Graham Coxon says Blur tried to “kill any stink of Britpop” when they were making their self-titled 1997 album.
The band released their fifth album – simply titled ‘Blur’ – in 1997 as a follow-up to their 1995 hit ‘The Great Escape’ and it featured a change in both style and sound for the indie rockers – and Graham has now confessed they deliberately tried to move away from the Britpop craze of their heyday.
He told Mojo magazine: “We felt forced into this strange Britpop thing, which we had nothing to do with, but I suppose [on ‘Blur’] we tried to kill any stink of Britpop from our clothes and move away from our beloved Kinks – though there was still Bowie, because of Damon and [producer] Stephen Street. I think we found our own heavy psychedelia, rather than staying with Toad-of-Toad-Hall psychedelia.”
The guitarist admitted he was given more of a chance to steer the direction of the record and acknowledges it’s often thought of as a “Graham album”.
He also insisted their record label bosses weren’t worried about the new sound because they were thrilled with the single ‘Song 2’ which became a huge hit and helped the album become their most successful release in America.
Graham said: ” I don’t know what concerns EMI had, because they loved ‘Song 2’, which we had played them for a laugh. We had ‘Beetlebum’ too … It’s an unfocused album but each song has its own personality, which can be tricky to achieve …
“If anyone was going to have a go at a Blur album, it would have been this one, because of its self-indulgent moments. I can’t recall how it was reviewed, or particularly liked, but it came from an authentic place, and then it’s hard to rip it to shreds. Authenticity is an amazing force field!”