Blur Oasis on the cover of Melody Maker, 9th December 1995
March 16, 2010
Blur / Oasis on the cover of Melody Maker, 9th December 1995. Photo by Tom Sheehan.
So last night I saw the Blur doc, No Distance Left To Run which left me feeling a little disjointed. It’s hard to put my finger on why. I suppose, as the cliché goes, I’ve grown up with Blur. But it’s more than simple nostalgia. They’ve somehow bisected with my life in a way that no other band has and while I watched Blur’s youthful exuberance become slowly grubbied by alcohol, cynicism and (whisper it) heroin, I was repeatedly reminded of my various triumphs and failures. Mostly failures. Fuck it, it is just nostalgia isn’t it?
I was at art college in London in 1990, not Goldsmiths, but one very close by. One group of friends had come from Colchester art college and were good friends with Damon’s sister. One even ended up marrying her. It all came back last night and more.
I remember how I heard Leisure at a BBQ weeks before it was released. I remember Damon running off to get the tube after coming to our graduation show; and how shortly afterwards, Modern Life is Rubbish, ended up sound tracking my hateful commuter walk during the misery of my first full time job. I remember the lonely walks from Hackney to The Barbican on Sunday afternoons. I remember the Subterranea and how you could often find Damon puking his guts up in the toilets. I remember Britpop, the Loaded parties and the hangover that kicked in around 98 when we all suddenly realised we weren’t young anymore and had stopped talking to each other. I remember the scurrilous rumours, the friends boyfriend who’d shagged Justine and how I’ve had to leave that life behind me. I remember thinking how much they’d done and how little I’d done. I guess I felt sorry for myself.
But most of all…most of all, I remember thinking…make another fucking record.
Here’s a great recording of the pre-Blur Seymour, clips of which were shown in the doc.
Everett True interviews Echobelly, 30th September 1995. Photos by Tom Sheehan.
I wanna do great things, I don’t wanna compromise…so can someone read this for me?
I want to watch this amazing video again
Steve Sutherland interviews Damon Albarn, 16th September 1995. Photos by Kevin Cummins.
Seeing as I have the N.M.E. pile out and we’re all still flushed from seeing Blur on stage again at Glastonbury 2009 I thought I’d post this, the counterpart to this cover, which has proved extremely popular. Gasp again to the cut and thrust of Blur vs. Oasis; thrill to the shenanigans of Cuntry House and The Great Escape; or just simply drool over the lovely Cummins picture of the young Albarn.
The years are starting to show though aren’t they? Quite understandable for Albarn to change the lyrics in End of a Century from “the mind gets dirty, as you get closer to thirty” to fifty, given the circumstances. It doesn’t scan as well but I’ll forgive him.
So I dunno if I was naive, but I wasn’t expecting quite such a retreat to the ‘Britpop’ Blur – perhaps Damon & Co. needed to be reminded of what great work they’ve produced over the years to feel re-invigorated for the future? It has, lest we forget, been a long slog for them over the last 20 years. Something I was reminded of again today thanks to the serendipitous joys of Twitter when I read Rhodri Marsden’s first hand recollection of meeting Blur in their orignal Seymour form and then subsequently touring with them. Well worth reading and there’s this photo that shows why Dave gave up drinking.
It just so happens that I’ve managed to scan in a review from one of these early Blur performances where The Keatons supported. If you missed it the first time it’s here.
And let’s not forgot all of Blur’s festival unfriendly tunes. Here’s a Spotify playlist showcasing the gloomy side of Blur through the years.
Wallow deep.
Everett True reviews Pulp live at the NEC, 2nd March 1996. Great photo by Matt Bright
Maker News Special: The Battle of the Brits, 2nd March 1996.
I’ve stared too long at Gallagher’s ugly Arthur Daley meets the missing link visage tonight to have anything much to say about this but I did laugh my head off at the irony of Jonathan King’s opinion being sought about Jackson’s notorious paedo-friendly Earth Song performance though. And there’s still time to get those Knighthood forms filled in.
Hi to all those visiting for the first time from the B3ta boards. The honour is all mine. Cheers!
Jarvis Cocker on the cover of Melody Maker, 2nd March 1996. Photo by Andy Gatt
Before we go back in time for some more Stone Roses let’s stick with 1996 for one more issue. This for Kate who wrote me a lovely email and mentioned it as a favourite of hers.
Is this the way they say nostalgia’s meant to feel, or just 30,000 people standing in a field?
After me being so sniffy about the new look Maker, there’s this anomaly where Reynolds very intelligently explores the “post-rave diaspora” of styles and sub-cultures born out of the original rave scene and tries to snatch some sort of meaning from it. An amusing, must read, last paragraph reports, “There’s a sense of aftermath. You know you’ve been through something; you just don’t know yet what it was. But it doesn’t mean nothing.”
Interesting to note that this double page feature isn’t mentioned at all on the cover.
Note to Russian viewers: There have been a lot of comments in Russian in the last week or two. I’m only going to publish comments to AMP in English. It doesn’t have to be perfect, ‘correct’ English, it just needs to be understandable enough for me (and everyone else) to know you’re not spamming the site.
Touched by the hand of Mod – Melody Maker cover, 19th November 1994
February 24, 2009
Touched by the hand of Mod – Melody Maker cover, 19th November 1994. Photo by Pat Pope.
For everyone at 2StrokeBuzz.com
Simon Reynolds interviews Elastica, 25th March 1995
August 3, 2008
Simon Reynolds interviews Elastica, 25th March 1995. Photos by Tom Sheehan.
The height of Britpop finds Justine reflecting on success and fame with Simon Reynolds. This is the interview that goes with this cover I’ve previously posted.
There’s a nice companion piece to this, from another former MM journalist Andrew Smith, in this interesting and lengthy Observer interview from 2002, where Justine Frischmann reflects on the aftermath of Elastica and this period in her life.
If Wikipedia is to be believed Justine has recently got married and is now studying visual arts and psychology at Naropa University. I hope she’s happier now.
—Update—
Some pics from Justine Frischmann’s wedding are up on flickr. Someone posted the link on the Drowned in Sound forum board…so if you’re interested.
http://flickr.com/photos/lindsaysworski/2709793224/in/set-72157606411022298/
It’s on a farm with traditional Japanese umbrellas, and MIA’s the bridesmaid!
