Blur: Classic Or Dud

i don't think taking heroin has ever made anyone interesting, but i thought that was a great feature.

But wasn't that the hook of the story, though? Ooh, Damon went through some kind of artistic epiphany in the late 90s. That's when Damon was taking heroin. Heroin caused the epiphany and made him, y'know ~interesting~. Except it didn't, it just made him self-indulgent in a different kind of way.

I suppose I should just not read interviews with that man, because I am that bitterest thing - the Ex-Blur fan.

the hook of the standfirst isn't the same thing as the hook of the story - for one thing, it was probably written by a sub-editor, and not john harris, and if i were subbing the piece, i would definitely have put it in the standfirst as it is definitely a kinda 'big deal' revelation that's new and news. but yeah, aside from some woolly talk about it 'opening him up artistically' there wasn't much to it.

do you still hate all of em, kate? even lovely wee graham??

Really good interview, I thought. Harris gets knocked here, but I think the problem was that he'd ceased to be engaged by much music long before he'd made the transition from music writer to politics writer. Give him a music subject he's passionate about and he writes a fantastic piece.

1) DON'T. USE. THAT. NAME. You're getting a flag post for that, because I have asked about 50,000 times for people on this board not to use that name so at this point I'm not buying "Oh I didn't know" any more.

2) can't fucking stand that child-man

i'm gonna reserve my observations on Harris for the John Harris RIP thread

Of all the Britpop characters I think I hate Damon the most. Even more than Noel and Liam and their hard lad-isms. Even more than Brett and his bisexual fop act (which he's thankfully dropped). Even more than Jarvis's constant self doubt and guilt. Even more than (non Britpop example) Bono, because at least Bono's still arrogant so I can take his BS with pinch of salt.
We've all met students who've taken a year out to go travelling, and come back just completely full of shit. Damon is like the ueber example of that:

"It's shocking in the sense that you think, 'This is really hard work.' But it's very practical. And extremely honest, and very productive. And if you could translate that humility, and ingenuity – well, there are lessons for all of us."

Fuck you Damon. People trying to scrape a living by sorting through the often toxic and harmful waste generated by the First World is not 'honest' or 'productive'.
For once I would like an interview where Damon stands up and shouts "YES I TOOK HEROIN!!! I WAS BORED AND/OR STRESSED OUT!!! BUT IT WAS A STUPID THING TO DO!!!". The only thing more boring than listening to a junkie is listening to an ex-junkie trying to come up with excuses why he became a junkie. Excuses that somehow skirt around the central point that he decided to take heroin.
And all this 'last ever gig' shit? Trust me, Blur are going to be chugging along like Status Quo. Except nowhere near as exciting.

apologies mb, hadn't read any of the threads where this has come up or i wouldn't have used the name. flag away though, i really don't give a shit.

there's nothing in here that's new is there re the smack phase? there was an Observer piece that Miranda Sawyer wrote way back in 1999 that covered the whole Bettelebum/ 13/ Heroin thing. even in the No Distance.. film the interviewer starts off by saying the heroin stuff is 'well documented'. re Gorillaz; seems he can never be Graham's mate AND Jamie's mate at the same time.

oh really? i wasn't previously aware that damon had done smack too... and i missed the first ten minutes of no distance when i saw it on tv (what a great movie, though.)

i remember reading '3862 Days' (blur biography) around the time of 13 and thinking it gave the impression they were grown up and no longer drank/did drugs. but i guess denial is fairly common w/ addicts. that narduar vid of them from 2003 made it fairly obv. they were off their face.

So, I give him my interpretation of what changed his approach to music: that he had an experience common to a lot of musicians from bohemian backgrounds. For all its grave dangers, that drug – perhaps in moderation, if such a thing is possible – sometimes opens up a side of them that they didn't know existed.

"That's an astute observation on your part," he says, "and I wouldn't disagree with it." For some reason, he then shakes my hand.

tsschhhhhh, what a pair of bawheids

the self titled blur album is quite good tho iirc, probably the only thing of theirs i could listen to

snoball otm

Take your meds, "MB"

I was hoping they might do one last tour, it's a shame. Can't make it to Hyde Park though I'd love to! Canada used to get so much love - alas.

Not OK.

Look, FFM, that is SERIOUSLY not an OK thing to say to anyone. That's beyond offensive, beyond insulting and just seriously, not an OK thing on any kind of a level. How dare you, how ablist, how derogatory, and just generally a hugely asshole thing to do.

You have no right to make the kind of assumptions that you just made in that post. Not OK on any level.

And no, this is not me being "mentally ill" - this is me being genuinely angry that someone, in 2012, can make that kind of a red-flag mental-health-shaming ablist post, about me, or about anyone. I can't even tell you how out of order and out of line that was.

Just based on my own experience, when my Dad decides he doesn't need his meds we all get a lot less "hey could you please not use my name?"s and a lot more ANGRY. TYPING. YMMV of course. You can call me whatever you like, I encourage mentally ill people to take all the advantages given to them.

Cunt.

All you keep doing, when you keep making these kinds of posts, FFM, is exposing your own bigotry.

Your attitudes towards mental illness are clearly what are colouring your perceptions of my actions. About whether I'm annoyed because I'm asking a reasonable request for the 50th time, or if it's because *you* have decided my annoyance is ~clearly~ evidence of mental illness and my need to be ~medicated~ to have my behaviour suit you. You do not have the right to make that diagnosis.

Using your knowledge of someone's disability in order to delegitimise their stated preferences, with a nice side order of condescending insult, that's Daily Mail territory of bigotry and disablism.

That hurt. You might be the kind of person that would be *proud* to know that you had actually caused me to spend half an hour crying and shaking with anger, because this kind of disablist attitude is something that has fucked my life over and again. But that's what happens when you use that kind of language and that kind of disablist attitude casually and carefully. You genuinely hurt people. And that makes you the asshole here.

Not me, asking for the 50th time for people not to use government names on the internet.

You have every right to think I'm a horrible person or an asshole or whatever - but when you start bringing people's disability into it, that makes you a fucking bigot, and this kind of bigotry has no place in this forum.

Boom, I've seen you ask people not to use your name - and I don't. I suppose Stevie hadn't. You overreacted, again. There's nothing logical to debate. I do apologize for the pills comment, it was out of line. But so is your insistence of believing everyone sees every post you make. I don't believe he did that out of malice and I do believe after several years posting under your real name/several aliases between which there is one common thread by which people think of you, and you'll need to exercise more patience in getting your message out.

I'm not sure what business of yours it is, how I talk to my friends (especially as Stevie doesn't seen to have taken offence) and you don't seem to have come on this thread to do anything else except take me to task for not conforming to your politeness police ideas of what constitutes an "overreaction" or not. So you're right. It's not logical of *you* at all to be on this thread except for some beef.

But you have shown your colours, in terms of, all the things you could have said - that I was curt, that I was short-tempered, or impatient, that I might even have been rude, all things that might be true, depending on how you look at it - but you didn't choose to say any of those things. You chose to make a deliberate slur against a disability.

So, having displayed such flagrant bigotry, I hardly think that you have *any* right to lecture me on politeness or how to react to people.

(what's going on?)

(oh i see its one of those things I don't get as i only
look at ilm and not other boards on ilx. okay kids carry on)

McNormal and Chips to thread please

1) DON'T. USE. THAT. NAME. You're getting a flag post for that, because I have asked about 50,000 times for people on this board not to use that name so at this point I'm not buying "Oh I didn't know" any more.

fucking blur thread

fwiw that Grauniad article is hugely worth reading, and shines an obvious light on 13 that tbh I'm ashamed I never picked up before. As an added bonus I didn't know Rocket Juice & the Moon (a) was a thing (b) had been released before seeing that article, so cheers Brutish.

i thought it was common knowledge him and justine had indulged in smack

~as had others in elastica hence the reason one of the band once clean discovered god ~

also, that article just confirmed why i was not overly keen on plastic beach.
i.e. not enough jamie h involvement for me.
this became all the more obvious once a real band was formed to tour the album.
however, as for the videos not working, i would disagree.
the video for the last gorillaz track (the one for the shoes), is a gorillaz trainspotter joy.

McNormal and Chips to thread please

― Morrissey & Clunes: The Severed Alliance (PaulTMA), Saturday, April 7, 2012 10:28 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

LOL!!

i thought it was common knowledge him and justine had indulged in smack

y but I didn't consider that 13 would be that explicitly about heroin

Justine F's take, from (yikes!) 10 years ago http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2002/mar/10/life1.lifemagazine4

ace, thanks for that

i recommend this blog where a dude reviews all the blur songs individually: http://blursongs.wordpress.com/

"Most people I know would probably rather spend time sick in bed, crying for England and listening to the shipping forecasts than being on the receiving end of Peggy Mitchell’s sexual fury, but Blur were always different."

he is not a v good writer but it is funny (imo)

I am naturally all over this - thanks roxy! I wondered if it was Veikko then saw the link to Veikko's Blur Page at the bottom. A classic lyric source in the late 90s!

im reading the last party atm. these people were fucked up. can't really hear joy in any of the music anymore tbh! feel sorriest for justine f. got the short end of every stick

oooh, never heard of that but it looks fascinating. I do have some idea of how poorly it all went for Justine, which is bullshit. They were the last wave to really be able to hide reality from their fans, weren't they? The internet has destroyed thosse rose coloured glasses!

ca. the great escape, justine's dad bought a big house for her and damon. justine was on tour for ages at the time, and damon lived in it alone for 6 months. when she came back he had furnished it with a bed, an ashtray and a tv on a box, and there were papers everywhere, nothing else, "not even a chair to sit on." weird life. how angry and ugly that album is.

justine also talks about how brett expected that when they graduated, she would get a job at an architecture firm and he would stay home and make food for her while she supported them both. that's when she dumped him tbh. then damon apparently pressured her to go along with an "open" relationship, ie he just kinda fucked everybody

also, sorry to harp on last party tidbits, but damon basically bossed justine into dating him, lol. he called her under the pretense of setting up a gig and then told her she was the one and they were to be married and she had "no choice in the matter." typical

They were the last wave to really be able to hide reality from their fans

so true. i never knew so much of this stuff. i feel like justine's been out of the game long enough that she's really open about it all. her interviews are really crushing

Hah! I'd never heard that. To date the purchases my husband have made (that I didn't suggest) were a TV and a couch, so that sounds about right. But woah @ the Brett/Damon control tactics! What the fuck, dudes.

Keep going, I love the anecdotres! You may need to transcribe this book as it is ~$40 Canadian on Amazon! (I might pick it up used.)

(I also like anecdotes..)

This is the most recent thing I read from J, which puts less of the blame on the men w/r/t her relationships - ie - "For a while, she was still living with Anderson while seeing Albarn. " but that might just be lazy writing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2002/mar/10/life1.lifemagazine4

haha i got it from the music library at school.

justine says that when she wanted to break up with damon (after going to iceland where he had been staying and seeing that even comedy sketch shows on tv were referencing the fact that he was sleeping around w/ everyone[!!]), he was like "no, youre depressed. you want a baby and havent come to terms with that". she was in such a bad state she just kind of believed him for a period and just did a lot of heroin and slept a lot. horrible. when they finally did breakup she says she felt that damon still wanted a baby to have something to show for eight years otherwise wasted. makes me depressed!

alex is a well-known boor but all rumors i'd read said that damon was a flirt but had no sex drive whatsoever. a little surprising to read about what a shithead he was in that relationship. the media really made it look like she made a cuckold of him or something.

another anecdote: the first thing brett ever said to justine was "what's wrong with your mouth?" she really knew how to pick them

yeah i think she was still playing in suede briefly while seeing albarn, but not actually living with brett. at any rate i think it was her house, so he might have just been lagging in moving out, but im not sure.

justine also talks about how brett expected that when they graduated, she would get a job at an architecture firm and he would stay home and make food for her while she supported them both. that's when she dumped him tbh. then damon apparently pressured her to go along with an "open" relationship, ie he just kinda fucked everybody

I've never read this, I'll need to check it out. Tbh Brett has always struck me as a lazy person so this doesn't surprise me.

He wrote a certain song for a reason.

oh lordy! you can tell just by looking at him that Brett is a dick but Damon definitely had that broader appeal. As I've grown up I have met Damon types and know now what his type is *probably* like. But Justine was younger than I am now when she met all these people! We all have the loser boyfriends we picked when we were young and dumb, hers just happen to be famous. I am a bit surprised about the 'you just want a baby' BS though! Jesus.

Alex, however.. boor or not, I'd still hit it. And have him feed me cheese.

xp I don't recall hearing 'I'm A Horrible Git Who'll Expect You To Pay For Everything While I Do Eff All' - was probably a b-side.