Blur: Classic Or Dud

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

Don't suede have enough threads to chat about them in?

Well yes, but it shouldn't be surprising that Suede crop up in Blur discussions, or for people to have Blur discussions that find themselves in Suede territory for a brief spell.

^^^ I think most of those Suede threads have Blur digressions, so it evens out.

Yeah... in all fairness, the two bands are linked in numerous ways whether they'd like it or not. I'd be more concerned if people were discussing Ocean Colour Scene in the Bob Dylan thread!!

I get that, and shouldn't complain (I derail shit all the time), but since I always thought Suede were crap I'd rather it was elsewhere. Personal preference.

I'm guessing it's Brett's voice that turns you off, eh? That's the usual complaint I hear. I was a big fan of both back in the '90s, although I can see why one would be a fan of one and not the other.

I don't have an issue with Brett's voice in particular, but I never found it or their music appealing.

The big difference between them, for me, is that both Brett and Damon were colossally self-centred narcissists, but Damon's the one who's managed to post-rationalise his behaviour, either as "oh that's what rock stars do, Guv", or some kind of "tormented artiste" BS. Whereas Brett has been a lot more honest and just said "yeah sorry, I was a bit of a tit back then".

and FTR I still listen to Suede, but wouldn't really ever think of putting on a Blur record ever again, so maybe I'm a bit biased.

Basically, all of the feelings I still have for Blur are pretty much nostalgia-based, while Suede, I do actually think that Brett was just the more interesting rock star (and more fucked-up human being, these may or may not be causally linked.)

I wonder how much my being Stateside effects my opinions on the two bands. I was completely outside the hype and hysteria and coverage of their every move so I just had the records to judge them by. And Suede I didn't listen to until long after the fact, except for the debut and a few songs here and there.

Yeah, Blur are pretty much entirely a Britpop timepiece, perhaps even more so that Oasis. Suede's music works outside of that context as the first album is sort of pre-Britpop, and the subsequent albums are all trying to get away from Britpop.

I was still a teenager when I heard their first single, so it's embarrassing to admit how obsessed I was. Not that I stole anyone's cell phone or anything like that, but still.

Snoball - I don't get that reading. Blur's first record is pre-Britpop too, and then the last three aren't Britpop either. Again, from the States, Britpop as a thing didn't mean shit here.

But from a UK perspective, the Britpop era was when Blur were absolutely massive, to the point where only Oasis were really big enough to challenge them, and even they couldn't. Blur are pretty much some guys sitting in bathtubs singing 'Country House', in the same way that The Beatles are four guys with 'taches in multi-coloured quasi-military/brass band uniforms.

Yeah, Blur are pretty much entirely a Britpop timepiece, perhaps even more so that Oasis. Suede's music works outside of that context as the first album is sort of pre-Britpop, and the subsequent albums are all trying to get away from Britpop.

― Emeritus Professor of LOLology (snoball), Tuesday, September 11, 2012 8:59 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, Suede was kinda pre-Britpop, and I've never seen Dog Man Star as really being a Britpop type of album either. I think Coming Up was Suede's 'Britpop' album (and their biggest selling overall), with Head Music and A New Morning both being flawed attempts to move away from that.

xp Also Blur's first record wasn't as big as Suede's debut. Best comparison I can think of is that Blur's debut is like the first two Bowie albums - known about but not really considered part of the story.

I think There's No Other Way is slightly more part of the story than The Laughing Gnome.

Both are pretty transparently imitative of their inspirations.

It's all about Damon's hair here.

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

on loan from the Inspiral Carpets