Modern Life Is Rubbish <\/i>marks the birth of Britpop and, presumably, the death of the brief, baggy Madchester scene in British rock music.<\/p>\n
Blur\u2019s 1991 debut Leisure <\/i>was a swirly Madchester entry along the lines of Charlatans UK and the Stone Roses \u2013 perhaps with a little Happy Mondays thrown in \u2013 and didn\u2019t really establish the band in any way outside of \u201cShe\u2019s So High.\u201d Realizing an original approach was needed to succeed, Blur completely reinvented itself as a guitar rock-pop band, one distinctly British in sound and spirit and one that drew on both past and present traditions in sound while the intelligent, sardonic lyrics required further review.<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t much else like it in 1993, and Blur\u2019s standing rose considerably, positioning them as a sort of intellectual opposite to the heady classic booze-rock of Oasis. Which was a bit unfair to Blur, since they could rock just as hard; their best single, \u201cPopscene,\u201d wasn\u2019t even on the British version of this album but was slotted on to the American version, and it is as kinetic and forward as anything on Definitely Maybe<\/i>. Certainly, it is now considered the first Britpop song, and it deserves the honor.<\/p>\n
But drawing comparisons to a \u201crival\u201d band reduces the band to clich\u00e9s just so that opposites can be found, and Blur\u2019s music doesn\u2019t deserve that. The songs are vibrant, dense and unique, establishing the Blur sound that would come to define every album since. That it wasn\u2019t a huge commercial success is beside the point; it started a movement every bit as much as Definitely Maybe <\/i>did and remains a highwater mark in the Britpop canon.<\/p>\n
The title gives away some of Albarn\u2019s sarcastic commentary; the jangle and layered production make the messages more positive than they really are, such as the wry commentary on the superficial among us in \u201cColin Zeal:\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s an immaculate dresser, he\u2019s your common aggressor\u2026 Looks at his watch, he\u2019s on time yet again \/ He\u2019s pleased with himself\u2026He\u2019s a modern retard, he\u2019s terminal lard\u2026he\u2019s an affable man, with a carotene tan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure On Julian\u201d improves on its \u201860s British Invasion verses with a forward-thinking instrumental break that is both droning and hypnotic, while \u201cStar Shaped\u201d and second single \u201cChemical World\u201d are cheerful jangle pop, even if the latter has somewhat darker themes about shady people and cheap highs (\u201cThese townies, they never speak to you \/ Just stick together so they never get lonely \/ Feeling lead, feeling quite light-headed \/ Had to sit down and have some sugary tea \/ In a chemical world, it\u2019s very very cheap\u201d).<\/p>\n
A goofy carnival intermission splits the album in two before roaring into the stomping riffs of \u201cSunday Sunday,\u201d which satirizes our big dreams on the weekends: \u201cSunday, Sunday, here again in tidy attire \/ You read the color supplement, the TV guide \/ You dream of protein on a plate\u2026Then bingo yourself to sleep.\u201d The original intent of Modern Life <\/i>was to compare British life to American life, but the themes universally apply to all comfortable first-world middle-class people, so the album resonates.<\/p>\n
Not every song works, especially the dull \u201cMiss America\u201d and \u201cVilla Rosie,\u201d but even the mediocre songs are still crackling with life and guitarist Graham Coxon shines throughout. Blur was criticized for carrying on without Coxon when he left the band, and it\u2019s easy to see why, just as his return in The Magic Whip <\/i>was cause for celebration and made that album one of the band\u2019s best since Blur<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But by the time of the joyous \u201cTurn It Up,\u201d the only song here that nods to the band\u2019s Madchester roots, you\u2019ll wonder why this was largely unappreciated at the time of its release. It\u2019s not perfect, it has a couple too many songs and others that run a bit long, but somehow Modern Life Is Rubbish <\/i>pulls it all together in a colorful, energetic wash full of lyrical and musical depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":32609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6868],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-44375","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-blur","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44375"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}