Blur became the band's most successful internationally.

[47] In the US, the record received strong reviews as the album and the "Song 2" single became a hit. Blur reached number 61 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold, while "Song 2" peaked at number six on the Modern Rock chart.[27][48] After "Song 2" was licensed for use in various mediasuch as soundtracks, advertisements and television shows it became the most recognisable Blur song in the US. After the success of Blur, the band embarked on a nine-month world tour.[44] In February 1998, a few months after completing the tour, Blur released Bustin' + Dronin' for the Japanese market. The album is a collection of Blur songs remixed by artists such asThurston Moore, William Orbit and Moby. Among the tracks, the band were most impressed by Orbit's effort and enlisted him to replace Street as producer for their next album,[49] citing a need to approach the recording process from a fresh perspective.[33] Released in March 1999, Blur's sixth studio album 13 saw them drift still further away from their Britpopera attitude and sound. Orbit's production style allowed for more jamming, and incorporated a "variety of emotions, atmospheres, words and sounds" into the mix. 13 was creatively dominated by Coxon, who "was simply allowed to do whatever he chose, unedited", by Orbit.[50] Albarn's lyricsmore heart-felt, personal and intimate than on previous occasionswere reflective of his break-up with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann, his partner of eight years.[50] The album received generally favourable reviews from the press. While Q called it "a dense, fascinating, idiosyncratic and accomplished art rock album",[51] the NME felt it was inconsistent and "(at least) a quarter-of-an-hour too long".[52] 13 debuted at the top of the UK charts, staying at that position for two weeks. The album's lead single, the gospel-based "Tender", opened at the second spot on the charts. After "Coffee & TV", the first Blur single to feature Coxon on lead vocals, managed to only reach number 11 in the UK, manager Chris Morrison demanded a chart re-run because of what he deemed was a sales miscalculation.[53]

Blur at the Roskilde Festival, 1999

In July 1999, in celebration of their tenth anniversary, Blur released a 22-CD limited edition box-set of their singles. The accompanying tour saw Blur play the A-sides of the 22 singles in their chronological order of release.[54] In October 2000, the group released the best-of album Blur: The Best of, which debuted at number three in the UK and a Platinum certification of 300,000 copies.[55] Dismissed by the band as "the first record we have seen as product", the tracklisting and release dates of Blur: The Best of were determined on the basis of market research and focus groups conducted by Blur's record label, EMI.[56] By this time, the group had largely disowned the upbeat pop singles from the Britpop era, and favoured the more arty, experimental work on Blur and 13. In an otherwise highly enthusiastic review of the best-of for the NME, Steve Sutherland criticised the band's "sheer disregard" for their earlier work; "Just because these songs embarrassed them once they started listening to broadsheet critics and retreated wounded from the big-sales battle with Oasis doesn't mean that we're morons to love them."[57]

Coxon's departure, Think Tank and hiatus: 200107

After 13 and the subsequent tours in 19992000, band members pursued other projects. Graham Coxon recorded a string of solo albums, while Damon Albarn dedicated his time to Gorillaz, the animated band

he had created with Jamie Hewlett.[58] In 2001 Blur recorded the song Kissin' Time with Marianne Faithfull in July for her album of the same name[59] and their only live performance of the year was a two song set at the Music Management Forum awards at London's Hilton Hotel in September.[60] Recording for Blur's next album began in London in November 2001, but concerted work started in June 2002, with the sessions moving to Marrakech, Morocco soon after, and then toDevon back in the UK. Not long after the sessions began, Coxon left the group.[61] Coxon stated that "there were no rows" and "[the band] just recognised the feeling that we needed some time apart".[62] Before the album was released, Blur released a new single, "Don't Bomb When You Are the Bomb" as a very limited white label release. The song is largely electronic, and was part of the band's protest against war in the Middle East. Albarn, however, attempted to assuage fans' fears that the album would be electronic by providing reassurances that the band's new album would be "a rockin' record", and also stated that it has "a lot of finely crafted pop songs".[63] Early in 2002, Blur recorded a song that would be played by European Space Agency's Beagle 2 lander once it touched down;[64] however, attempts to locate the probe after it landed on Mars were fruitless.[65] Think Tank, released in May 2003, was filled with atmospheric, brooding electronic sounds, featuring simpler guitar lines played by Albarn, and largely relying on other instruments to replace Coxon. The guitarist's absence also meant that Think Tank was almost entirely written by Albarn. Its sound was seen as a testament to Albarn's increasing interest in African andMiddle Eastern music, and to his complete control over the group's creative direction.[66] Think Tank was yet another UK number one and managed Blur's highest US position of number 56.[25][27] The album was also nominated for best album at the 2004 Brit Awards.[67] The band did a successful tour in 2003, anchored by former The Verve guitarist and keyboardistSimon Tong.[68] In 2005, XFM news reported that the band would be recording an EP, and denied the idea of hiring a new guitarist to replace Coxon.[69] There were also some aborted recordings done in 2005. Overall the band kept low profile and did no studio recordings or touring as a three-piece. After Coxon significantly thawed in regards to the subject of rejoining the band,[70] in 2007 band members announced that Blur would reunite and that they intended to record together first in August, with the date later being pushed back to September, then October.[71][72]Though the band members finally met up in October, they posted on their website that they had only "met up for an enjoyable lunch" and that there were no "other music plans for Blur".[73]

Reunion: 2008present

Coxon (left) and Albarn on stage at the Newcastle Academy in June 2009.

In December 2008, Blur announced they would reunite for a concert at London's Hyde Park on 3 July 2009.[73] Days later, the band added a second date, for 2 July.[74] A series of June preview shows were also announced, ending at Manchester Evening News arena on the 26th. All the shows were well received; The Guardian's music critic Alexis Petridis gave their performance at Goldsmiths college a full five stars, and wrote that "Blur's music seems to have potentiated by the passing of years ... they sound both more frenetic and punky and more nuanced and exploratory than they did at the height of their fame".[75] Blur headlined the Glastonbury Festival on 28 June, where they played for the first time since

their headline slot in 1998. Reviews of the Glastonbury performance were enthusiastic; The Guardian called them "the best Glastonbury headliners in an age".[76] The band released their second greatest hits album Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur in June 2009. Blur also headlined at other summer festivals, including Oxegen 2009 in Ireland,[77] and the Scottish outdoor show of T in the Park. Their T in the Park headline slot was put in jeopardy after Graham Coxon was admitted to hospital with food poisoning. Ultimately, the band did play, albeit an hour and a half after they were scheduled to appear.[78] After the completion of the reunion dates, James said the band had not discussed further plans. Albarn told Q soon after James' statement that the band had no intention of recording or touring live again. He said, "I just can't do it anymore", and explained that the main motivation for participating in the reunion was to repair his relationship with Coxon, which succeeded.[79] Coxon also stated that no further Blur activity was planned, telling NME.com that September, "We're in touch and we say 'Wotcha' and all that but nothing has been mentioned about any more shows or anything else".[80] In January 2010, No Distance Left to Run, a documentary about the band, was released in cinemas and a month later on DVD.[81] In April 2010, Blur released their first new recording since 2003, "Fool's Day", for the Record Store Day event, as a vinyl record limited to 1000 copies; it was later made available as a free download on their website.[82] No Distance Left to Run was nominated as Best Long Form Music Video for the 53rd Grammy Awards, Blur's first-ever Grammy nomination.[83] In February 2012, Blur were awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2012 Brit Awards.[84] Later that month, Albarn and Coxon premiered a new track together live, "Under the Westway".[85] In April, the band announced that a box-set entitled Blur 21containing all seven Blur studio albums, four discs of unreleased rarities and three DVDswould be released in July.[86] Blur entered the studio early that year to record material for a new album, but in May producer William Orbit told the NME that Albarn had halted recording.[87] Blur's official Twitter and Facebook pages announced that the band would release two singles "The Puritan" and "Under the Westway" on 2 July.[88] That August, Blur headlined a show at Hyde Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[89] In 2013, the band are set to headline Belgium's Rock Werchter as well as perform at the Spanish and Portuguese dates of the Primavera Sound Festival,[90] as well as America's Coachella.[91]

Discography
Main article: Blur discography

Leisure (1991) Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993) Parklife (1994) The Great Escape (1995) Blur (1997) 13 (1999) Think Tank (2003)

See also

Cool Britannia

List of awards and nominations received by Blur

References

Harris, John. Britpop! Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock . 2004. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81367-X Strong, Martin C. The Great Indie Discography. 2003. Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0 Thompson, Dave. Alternative Rock. 2004. Miller-Freeman, ISBN 0-87930-607-6 Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop. Passion Pictures. 2004. Maconie, Stuart. Blur: 3862 Days The Official History. 1999 Virgin Books ISBN 0-7535-0287-9

Notes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. ^ Harris, pg. 45 ^ a b Thompson, pg. 209 ^ Harris, pg. 46 ^ Harris, pg. 47 ^ Harris, pg. 4950 ^ a b Strong, pg. 635636 ^ Harris, pg. 5355 ^ Harris, pg. 5657 ^ Kelly, Danny. "Sacre Blur!" NME. 20 July 1991.

10. ^ Harris, pg. 58 11. ^ Harris, pg. 59 12. ^ Harris, pg. 66 13. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "'Popscene' song review". Allmusic. Retrieved on 16 June 2008. 14. ^ Harris, pg. 67, 77 15. ^ a b Harris, John. "A shite sports car and a punk reincarnation". NME. 10 April 1993. 16. ^ Harris, pg. 68 17. ^ Harris, pg. 73 18. ^ Harris, pg. 7375 19. ^ Harris, pg. 78 20. ^ Harris, pg. 79 21. ^ Harris, pg. 82 22. ^ Harris, pg. 8283 23. ^ Harris, pg. 90 24. ^ Harris, pg. 8889

25. ^ a b "Blur Single & Album Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved on 21 August 2012. 26. ^ Duffy, Tom. "SBK, Blur focus on U.S. market". Billboard. 28 May 1994. 27. ^ a b c d "Blur Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved on 21 August 2012. 28. ^ Harris, pg. 141 29. ^ Harris, pg. 142 30. ^ Dee, John. "Blur Parklife". NME. April 1994. 31. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Parklife review". Allmusic. Retrieved on 16 June 2008. 32. ^ Harris, pg. 192 33. ^ a b Tuxen, Henrik; Dalley, Helen. "Graham Coxon interview". Total Guitar. May 1999. 34. ^ Harris, pg. 222 35. ^ Harris, pg. 22324 36. ^ a b Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop. Passion Pictures, 2004. 37. ^ Harris, pg. 235 38. ^ Harris, pg. 238239 39. ^ Cigarettes, Johnny. "Blur The Great Escape review". NME. September 1995. 40. ^ Birch, Will. "Roll up! Roll up!". Mojo. October 1995. [www.willbirch.com/Blur - The Great Escape.htm Reprinted] on the author's website. Retrieved on 16 December 2012. 41. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Blur: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved on 22 October 2012. 42. ^ Harris, pg. 241 43. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "'Country House' song review". Allmusic. Retrieved on 16 June 2008. 44. ^ a b c d e f g Maconie, Stuart. "The Death of a Party". Select. August 1999. 45. ^ Harris, pg. 25960 46. ^ Collins, Andrew. "Blur: Keeping It Simple". Q. March 1997. 47. ^ a b Sutherland, Mark. "Altered States". Melody Maker. 21 June 1997. 48. ^ "US certificates: searchable database". RIAA. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 49. ^ Sillitoe, Sue. "Street Life". Sound on Sound. August 1999. Retrieved on 21 July 2008. 50. ^ a b Sullivan, Caroline. "Down and outstanding". The Guardian. 5 March 2008. Retrieved on 21 July 2008. 51. ^ Doyle, Tom. "Blur 13 review". Q. April 1999. 52. ^ Cameron, Keith. "Blur 13 review". NME. 10 March 1999. 53. ^ "Blur boss demands chart re-run ". BBC News. 13 July 1999. Retrieved on 21 August 2012. 54. ^ Lowe, Steve. "'It's Like The Biggest Encore Ever'". Select. February 2000 55. ^ "U2 Leaves The Competition 'Behind'". Billboard. 6 November 2000. Retrieved on 14 September 2012. 56. ^ Cavanagh, David. "A Hard Day's Night". Mojo. November 2000.

57. ^ Sutherland, Steve. "Blur Blur: The Best Of review". NME. October 2000. 58. ^ Mulholland, Garry. "Special relationships". The Observer. 21 September 2003. Retrieved on 21 August 2012. 59. ^ Blurb 22 page 6 60. ^ Blurb 23 page 9 61. ^ Greeves, David. "Recording Blur, Tom Rae & Elbow". Sound on Sound. July 2003. Retrieved on 11 September 2012. 62. ^ "Graham Coxon Explains Blur Split". The Fly. May 2009. Retrieved on 23 December 2011. 63. ^ "Blur To Rock For World Peace On Next Record". MTV News. 10 January 2003. Retrieved on 21 August 2012. 64. ^ "Blur song on Mars Rover". BBC News. 30 January 2002. Retrieved on 11 March 2007. 65. ^ "Beagle hopes hang on mothership". BBC News. 28 December 2003. Retrieved on 16 September 2012. 66. ^