438. Blur, "Parklife"

 


I never really took a side in the Britpop Wars of the mid-90's, mostly because I had no idea they were going on.  My wife grew up in Ireland and there it wasn't just a background thing, it was a Hot War, and you were either with Oasis or Blur.  My wife, and her crowd, were Blur People.  That's what one of her friends literally said, out loud, to her.  "We're Blur people."  I like a lot of Oasis songs and a lot of Blur songs so I guess I'm neutral.  I'm the Switzerland of Britpop Wars.

This album was one of the most important shots of the Britpop Wars.  I guess it was like the Battle of Hastings, with Blur barging in and announcing their presence right off the bat with "Girls and Boys" a song about everyone having sex with everyone else that I distinctly remember hearing at a Britpop-themed New Years Eve party in maybe 2003 or 2004.  Can you imagine, a Britpop-themed New Years Eve party at a club in San Francisco?  What a world.

There are so many great songs on this album.  Right after "Girls and Boys," there's "Tracy Jacks," a wonderful melodic jam about a guy who conforms all his life until he goes nuts and gets naked and bulldozes his house (not at the same time).  To this day, "Parklife," the title track, pops into my head whenever I pass Dolores Park on a Tuesday or whatever and see it full of people at noon since it's about that very thing - doing fuck all and hanging out instead of working.  A lot of Parklife, the album, not the song, is about conformity vs. noncomformity, a big topic in England and amongst young people the world over.

I finally got to see Blur at the Great American Music Hall in 2003, on the Think Tank tour.  By that time, Graham Coxon had disappeared into a bottle and couldn't play any more so it was pretty much Damon Albarn and a bunch of tour musicians.  I was saddened to read later that Albarn (and a lot of other people) thought the whole tour was a disaster, because I remember that show being FANTASTIC and energetic (and ear-crushingly loud) and a blast and a half.  Oh well.

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