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Woo-hoo!: How Blur Mocked Grunge & Destroyed Britpop ["Song 2"] | New British Canon
At first, Blur were a band that prided themselves on their Britishness. They wrote keenly observational pop songs about 18-30 Holidays, The Shipping Forecast, Sunday Lunch and the Quiet Frustrations of Everyday British Life. In Britain, it made them heroes. But in the US they were nobodies.
So it was quite the surprise that midway through the 90s, they made an about-face and unleashed a screaming chunk of Apple Pie-scented Grunge rawk, the key modern jock jam. But how did they get there? Why was a jumbo jet involved? And was it just a joke aimed squarely to whom it appealed? This is New British Canon and this is the Story of “Song 2.”
#Blur #Britpop #MusicDocumentary
Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.
Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor (soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
00:00 Introduction
00:52 Blur & Britpop's Ascension: "So The Story Begins..."
07:17 The Great Escape: "I Am So Sad, I Don't Know Why"
15:30 Recording Blur: "Sad Drunk and Poorly"
22:30 Creating Song 2: "When I Feel Heavy Metal"
28:07 Enduring Legacy of Blur & Song 2
Sources:
The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock by John Harris, 2004, Harper Perennial
Verse, Chorus, Monster! By Graham Coxon, 2022, Faber
The Life of Blur by Martin Power, 2013, Omnibus Press
Isle of Noises by Daniel Rachel, 2013, Picador
Starshaped - Documentary (1993) dir. Matthew Longfellow
Blur - The South Bank Show (1999) dir Gerald Fox
No Distance Left to Run - Documentary (2010) dir. Dylan Southern & Will Lovelace
“Blur: Britain’s Class Act” Steven Daly, Rolling Stone, Nov 1994
"The Hic Parade" Ted Kessler, NME, Dec 1994
"Blur: The Return Of The Fab Four" Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, Aug 1995
"Blur: The Return Of The Fab Four: Part Two" Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, Aug 1995
“Graham Coxon: I'm Completely at Odds With Everything” Keith Cameron, NME, Sep 1995
"Blur: England Expects" Chris Heath, The Face, Sep 1995
"Gold, Nonsense and Blur" Johnny Cigarettes, NME, Dec 1995
“Blur: Stop The Band, I Wanna Get Off!” Adrian Deevoy, Q, Mar 1996
“Blur in America” Everett True, Melody Maker, Mar 1996
"Blur Clear Things Up" Susan Kaplow, Addicted To Noise, 1997
“What Have We Done?” Roy Wilkinson, Select Magazine, Mar 1997
“‘Sly Stone Meets Black Sabbath’” Roy Wilkinson, Select Magazine, Mar 1997
“One day, all this will be ours” David Cavanagh, Q Magazine, Apr 1997
“Blur Knocks The Pulp Out Of Oasis, Right?” Erik Himmelsbach, Pulse!, Apr 1997
“Red White and Blur“ Sylvia Patterson, Spin Magazine, Aug 1997
"Woo Hoo!" Michael Dwyer, Rolling Stone Australia, Sep 1997
“Chaos Has Reappeared, Everyone’s Drunk Again Great!” Mark Beaumont, NME, Nov 1997
“The Death of a Party” Stuart Maconie, Select, Aug 1999
“Alex James explains Blur’s ‘knickers-off headbanger’“ Q Magazine's 1001 Best Songs Ever, 2003
“It was all a bit of a Blur…” Ally Carnwath, The Observer, May 2009
“Blur - Album By Album, by Stephen Street, William Orbit and Ben Hillier” Nick Hasted, Uncut, Jul 2009
"Thinking outside the box" Jake Kennedy, Record Collector, Jun 2012
"Graham Coxon: All a blur" Fiona Sturges, Independent, May 2012
“Woo-hoo! 20 Years Ago, Blur's 'Song 2' Became an Unlikely Sports Anthem” Rick Paulas, VICE, Apr 2017
“‘We Found Our Own Heavy Psychedelia’” Martin Aston, Mojo Magazine, Nov 2023
“‘C’est quoi ce bordel?’” François Moreau, Les Inrockuptibles, Dec 2023
You can also follow me here:
Twitter: TrashTheory
Facebook: TrashTheoryYT
Or support me on Patreon:
www.patreon.com/TrashTheory
zhlédnutí: 229 154

Video

Before Limp Bizkit: How Nu Metal Became Pop - Revisited
zhlédnutí 87KPřed 21 dnem
For a brief moment in the late 90s and early 2000s, Nu Metal ruled the airwaves. With releases such as KoRn's Follow the Leader, Limp Bizkit's Significant Other and Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, the genre had commercial clout, but critically fared less well. However if you were a teenager at the time, nothing else felt like its white-knuckled throat-shredding catharsis. Not only that but the gen...
The Critical Kicking of Slowdive ("When The Sun Hits") | New British Canon
zhlédnutí 202KPřed 2 měsíci
There was a time when the British Music Press had absolute power. Punk, C86, Madchester, Grunge, Britpop, and The New Rock Revolution were all invented and made famous within the pages of NME, Sounds and Melody Maker. But trends are fickle. Once the press got bored of a certain sound or scene, they quickly moved on to the next one, viciously mocking what they were promoting weeks before. Many b...
The Unlikely Career of Pet Shop Boys & "It's a Sin" I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 219KPřed 3 měsíci
On paper, Pet Shop Boys are an unlikely pop behemoth. A former pop journalist and an architecture student, their first hit, “West End Girls,” had their thirty-year-old middle-class British frontman embodying Grandmaster Flash. Starting off as what could’ve quite easily remained a one-hit wonder, they defined British synth pop in the late 1980s, combining the cutting edge of dance music with the...
Everything You Know About “Blue Monday” is Probably Wrong I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 382KPřed 4 měsíci
Emerging out of the embers of Joy Division, New Order spent the 1980s smashing together the worlds of punk and disco. In 1983 they gave the world a shuddering party starter that took elements from Black Gay club music, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Spaghetti Westerns and British melancholy. Such a revolution in sound that “Blue Monday” perhaps became the biggest selling 12 inch single of all time...
The Blasphemous Story of XTC & "Dear God" I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 220KPřed 5 měsíci
XTC burst out of late 1970s Britain with hooks for days. While many of the punk bands around them proudly ignored anything before 1976, they took notes from The Beatles, Kinks, and Beach Boys and reformed them into pugnacious state-of-the-art pop. “Making Plans For Nigel,” “Generals and Majors” and “Senses Working Overtime” made their unique stamp on the UK Charts. But when XTC stopped playing ...
12 Iconic Top of the Pops Performances That Reshaped British Music
zhlédnutí 576KPřed 6 měsíci
In January 1964, the BBC saw that for the first time ever the national singles chart was overflowing with British acts. Due to this, they created a weekly music chart rundown programme called Top Of The Pops. From then on, every Thursday evening Britain’s youth would be delighted by the latest UK chart goings-on, while being the only place to see their favourite artists and discover exciting ne...
Alternative Rock's Most Unexpected Pop Stars: Therapy? & "Screamager"
zhlédnutí 112KPřed 6 měsíci
You know the story. Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in late 1991, and alternative rock broke into the mainstream. But how alternative can a band be and still succeed, however briefly, in the pop charts. Enter Therapy? Ripping their way out of Northern Ireland in 1989, they absorbed metal, punk and industrial and mangled it into glorious globs of mutant-rock noise. With jagged early t...
You're Not Punk and I'm Telling Everyone: The Jawbreaker Story
zhlédnutí 156KPřed 7 měsíci
The early 90s was a boom time for getting rich off Alternative Rock. Due to the breakout commercial success of REM, Nirvana and Green Day, major labels grabbed any band that could approximate their sounds in the hopes of them becoming the next big thing. If there was one band that felt primed to succeed in this landscape it was Jawbreaker. Formed in New York before transplanting themselves to C...
The Explosive Story of The Breeders & Last Splash
zhlédnutí 699KPřed 8 měsíci
1993 was quite the year for Alternative Rock. Still in the afterglow of Nevermind changing everything, weird and wonderful music that only a couple of years prior would’ve gone unheard, then a product of the underground, now controlling the airwaves and taking over MTV. [“Start Choppin’,” “Today,” “Creep,” “No Rain,” “Low,” “Loser”] But perhaps the best and most unexpected example of subterrane...
How For the Briefest Moment No Doubt & Ska Took Over Everything
zhlédnutí 270KPřed 9 měsíci
In 1995, rock radio needed a change after four years of Grunge. And that change came in the form of Ska. Invented in Kingston, Jamaica in the late 1950s, before being repackaged with punk and soul elements as Two Tone in the UK in the late 70s, it was an upbeat dance music characterised by its walking basslines, accented rhythms and blasts of horns. Third wave ska originated in California in th...
Games Without Frontiers: When Peter Gabriel Went Political I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 311KPřed 10 měsíci
Peter Gabriel has inhabited many roles. From a costumed prog poet in Genesis to a conservationist balladeer on the Wall-E soundtrack. However his run of self-titled albums are where he found himself as a musician. On his third album in 1980, he took all the post punk, synth pop and world music happening around him and blended it into his twitchy lopsided art rock. Gabriel spun tales of mental h...
"Cruel Summer" & Bananarama: How the New Wave Ronettes Dominated The 80s I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 423KPřed 10 měsíci
As a sub-genre, girl groups have gifted us with so many moments of pop perfection. For the most part these were groups assembled by a producer for the purpose of creating chart hits with little musical input from the performers. But formed in 1981, Bananarama were different. Spurred on by the DIY ethos of punk and the out-there fashion of the New Romantics, they hit the scene in Doc Martens, du...
Before Nine Inch Nails: How Industrial Became Pop
zhlédnutí 553KPřed rokem
What is Industrial? In its original form it was an aggressively mechanistic and uncompromising sound formed of tape-loops, samples, often self-made synths and electronics. Bands like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Nurse With Wound and Einstürzende Neubauten produced avant garde noise that thumbed its nose at pop music as a production line and made sounds from the literal tools of producti...
The KLF: Beyond The Band That Burnt £1,000,000 I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 514KPřed rokem
If you’ve heard of the KLF, you probably know them as a band that burnt a million pounds. But that is only the conclusion to their story. The journey that led them to the Isle of Jura on that fateful August morning in 1994 is even more fascinating. A journey that includes getting sued by ABBA, gaining a number one single in the guise of a talking car, pioneering at least one genre of dance musi...
Sweet Dreams: How Eurythmics Shocked America and Made MTV I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 1,2MPřed rokem
Sweet Dreams: How Eurythmics Shocked America and Made MTV I New British Canon
How Pixies & Doolittle Launched The 90s
zhlédnutí 198KPřed rokem
How Pixies & Doolittle Launched The 90s
CHAISE LONGUE or: How Wet Leg Buttered The Indie World's Muffin I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 158KPřed rokem
CHAISE LONGUE or: How Wet Leg Buttered The Indie World's Muffin I New British Canon
The Fear: How Lily Allen Took Down the Pop Machine From the Inside I New British Canon
zhlédnutí 193KPřed rokem
The Fear: How Lily Allen Took Down the Pop Machine From the Inside I New British Canon
The Overlooked First Punk Rock Christmas Song (The Kinks "Father Christmas") | New Christmas Canon
zhlédnutí 41KPřed rokem
The Overlooked First Punk Rock Christmas Song (The Kinks "Father Christmas") | New Christmas Canon
Before My Chemical Romance: How Emo Became Emo
zhlédnutí 427KPřed rokem
Before My Chemical Romance: How Emo Became Emo
Paramore & Hayley Williams' Love-Hate Relationship with “Misery Business”
zhlédnutí 477KPřed rokem
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How The Damned Beat the Pistols at Their Own Game | New British Canon
zhlédnutí 402KPřed rokem
How The Damned Beat the Pistols at Their Own Game | New British Canon
Before 1989: How Manchester Became MADchester
zhlédnutí 694KPřed rokem
Before 1989: How Manchester Became MADchester
How Aphex Twin Spurned the 90s Dance Mainstream ("Windowlicker") | New British Canon
zhlédnutí 1,3MPřed rokem
How Aphex Twin Spurned the 90s Dance Mainstream ("Windowlicker") | New British Canon
“Stacy’s Mom,” Fountains of Wayne and the Many Imaginary Hits of Adam Schlesinger
zhlédnutí 239KPřed rokem
“Stacy’s Mom,” Fountains of Wayne and the Many Imaginary Hits of Adam Schlesinger
Bloc Party, Banquet & The Second Battle of Britpop | New British Canon
zhlédnutí 242KPřed rokem
Bloc Party, Banquet & The Second Battle of Britpop | New British Canon
How Björk & Post Infused Heart into Electronic Music
zhlédnutí 651KPřed rokem
How Björk & Post Infused Heart into Electronic Music
Exploring Ian Dury, The Blockheads & HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK | New British Canon
zhlédnutí 204KPřed rokem
Exploring Ian Dury, The Blockheads & HIT ME WITH YOUR RHYTHM STICK | New British Canon
Before My Sharona: How Power Pop Became Power Pop
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Komentáře

  • @SWEGTA
    @SWEGTA Před 7 minutami

    Really good video. Much appreciated.

  • @14percentviking
    @14percentviking Před 22 minutami

    'Third wave ska' is embarrassingly American

  • @user-cs7bu4ur1j
    @user-cs7bu4ur1j Před hodinou

    Some bands imitate. Some bands innovate.

  • @MakeMeCare89
    @MakeMeCare89 Před hodinou

    Blur didn't killed Britpop. What killed the genre were different trends coming into play by the mid 90s.

  • @stizanley3987
    @stizanley3987 Před 2 hodinami

    Song 2 is the only Blur song I like. I am also American.

  • @gavintuesday4959
    @gavintuesday4959 Před 2 hodinami

    Trust Pearl Jam to fuck a good thing up

  • @whs-waterfox7034
    @whs-waterfox7034 Před 3 hodinami

    So "mocked" is British for "cashed in on"?

  • @Jesuswinsbirdofmichigan
    @Jesuswinsbirdofmichigan Před 3 hodinami

    #0023_NineTeenEighty_FREE_WhyCantBritsPronounce_th⚠️

  • @jayfunk5988
    @jayfunk5988 Před 3 hodinami

    Punks not dead they just bought samplers😂😂😂

  • @vivsavagex
    @vivsavagex Před 4 hodinami

    deftones are pretty much the only "nu metal" band that still holds up really well. of course theres individual tracks from other bands that are still good but White Pony is still in my top 50 all time albums

  • @bonzaihb3432
    @bonzaihb3432 Před 4 hodinami

    TBH, "Song 2" is the only song of Blur I know and remember - I couldn't care less for Britpop as a whole, just not my cup of tea, never was and probably never will... ^^

  • @levis503
    @levis503 Před 4 hodinami

    I am unapologetic about my love for nu metal and all metal but I really don't think of deftones as nu metal. I love deftones and think they are an awesome alt metal band in their own lane.

  • @BoRerunn
    @BoRerunn Před 4 hodinami

    They are still Epic

  • @jayfunk5988
    @jayfunk5988 Před 4 hodinami

    When they released What Time is Love they knew what could be achieved ❤

  • @Thecrazyvaclav
    @Thecrazyvaclav Před 5 hodinami

    I hope pete knew how loved he was by his fans before he died

  • @vivsavagex
    @vivsavagex Před 5 hodinami

    of course if youre a rich kid from the UK youre not going to understand the sadness and "self pity" of the grunge explosion...also, Gorillaz are awesome but Blur is throwaway BS

  • @13micah
    @13micah Před 5 hodinami

    Blur were dicks to Nardwaur I will never respect them after that.

  • @richardhart9204
    @richardhart9204 Před 5 hodinami

    ... always wondered if those strings were specially recorded, or sampled from a movie soundtrack. Now I know.

  • @KevinKolbGOAT
    @KevinKolbGOAT Před 6 hodinami

    Bill Drummond’s 1986 solo album “The Man” is an additional piece of missing career context here, and a great treat for fans of pedal steel and Scottish crooning

  • @ereviscale3966
    @ereviscale3966 Před 8 hodinami

    Around 13:30 I couldn't help but imagine Fred Armisen"s punk character whenever Albarn's lyrics pop up. They're just so incredibly unsubtle that it cracks me up along with the timing of rhe video editing.

  • @grape198
    @grape198 Před 8 hodinami

    why does nobody mention the bad brains influence on deftones adrenaline

  • @Visiopod
    @Visiopod Před 8 hodinami

    It's quite funny how artists interpretations of their most frustrating moments, always end up making legendary songs. Another example than Blur - Song 2, is Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams are Made of This, which is all about how absolutely annoying the big labels have been (and still is) to deal with. Big labels have to approve everything their signed artists puts out, so if they change style and that change isn't allowed in their contracts, the labels can, quite literally, order the artists to return to a style they no longer love and use that to fulfill their contract, hence why frustrations end up boiling over and making the artists do what they do best. Expressing their pent up emotions in a violent artistic outburst.

  • @Colin-ro6lh
    @Colin-ro6lh Před 9 hodinami

    Couldnt even say Siouxsie's last name properly

  • @fifthhoven
    @fifthhoven Před 10 hodinami

    You really have a grudge against record covers.

  • @Banzai431
    @Banzai431 Před 10 hodinami

    Was always more a Suede fan than Blur tbh.

  • @TrueYellowDart
    @TrueYellowDart Před 11 hodinami

    Shit I’ve got a nice list of Deal-influenced acts to check out now.

  • @gbus815
    @gbus815 Před 12 hodinami

    Bloc Party was the last band I felt attached to. I became a fan at their first Coachella appearance. I knew very little about them but my brother and friend raved about them. They came out and played Eating Glass and was a fan instantly. Great video!

  • @shawnannul
    @shawnannul Před 13 hodinami

    Man.... the FBI REALLY had nothing better to do back then.

  • @joerichardwad1645
    @joerichardwad1645 Před 13 hodinami

    Hearing people disparage The Dreaming album is hilarious. The album is stellar and aged incredibly well, even better than Hounds of Love. Possibly her most impressive work.

  • @leahartlee29
    @leahartlee29 Před 13 hodinami

    The 4 lines of the chorus are the World summed up in a nutshell... "Some of them want to use you, some of them want to be used by you, some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused"... were never more true! The song is GENIUS!

  • @kempcky
    @kempcky Před 14 hodinami

    So beautifully in depth! Fantastic deep dive!

  • @immortalx50
    @immortalx50 Před 14 hodinami

    I am a 500-year-old vampire and they've saved my undeath more than once

  • @wrdswpns1139
    @wrdswpns1139 Před 15 hodinami

    No wonder they weren't successful in America

  • @lt.reubenrozeyt5716
    @lt.reubenrozeyt5716 Před 16 hodinami

    What I'm getting for these videos is that The Kingsman Louie Louie , Eddie Cochran Summertime Blues and The Kinks you Really Got Me ARE PROTO-EVERYTHING

  • @hugolopes2156
    @hugolopes2156 Před 16 hodinami

    Blur has always been musically more interesting than Oasis.

  • @bigboyemotheescamo78
    @bigboyemotheescamo78 Před 17 hodinami

    grunge is my favorite rock subgenre but i will never not like blur. their music reminds me of queen and i am a queen mega fan.

  • @nobby8827
    @nobby8827 Před 18 hodinami

    13:22 hugely influenced by interpol… it sounds exactly like them

  • @halfdollamc
    @halfdollamc Před 19 hodinami

    As a kiwi/ New Zealander i never got Blur or britpop rock it was always on the airwaves but it never appealed... Grunge was my cup of tea during that era... Don't get me wrong some of my all time fave musos are brits but the 90s brit pop rock was just bland, boring and over the top

  • @wolvesetc
    @wolvesetc Před 19 hodinami

    In the US they were nobodies cause they were rubbish They couldnt touch oasis Song 2 was dope tho

  • @aaronbcole
    @aaronbcole Před 19 hodinami

    Old Blur sounds bad

  • @mickeynaesse8948
    @mickeynaesse8948 Před 19 hodinami

    Im a Huge Fan Of Hip-Hop And Nu Metal

  • @jarrodf_
    @jarrodf_ Před 19 hodinami

    04:47: Weird this actress in 1984 looks like Billy Corgan in 1979

  • @RMScott
    @RMScott Před 20 hodinami

    I’m an American, same age as these blokes, and got on the BLUR wagon quite late but never bought completely into OASIS though I do appreciate them and their craft. “Song 2” was my favorite snowboarding song. I think it was a good time to be a Brit. We, here in America, must thank the UK for the history of the music and all the influences ya’ll gave us. Cheers to Britain! 🇬🇧 ❤ Oh! And by the way, thank you for referencing XTC in this video. One of my favorites!

  • @JamesWoollerton
    @JamesWoollerton Před 21 hodinou

    That was an amazing documentary. Thank you.

  • @Degenmon3y
    @Degenmon3y Před 21 hodinou

    The gorillaz

  • @Degenmon3y
    @Degenmon3y Před 22 hodinami

    Goat

  • @astheniaaa
    @astheniaaa Před 22 hodinami

    Tim was the last truly great album? Pleased to Meet Me was as awesome

  • @comedyfish
    @comedyfish Před 23 hodinami

    Being at Uni in the 90s (in England) was the best time for music. Saw Blur many many times (first time: Sugary Tea tour, Damon in a washing machine I'll never forget) and have seen them many times since.Fave album: Modern Life..., favourite song Popscene. I was always Blur over Oasis. Still am... but I was then too

  • @jbmp1390
    @jbmp1390 Před 23 hodinami

    I appreciate you for acknowledging Deftones. They've always been far more than nu metal though.

  • @nyoodmono4681
    @nyoodmono4681 Před 23 hodinami

    The golden years the silver tears