , margaret moser of the austin chronicle characterised its music as " a punchy brand of muscular brit - pop " , while allmusic 's stephen thomas erlewine said it " may superficially appear to be a break from tradition " but is a " logical progression " from britpop rather than an abandonment of it . album opener " beetlebum " has been described as a " beatles tribute " by several publications ; erlewine wrote that the song " [ runs ] through the white album in the space of five minutes . " q magazine 's andrew collins compared the song to the auteurs as well as a " slightly menacing free as a bird " , due to " a slight drone undulating in the foreground " and a " sweet , elongated coda busied by what sounds like an invasion of turkeys . " albarn admitted that " beetlebum " was about heroin and the drug experiences he had with his then - girlfriend , justine frischmann of elastica . albarn also stated that the song describes a complicated emotion , sort of " sleepy " and sort of " sexy " . the song 's title is a reference to the phrase " chasing the beetle " which refers to inhaling the smoke from heated heroin , morphine , or opium that has been placed on a piece of tin - foil . " song 2 " is notable for its hook which features albarn yelling " woo - hoo ! " the song 's intro has been called coxon 's " finest moment . " erlewine described " country sad ballad man " as a bizarrely affecting , strangled lo - fi psychedelia , whilst collins claimed that " the seated intro is a rustic mess from which arises a simply beautiful , lazy riff . " " " was described by james hunter of rolling stone as a homage to mott the hoople . the song borrows the chord progression from david bowie 's " boys keep swinging " and " fantastic voyage " , the latter of which was co - written by brian eno . " on your own " is notable for its usage of a roland tr - 606 , a 1980s drum machine . erlewine described the song as " an incredible slice of singalong pop spiked with winding , fluid guitar and synth eruptions . " " there 's a terrace singalong in here somewhere " , collins claimed , " undermined by its indistinct drum sound . " " theme from retro " was described as " obligatory space - rock trip - hop " by the austin chronicle , whilst collins claimed that it " presents blur in dub " , referring to it as " an unyielding , lovely row . like , say , a blur b - side . " " you 're so great " , performed only by coxon , was described by collins as " the most american of all " as " [ coxon 's ] voice – faraway badly recorded , wavering but heartfelt – belongs to anyone but old blur . " tom sinclair of entertainment weekly described the song as recalling the " whacked - out of midwestern lo - fi heroes guided by voices . " lindsay zoladz 's review of the album ( as part of blur 21 ) for pitchfork claimed that " death of a party " is the album 's highlight , speculating that it influenced gorillaz – another musical project which features albarn as the chief songwriter . collins claimed that it sounded like blur 's " second homage " to the specials ' " ghost town " , speculating that the lyrics , " why did we bother ? / should 've stayed away " reflected blur 's recent withdrawal from the public eye despite the song being written years before , and summarised the track as " a genuinely creepy piece . " sinclair described " chinese bombs " as sounding like a " lower east side mosh - pit den , " while zoladz felt that " i 'm just a killer for your love " was " exquisitely bleary - eyed . " in " look inside america " , albarn recalls the band waking up from a previous night 's show , pepsi to find the energy to do a local tv show . hunter called the song a " classic ' 90s road ballad . " the song contains the refrain " look inside america , she 's all right ; she 's all right , " which was said by erlewine to " cleverly subvert the traditional blur song , complete with strings . " collins described " strange news from another star " as " blur 's space oddity " , stating that the " acoustic guitar , quiet intro , nutty mood - change into a darker passage [ and ] a melancholy report whose central thrust ( " i don 't believe in me " ) [ express ] further doubt from the troubled albarn . " originally performed as a poem at the albert hall in july 1996 , the studio version of " essex dogs " was described by erlewine as a " six - minute slab of free verse and rattling guitar noise . " collins revealed that " here it 's set to a starter - motor riff so berserk even its author , coxon , confesses to find it hard to listen to . " collins also described it as " a fitting ending ( all eight exploratory minutes of it ) to a challenging , barbed masterwork . " the song is followed by " interlude " , a hidden track which was described by collins as " a distressed instrumental sign - oft that goes nowhere . " in a november 1996 video interview , rowntree claimed , " it 's a much more aggressive record in many ways as well as a more emotional record . i think the music we 're making now is the music that we 've always wanted to make but got distracted from in a way . " artwork and packaging the artwork for blur , as well the album 's associated singles , was designed by design company yacht associates , which consists of chris thomson and richard bull . the pair had also been involved in the design process for blur 's previous album covers as part of stylorouge . the cover - art depicts a patient being rushed into an emergency ward . searching for an image which conveyed " both optimism and scariness " , yacht associates chose the stock photo from tony stone images , describing it as " an anaesthetic dream . " in 1001 albums you must hear before you die , reviewer mark bennett speculates that the cover - art represented the band 's critical status prior to the album . the back cover and inside sleeve by paul postle depict sulphur fields in iceland , where much of the album was recorded . postle also took photos of the band rehearsing for the gatefold . blur is also the group 's first album not to have lyrics and chords printed in the liner notes , instead having a composite photo of the band in the studio spread out over three panels . when questioned on this decision , albarn revealed they " didn 't wanna have to go through explaining what the lyrics are about because they 're quite odd to explain , " although he stated that " ' death of a party ' and ' strange news from another star ' are [ both ] pretty clear . " release and promotion the music press predicted that the lo - fi sonic experimentation would alienate blur 's fan - base . these fears were also shared by james who revealed that the front rows of the gigs that the band were performing at during the britpop years were primarily attracting 15 - year - old girls and that he thought the change in style was a " fucking big balls move . " andy ross , who was running food records at the time , admitted that when he first heard it he was " taken aback . we 'd won brits , we 'd won two consecutive q magazine albums of the year and my initial reaction was it 's awkward and difficult . my immediate reaction was will you sell as many records ? where 's my royalties ? everyone 's first reaction to it was that it was a departure : that ’ s clear from the artwork onwards . " albarn dismissed the emi 's concerns calling them " the usual thing — ' it 's got no singles on it ' . meanwhile , they 're giving radiohead the full marketing works . that hurt for a while because we 've done so well for them . we were trying to be really brave . but it was all made up pretty quickly . " parlophone md tony wadsworth was enthusiastic however as coxon recalls , " we played him " song 2 " as a bit of a test of whether he was on our wavelength . we told him this was the second single . course , we had no idea that it would be . he sat there , grinning — ' definitely ! definitely a single ! ' " worries of " commercial suicide " were eased when the lead single , " beetlebum " , debuted at number one on the uk singles chart . blur topped the uk albums chart when it was released in february , knocking white on blonde by texas off the . blur eventually went on to be certified platinum . although the album could not match the sales of their previous albums in the uk , blur became the band 's most successful internationally , reaching the top twenty in switzerland , france , norway , new zealand , sweden and japan . in the us , the album peaked at number sixty - one on the billboard 200 , blur 's highest charting album at the time , and was certified gold . the album 's us success has been attributed partially to the popularity of " song 2 " , which peaked at number six on the modern rock chart . after " song 2 " was licensed for use in soundtracks , advertisements and television shows — it became the most - recognisable blur song in the us . after the success of blur , the band embarked on a nine - month world tour . critical reception according to allmusic , blur received generally positive reviews from music critics but at the time of its release , according to q , the reviews were mixed in the uk press . david cavanagh reported that the guardian praised it , whereas the times was more " ambivalent " and the independent was negative . stephen thomas erlewine of allmusic said the album highlights " the band 's rich eclecticism and sense of songcraft . certainly , they are trying for new sonic territory , bringing in shards of white noise , gurgling electronics , raw guitars , and druggy psychedelia , but these are just extensions of previously hidden elements of blur 's music . " margaret moser of the austin chronicle praised the album for " unveiling a punchy brand of muscular brit - pop that dances around raucous , kinks - like garage - pop ( " movin ' on , " " " ) , tender , beatles - like harmonies ( " beetlebum , " " look inside america " ) , punky quirk ( " chinese bombs " ) , soulful balladry ( " country sad ballad man " ) , obligatory space - rock trip - hop ( " theme from retro , " " i 'm just a killer for your love " ) , and a raise - yer - mug singalong ( " on your own " ) . " jonathan bernstein of spin also felt that , " despite their traitorous pronouncements , blur 's highlights are consistently british - bred . " james hunter , writing for rolling stone , claimed that " what still makes [ blur ] great is their deep grasp of style and genre . what they haven 't done on blur is roll out of bed , strum a few chords and loudly free - associate about the first thing that pops into their heads . this is a record that inhabits current american rock biases as cogently and intelligently as parklife corralled the last few decades of british rock . " many praised lyrics such as the ones in " look inside america / she 's alright " , and noting albarn 's " obligatory nod to beck , [ and promotion of ] the new pavement album as if paid to do so " , reviewers felt the band had come to accept american values during this time — an about - face of their attitude during the britpop years . erlewine wrote that " blur might be self - consciously eclectic , but blur are at their best when they are trying to live up to their own pretensions , because of damon albarn 's exceptional sense of songcraft and the band 's knack for detailed arrangements that flesh out the songs to their fullest . " alternative press called it " a whirl of weird esotericism , precious , precocious and impressively " . robert christgau of the village voice was less enthusiastic and cited only " song 2 " as a " choice cut " , indicating " a good song on an album that isn 't worth your time or money " . at the 1998 nme awards , blur received a nomination for best album . however , it lost to radiohead 's ok computer . in 2013 , nme ranked it at number 137 in its list of 500 greatest albums of all time . the album was also included in the book 1001 albums you must hear before you die . unlike some of blur 's previous albums , praise from the band members has remained . " i 'm really fond of that record , " coxon said in 2009 . " i think it 's one of our best . " track listing all songs written and composed by damon albarn , graham coxon , alex james and dave rowntree , except where noted . notes the length of track 14 on the american version of the album is 11 : 24 , with " dancehall " as a hidden track in between " essex dogs " and " interlude " . the european version came with a live cd recorded in the netherlands ( also with selected b - sides from the " blur " singles ) that was also released separately in the netherlands as simply " blur live e.p. " the australian version came with a second cd featuring the complete peel acres sessions ( as released in the uk on the " on your own " singles ) the japanese version of the album has " dancehall " as a separate , listed track ( 15 ) , which includes " interlude . " " death of a party " was demoed in 1992 . that recording was released to the fan club prior to the version which appears on the album . the 7 " remix version appears on midlife : a beginner 's guide to blur . personnel damon albarn – lead vocals , piano , keyboards , hammond organ , acoustic guitar graham coxon – electric and acoustic guitars , backing vocals , vocals on " you 're so great " , theremin , additional drums on " song 2 " alex james – bass guitar , lead and rhythm basses on " song 2 " dave rowntree – drums , percussion produced by stephen street , except for " i 'm just a killer for your love " produced by blur john smith – engineer ( all tracks except for " i 'm just a killer for your love " ) jason cox – engineer ( " i 'm just a killer for your love " ) " addi 800 " – additional engineering charts certifications