ALBUM REVIEW: Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish

    Last we checked in on Blur, their baggy debut Leisure had managed to sail into the Top 10 on Britain's album charts, which you'd think would be great news - truth is, it was chaos at Blur HQ. The music press had cast the group off with the debut, calling it an anti-climax, and others calling Blur trend-hopping posers, which resulted in heavy image damage. As if that wasn't bad enough, Blur discovered that they were £60,000 in debt thanks to a little thing called "poor management", and their latest single "Popscene" failed to crack the Top 30 - this single, for what it's worth, would later be hailed as one of the group's best, but at the time it was panned by the press. With its big horns, driving guitar riff, and 60s inspiration, it was a sore thumb in a rock world still dominated by grunge, but it was a seminal single that showed the way forward for Blur. Their record label, Food, sent them to the US on tour, during which Albarn began writing music that he considered very "British", with influence from other groups of old like The Kinks and Small Faces; when they returned home to the US, the group was met with the press moving on to competing group Suede, and Blur was at a real risk of losing their label. The resulting album that Blur recorded during this chaotic era was exactly what Albarn wanted it to be - a very British-sounding album, calling back to the 1960s in lyrical contents and musical style. The label called the rebrand career suicide, and boy how wrong they were. Compared to the often lackluster Leisure, Modern Life is Rubbish is a glorious sophomore effort from Blur, filled with memorable hooks, creative pop moments, and a definite sense of British-ness and a fittingly dissatisfied view of the world that creates a melancholic central feel. It's not just Blur's breakthrough moment creatively - it's a shining moment in the history of Britpop.

    If you had no knowledge of Blur and listened to their first two albums, you'd probably think they're two different bands, and it's not just a difference in quality, that's for sure - Modern Life is Blur's hard pivot to the slowly emerging Britpop genre, one that will grow innumerably in size by the year of their fourth album in 1995 - while one might think a lot of these groups sound similar, Blur definitely takes from more artsy or gentle influences, such as the previously mentioned Kinks, than some of their more famous, Beatle-y contemporaries. Songs like the opening track "For Tomorrow" or the beautifully gentle "Blue Jeans" exude lots of love for an album like The Village Green Preservation Society or Arthur, and in fact this album could really be seen as a sort of continuation of the themes of those albums for the 90s, right down to the album's blunt title. The music that results from these inspirations isn't just a love letter to the groups of yore, but one with its own quirks and sounds, and ones that are surprisingly artsy at that - many of the compositions are quite adventurous for a pop group, and Blur still maintains some of the neo-psychedelia elements from their debut on a few tracks like the dark "Pressure on Julian", one of the more curious moments on the album. There's also quite a bit of power pop on the album, almost reminiscent of something like Big Star on the penultimate "Turn It Up" with its immediate chorus and crisp harmonies. This is all without mentioning the tasteful musical variation from fast-paced and lively rockers like "Sunday Sunday" into moodier moments like "Oily Water" or the following folky colors of "Miss America". Add on top the fact that Blur as a band sounds even better on this album from the melodic bass work of Alex James to the still impressive guitar work from Graham Coxon to Damon Albarn's sharp vocal performances, and you have a certifiable music tour de force, complete with some of the most endearingly British sounds of the year.

    This creativity is of course helped by one small, little fact: the album is filled to the brim with excellence. Hardly a song runs through on Modern Life without one fantastic chorus or hummable hook to be heard. Straight out the gate, the fantastic "For Tomorrow" is not only a triumphant welcome to the new Blur, but a truly amazing pop song, one that immediately establishes Blur as pop masters, and they don't lose this steam at all throughout the album, chugging along with just as much steam straight to the moody "Resigned" at the end of the album, where you've gone through all sorts of ideas and sounds through the album's brilliant structure. The power pop of "Colin Zeal" about an egotistical man proves a high mark, as does the aforementioned Big Star reminiscent "Star Shaped", one of the most creative pop songs on the album. This is immediately followed by what may be my personal favorite song in "Blue Jeans", a beautiful little love ballad with tight harmonies and a relaxing instrumental - if the rest of the album hadn't sold you, than this song should. "Chemical World" is a brilliant pop song, sarcastic in all the right places while its fuzzy guitar lines and soaring chorus harmonies - it's an easy album highlight that really does demonstrate the best of the group's artistic eccentricities. Other moments like "Oily Water" or "Coping" shine in their energy, a bit darker than the album usually runs mood-wise, but made all the better with their rocking power - the former shines with Coxon's unique guitar part. "Villa Rosie" or "Turn It Up" are fantastic pop songs, the former more reminiscent of Beatlesque psyche pop and the latter being an immediate smash in terms of power pop. Speaking of Beatlesque, there's the music hall leanings of "Sunday Sunday" if you want a proper light-hearted jaunt. It all melds together brilliantly stylistically and thematically, one part nostalgic another melancholic, to create a proper album experience through and through.

    Well, as previously mentioned, the label was wrong - Modern Life is Rubbish was not career suicide. Following its release, reviews were positive and an accompanying promotional tour saw Blur regain some of their popularity in the wake of the Leisure troubles, with many of the songs performed live on the tour making their way onto their third album. Everyone was also in agreement at the time; Modern Life was a much-appreciated step above the derivative Leisure, but in retrospect it is more. Modern Life is Rubbish is, in some sense, a career-saver, carrying Blur back from one of their lowest points back to moderate success and critical respect, while also kick-starting the first proper leg of their career as Britpop icons, something that will be cemented with their next album. Modern Life doesn't just succeed on these fronts, but as an artistic statement - it's cynical and satirical views on British life, casting away of Americanization, and endlessly memorable pop hooks help cement it as a defining Britpop album in many respects; from the depths of disaster, Blur walked out of it with their first proper masterpiece, a fantastical pop wonder whose appeal will very much hold on for many tomorrows.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Modern Life is Rubbish.