Rate this Artist/Band: Blur

[RPS]

Blur is soon to be reuniting and a lot of people are bound to be happy. Starting off deeply rooted in Brit-pop, the band peaked with Parklife, perhaps their most acclaimed album, and showed off more versatile sounds. After, Blur continued to experiment, most notably on 13 and Think Tank, with both albums experimenting with new electronic sounds. The result is a band who has released seven distinct and radically different LPs, each with different reasons to love and hate.

I rank Blur 10 out of 10. Probably the best band of the 1990's, with THREE AMAZING LPS in Parklife, Blur and 13. Think Tank is also one of my top 5 records of this decade. I don't think they released a bad album, however I think their self-titled and Modern Life are both pretty good albums, but no where near the quality of their later work. In choosing their best album, its so hard, because each album is amazing in it's own respect. In my view, its really a contest between 13 and Think Tank, with Think Tank getting the nod in my opinion. If I had to rank, it'd probably go Think Tank, 13, Blur, Parklife, The Great Escape, Modern Life and Leisure. In terms of singles, my favorite Blur songs aren't even included in this poll (Ambulance, Battle), but of the one's I've included, I think I might have to go with Music Is My Radar. Such an amazing and danceable song.

[GoGo Yubari]

Blur is without a doubt in my top five favorite bands of all-time list, probably at 3rd or 4th (definitely behind The Beatles and the pillows but somewhere on the same level as The Velvet Underground). I just absolutely adore them and their willingness to play with concepts and musical styles, and they have such an amazing roster of singles, though ultimately "Coffee & TV" will probably always be my favorite because no Blur song had the same impact on me as that; the night I downloaded it I ended up listening to it probably around thirty to forty times, I was that in love with it. Excellent, excellent band.

EDIT: I will say that I loathe "Song 2" (it's not a bad single but it's not even near the same league as "Coffee & TV," "She's So High," "Parklife," "Country House," and so on), though, and find it really really unfortunate that that song is basically their musical legacy on US radio.

[lari]

Run of the mill Brit-pop.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I adore Blur. Definite 10/10 for me. Defined the era and went on to make some great music after that too!

You haven't listed my favourite song though. "End of the Century" is my favourite Blur track and Charmless Man and Stereotypes are right up there too. Of the ones you gave I'll have to vote Parklife which is also a mighty track and the other song rounding out my top five at the moment is probably "On Your Own".

[METALMAN]

Blur are really good. I gave them 8/10 with my favourite album being "Modern Life Is Rubbish" and best single on the list being "Out of Time". My favourite Blur songs are "Colin Zeal", "Turn It Up" and "Charmless Man" though.

edit: and I agree with CSAMH on the subject of End of a Century's brilliance. That and "Villa Rosie" would complete my top five.

Edited March 28, 2009 by metalman