Blur: Classic Or Dud

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.

See also Damon's 'Charmless Man'.

I tried to make a good joke out of a random Suede song title, but I was far too Lazy.

Hmmmm. What can I add? That J's (by all accounts terrifying) dad condescendingly referred to D as 'that popstar' and not ever by name? When she first started Elastica she was living in a flat in Kensington and her (dull) brother had the flat next door. At the time I remember her telling me that in comparison to Kensington, you could get a lot of house for your money in Notting Hill (the house they got was right by a huge bus stop on a busy road, and I think her dad was the guarantor but she made enough to pay for most of it from her publishing deal). Interviewed Brett last year (at his gorgeous house in the same area); he's turned into Mr Focused On Business but this maaaaaay have something to do with him not doing drugs and being married to a nutritionist now.

Justine was the one who put it around about D's low sex-drive; this was a public lie to put younger women off throwing themselves at her boyfriend. Damon definitely did want a kid and when he got with his current partner IIRC they were expecting in very short order. And it could've been worse (pop culturally) for J if she'd stuck with her very first boyfriend: GUY RITCHIE.

xpost -- You and me etc.

And it could've been worse (pop culturally) for J if she'd stuck with her very first boyfriend: GUY RITCHIE.

So glad I wasn't drinking anything as otherwise the spit-take would have covered the monitor (and rendered Murry/Djokovic rather wet).

he's turned into Mr Focused On Business but this maaaaaay have something to do with him not doing drugs and being married to a nutritionist now.

Mm, right, fitter, happier, etc.

Imagining Brett and current wife as Marshall and girlfriend number two from AbFab

why in hell do ya wanna read about pop stars? Aside from the music all I need to do is apprec how great they looked.

And it could've been worse (pop culturally) for J if she'd stuck with her very first boyfriend: GUY RITCHIE.

But then we'd have been spared Madonna in 'Swept Away'.

xp b-b-but I love reading about, say, Bowie keeping his piss in a refrigerator, or Brett throwing Bernard's guitars out of the second floor studio window into the street, or Damon saying how much he enjoys "hanging out in Africa" without realising how much of a massive wanker it makes him sound.

Me too, it's fun.

Suede's Love & Poison book is full of great anecdotes, especially from the Head Music period when Brett was addicted to crack and smack.

Here's a choice one:

"It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, certainly summer, I was in Suede's office stealing CDs when the phone rang. It was Brett desperate to know if there was £800 in cash in the safe because he didn't know how to use a bank card. Next thing I knew we were in a cab to West London on a mission of great importance and some secrecy. The cab pulled up outside Brett's flat and the curtain twitched and shortly an ordinary looking man in a baseball cap and shades climbed into the front seat. 'Alright mate,' he said. It was Brett in disguise. Within moments we were briefed on our mission and the cab drove some fifty yards down the street and pulled up outside a hi-fi shop. David went in with cash and it was my job to lift the smallest stereo known to man into the boot of the cab. To this day I don't think anyone saw us. Fifty yards later, Brett was unloading the stereo. 'I'd invite you guys in,' he lied, 'but the flat's a bit of a mess.' 'Is that it?' asked the taxi driver, agog. 'Yes,' I replied. It was a day I'll never forget."

Suzy! queen of amazing tidbits

And as far as reading abt popstars- honestly I want to read about everything

Suede's Love & Poison book is full of great anecdotes, especially from the Head Music period when Brett was addicted to crack and smack.

Yes, it is an interesting book! Brett comes off as a real piece of work.

I like the bit where he's so high during a vocal take, he bursts into Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time'.

omg

Haha.

Revived a Suede thread for this but for those missed it:

http://thequietus.com/articles/09986-suede-recording-new-album

And yeah, that's a great book. Met David shortly after it was soft-released via the ICA, he's a character.

I remember the biog getting middling reviews, though that may have stemmed from the whole "oh for fuck's sake Suede, just go away" era. I thought it was interesting in that it was clearly written by a fan, a fan club 'president' no less, who doesn't hold back the punches from the Head Music era onwards. Was the updated 2nd edition worth seeking out?

wow thats one expensive book

My favourite bit in the book is where they're working on a test version of 'Savoir Faire' with Steve Osbourne, for when they were trying out producers for Head Music...

"I (then) had the misfortune to witness Brett bouncing into the room, dressed only in what appeared to be a hideous pair of shell-suit bottoms. His torso, while muscular, had the consistency of wet putty. I was finally treated to an exclusive preview of a new song, 'Crack In The Union Jack', which halfway through turned into 'A Chas and Dave* Britpop special!' with Brett riffing away frantically, repeatedly shouting 'Oi!' while headbutting the nearest wall. All this time, Steve Osbourne looked on with the bemused air of Tim from The Office. Incredibly, he was officially enrolled as Suede's new producer only days later."

*(Brett refers to Blur as 'Chas and Dave' throughout the book).

I remember the biog getting middling reviews, though that may have stemmed from the whole "oh for fuck's sake Suede, just go away" era. I thought it was interesting in that it was clearly written by a fan, a fan club 'president' no less, who doesn't hold back the punches from the Head Music era onwards. Was the updated 2nd edition worth seeking out?

― Supper's Burnt (PaulTMA), Tuesday, September 11, 2012 2:32 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I only have the 2nd edition, which adds a chapter after the split of the band, and I don't think the book is well worth re-buying just to have that chapter. However, I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who is into Suede; like yourself, I thought it was very interesting the way that it's written by a fan, but goes into far far more detail than a load of other biogs would. You would never expect Blur to put out a book anything like this. Alex James' 'A Bit Of A Blur' book is an incredible waste of time by comparison, in my opinion!

a bit of a blur is luckily only a waste of a couple of hours. it makes alex look terrible and everyone else in blur look cartoonishly great. i dont really believe anything he says

I do love those new blur reishes!

I should read this boom too I went trough a heavy britpop phase back then

Book

Yeah, Bit Of A Blur was a comic book, basically, I wasn't expecting it to be anything else, it made Alex seem like a complete twunt, but still he managed to make being in Blur sound hilarious. It did finally manage to put the boot in my Alex crush, which had survived an awful lot up to that point. (And even though there was not the internet, there was still the grapevine of fandom, and I'd heard an awful lot of how awful Alex could be through it.)

Really, really tempted by Love and Poison. I love rock biogs that show how nasty rock stars can be. This sounds like it may be the "Up And Down With The Rolling Stones" of Britpop.

Book book shake shake the rook!
Ticm ticm ticm ticm book!

still he managed to make being in Blur sound hilarious.

The problem I had with that book was that being in Blur wasn't hilarious - like the bit in that early docu where an either hungover or still drunk Damon throws up on some concrete steps. Seeing that was kind of proof that being in Blur had a lot more in common with hanging around with 1st year undergrads who couldn't hold their ale.

it was like he was just trying to make short, choppy, "witty" sentences regarding something that approach rarely suited. he doesnt come across well in the written word

he comes across very well in photographs, however

See, I find that hilarious. Hilarious, as in, laughing AT them (not laughing with them.)

Watch Blur get hit by taxies while stumbling around drunk! Ha ha hahahahah!

I remember hearing that Damon Albarn was really worried when he heard that Alex was doing the 'A Bit Of A Blur' thing; but then he later complained (sounded relieved?) that it didn't go into very much detail. I dunno, the guys in Blur seem very very careful about the way they project themselves; way too careful in that respect to put out a 'warts and all'-style biography at least. I mean, it didn't come out that Dave was still a cokehead around the time of Think Tank until very recently, when someone decided to challenge him on his prickish behaviour towards Nardwuar in an old interview.

prickish behaviour towards Nardwuar needs no defense. I'd do coke if they'd let me at him.

Yeah, but Dave Rowntree wasn't a guy that was (publically known, at least) for prickish behaviour. Out of all of the members of Blur, he always came across as the 'balanced one'. As it turns out, he was just the 'mostly quiet' one.

Brett Anderson: 'I owe the rest of Suede a huge apology'

Frontman reveals regrets over recording sessions

http://www.nme.com/news/suede/59137

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkNvk2MgiCc

This Suede studio footage is circa Head Music, I think...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zebiIu2B0WM